DALLAS, Texas – Western Michigan lost its bowl game on a bizarre untimed play after three camera angles from the television broadcast showed the Broncos had 12 players on the field on the final play that initially appeared to send the game into overtime.
Western Kentucky’s Hail Mary pass from the WMU 39-yard line with no time remaining on the clock was knocked down in the end zone. As players prepared for overtime, some of the WKU players and coaches pleaded with the officials that there had been too many Broncos on the field.
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The first angle from the ESPN broadcast showed eight WMU Players at or near the line of scrimmage. A view from behind the quarterback showed three Broncos in the middle of the field deep near the goal line. Then, a third angle showed a fourth player deep downfield, a bit closer to the right sideline and out of view of the second view.
As a result, Western Michigan was issued a penalty for having too many players on the field. That resulted in an untimed down for the Hilltoppers, who decided to give freshman kicker Cory Munson a shot at a 52-yard blast.
Munson had already missed a 29-yard field goal just before halftime in addition to a pair of made kicks from 26 and 31 yards.
He was clutch on the final play, though, drilling the 52-yarder to secure the win for Western Kentucky.
It was a heartbreaking finish for the Broncos, who led 17-10 to start the fourth quarter and 20-17 with five minutes remaining. WMU also had a chance to try a game-winning kick of its own, but quarterback Joe Wassink slipped on a third and one at WKU’s 28-yard line with plenty of space in front of him. On the following play, a fourth-down pass fell incomplete and gave the ball back to the Hilltoppers with 27 seconds remaining.
Western Michigan finishes the season 7-6 with a pair of disappointing losses to end a once-promising campaign.