About That One Second...
On Monday, I wrote about the controversial ending of the Michigan-Western Michigan football game and what it told us about technology and instant replay in sports.
Well, the story isn’t over. And, neither was the controversy over that one second.
My conclusion on Monday was that while Western Michigan deserved to win, the officials had followed the replay protocol. The Big Ten’s replay system showed one second remaining when Western Michigan’s Micah Davis touched the football while out of bounds. Officials restored the second, Michigan got another play, and Bryce Underwood threw the game-winning Hail Mary. Now the Mid-American Conference says the officials didn’t follow the proper replay protocol after all.
After what it described as further study and investigation, the MAC concluded that the established replay procedure required officials to use the clock displayed on the program feed when determining whether time remained. That clock showed 0:00.
According to the MAC, the Big Ten replay crew relied on a different clock feed embedded in its replay system—the one that showed a second remaining. MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher made an important distinction.
The conference isn’t necessarily arguing about whether that embedded clock accurately showed one second. It’s arguing that the officials weren’t supposed to use it.
Had they followed the established protocol, Steinbrecher says, no second would have been restored. No additional play. No Hail Mary. Western Michigan wins 12-7.
The MAC has now formally appealed to the NCAA and College Football Playoff, asking that Western Michigan be recognized as the winner for ranking and postseason-evaluation purposes.
The NCAA has already said it cannot overturn the official result. Its rules provide no mechanism for doing so after the game has ended. So Michigan remains the official winner, 13-12.
The College Football Playoff has received the MAC’s request and says it is reviewing it.
There’s one more interesting development. The NCAA has now issued guidance intended to establish a consistent timing protocol for future games. The controversy itself may change how replay is handled going forward. And today, the Big Ten announced another change. Beginning this Saturday, television broadcasts will have expanded access to the replay process, including live audio between referees and replay officials and a view inside the Big Ten Replay Center. One controversial second has already changed how college football handles replay. Which brings me back to what I wrote Monday.
I argued that technology has changed our expectations of sports officials. We no longer simply ask them to make the best judgment they can with their own eyes. They must also operate within an increasingly complicated system of cameras, clocks, replay systems and protocols.
Saturday’s controversy now illustrates that point. The technology may have worked perfectly. The problem may have been that the humans used the wrong part of it.
And there’s an irony in all of this. Instant replay was created to correct human error. In this case, according to the MAC, human error occurred in deciding how to use instant replay.
Maybe technology hasn’t removed the human element from officiating after all. It has simply moved it upstairs to the replay booth.
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How Does Trump Find the Time?
Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American on September 7, 2026, reminded me of something I have wondered about for a long time. Richardson documented an extraordinary burst of Trump social-media activity, including AI-generated images, attacks on opponents and numerous posts about politics, foreign affairs and his own accomplishments.
How does Donald Trump find the time to do all the things he does while also serving as President of the United States?
I don’t pretend to know how Trump spends every hour of his day. A president’s public schedule is not a timecard. I don’t know how much time he spends reading reports, talking with advisers, making phone calls or dealing with issues behind closed doors.
Still, from the outside looking in Trump use of his time is totally different than what I understood other presidents in my lifetime spent their time. My understanding was that other presidents spent their time focusing on the serious issues facing a president. My understanding of the presidency was that much of a president's time was consumed by intelligence briefings, Cabinet meetings, congressional negotiations, foreign leaders, legislation, speeches and the endless responsibilities of running the federal government.
Trump still does many of those things. But his public presidency also includes an extraordinary amount of social-media activity, political combat, attention to his properties, golf and an unusual personal interest in reshaping Washington—from the White House ballroom and Kennedy Center to his proposed monumental arch. All of this is occurring while Trump deals with the enormous responsibilities of the presidency:
· the economy
· tariffs
· immigration
· Congress
· national security
· war with Iran.
There are still only 24 hours in Trump’s Day. So how does he do it? How does he have so much time available for activities that previous presidents did not seem to make nearly as central to their presidencies?
Trump hasn’t found more time. I believe he has a different view on what the president’s job is. I believe this view is a direct result of the frustrations and bottlenecks Trump encountered in his first term. My theory is that Trump approaches the presidency more like the CEO of a privately owned company than the head of one branch of a constitutional government.
His second administration appears deliberately staffed with people more aligned with his objectives than many of those who served during his first term. That potentially allows Trump to operate more like an executive who says, Here’s what I want. Figure out how to make it happen.
The work doesn’t disappear. Much of it moves down the organizational chart.
That leaves the president considerably more freedom to determine where he personally wants to spend his time. It frees up his time for things that are personally important to him.
This may make Trump efficient, but the United States government isn’t a privately owned corporation, and the president isn’t its owner.
Presidential decisions involve war and peace, constitutional rights, trillions of taxpayer dollars and the lives of more than 340 million Americans.
The president needs to hear something he doesn’t want to hear. Sometimes an expert needs to point out something he hasn’t considered. Sometimes another cabinet secretary needs to explain the unintended consequences. And sometimes taking longer to make a decision isn’t bureaucratic inefficiency.
Sometimes deliberation prevents mistakes.
Donald Trump hasn’t figured out how to put more than 24 hours into a day. He may simply have redefined what he believes a president should do with those 24 hours.
I don’t want a president who thinks of his job as the CEO of a privately owned company. The president doesn’t own the government. He leads one of three coequal branches of it.
Efficiency matters. But so do deliberation, expertise, dissent and constitutional checks and balances.
Maybe the more important question isn’t how Donald Trump finds the time.
It’s whether he is permanently changing our expectations of what a president is supposed to do with it.
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Two Old People on Bikes
Leah and I are in Empire, Michigan. Monday we rode a very difficult 10-mile stretch of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. Tuesday we rode more than 16 miles, biking from the Dune Climb to Glen Arbor and beyond—and back. As we head home to Petoskey Thursday, we’re planning another 10 miles on the Leelanau Trail.
In addition to some great exercise, we’ve found some great places to eat and a quaint little motel, the Empire Lakeshore Inn.
Not bad for a 75 and 74 year-old
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Question of the Day: Has Donald Trump found a more efficient way to run the presidency—or has he changed the job in ways that should concern us?
Orchid of the Day: Mid-American Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher for continuing to investigate the ending of the Western Michigan-Michigan game even after Western Michigan initially accepted the Big Ten’s explanation. The easiest thing would have been to move on.
Instead, the MAC investigated further, concluded the replay protocol hadn’t been properly followed and publicly acknowledged what it believes should have happened: Western Michigan should have won 12-7.
Onion of the Day: The replay process at the end of the Western Michigan-Michigan game. Not necessarily because the technology failed.
According to the MAC, it didn’t. The Onion goes to a system sophisticated enough to synchronize multiple clocks and video feeds—but apparently not clear enough to ensure that everyone knew which clock they were supposed to use.
Questions of the Day: Should the College Football Playoff treat Western Michigan as the winner even though the NCAA record book says Michigan won the game?
And: Has Donald Trump changed the presidency temporarily—or has he permanently changed what Americans will accept as presidential behavior?
Lyrics of the Day: “The times they are a-changing.”
If you know the song and artist, please provide your answer in the comments section below.
Answer to Lyrics of the Day September 7 2026: The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel
Video of the Day: Disturbed - The Sound of Silence feat. Myles Kennedy [Live in Houston]
I refuse to think the majority of Americans will consider the actions, corruption and sheer mockery happening daily will change the Presidency permanently IF Congress and the Supreme Court support the Constitution instead of being AWOL.
Great follow-up on the end-of-game controversy, Tom. And well-done on the Presidential time usage issue. It may well turn out that Trump isn't running the Presidency at all...and that he's simply the front man and ringmaster for the ultra-right wingnuts that have taken over the actual governing.