Craig Carton scorched Michigan Wolverines fans for celebrating the team’s controversial victory against the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday night.
There’s no argument that Michigan needed a little bit of luck to get past Western Michigan 13-12. Bryce Underwood received a second Hail Mary opportunity as officials determined that a Western Michigan defended touched his first throw in the final moments with one second left on the clock. Underwood found J.J. Buchanan for the game-winning score.
Is that a real reason to storm the field and act like you beat Ohio State? An emphatic no, says Carton, whose “Craig Carton Show” premieres on OutKick on Tuesday. Carton put it better than I could.
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Michigan fans celebrate a narrow win over Western Michigan on Sept. 5, 2026. (Getty Images)
“The thing that bothers me more than the hubris of adding a second to the game and giving Michigan another opportunity to win that game was the fact that there was 110,000 people at Michigan for that game and at the end of the game they stormed the field like they were Western Michigan knocking off a Big Ten team on the road,” Carton said. “And it just was a good reminder to me that even though Michigan is thought of as a top educational experience for the kids that take the six years they normally take to graduate, the reality is that they’re a bunch of morons.
“Now, we already know that Michigan is a corrupt athletic program. We know that it’s a dirty athletic program. We know that coaches like to sleep with coeds there. Coaches like to steal signs there. Coaches like to cheat there. But what I didn’t know as a fact until Saturday night is that that 18-27 year olds that call Michigan their undergraduate home are morons. The fact that you would storm the field when barely beating and, let’s be honest, needing the Big Ten to cheat for you to win the game, the fact that you would storm the field when you won by a single point because you were given an extra second of time while 27-point favorites tells me everything I need to know about the type of kid that goes to Michigan.”
Michigan fans storm the field after Michigan beat Western Michigan on a Hail Mary touchdown pass with time expired at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images (Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images)
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Remember, it’s not as though Michigan was unranked (they were 16th going into Saturday) and were up against Ohio State or Texas or Alabama or Oregon or even Rutgers for that matter.
The Wolverines were playing Western Michigan that plays in the Mid-American Conference and have been an FBS program since 1962. The Broncos have never beaten an opponent inside the top 20 of the Associated Press poll.
“That’s not a game to be celebrated if you’re a Michigan fan or a Michigan alumni,” Carton added. “That’s a game to give you a warning about what’s to come for the rest of this season. Michigan football is dead. Michigan football is an embarrassment. Michigan football pays their quarterback $10 million a year and I would be better.
Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng, No. 12 of the Michigan Wolverines, walks off the field after a 13-12 win over the Western Michigan Broncos at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Sept. 5, 2026. The Wolverines won on a last-second “Hail Mary” touchdown reception. (Getty Images)
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“So, just remember what you saw Saturday night. You saw a Wolverine program that needed cheating and needed secretive clocks to beat a MAC team while favored by 27 points. And the kids there are either so drunk, so high or so stupid that they stormed the field like they had accomplished something. You didn’t accomplish a damn thing but embarrassing yourselves on Saturday night.”
Western Michigan has been ranked in the AP poll once ever – that coming in 2016 when they were 13-1 under P.J. Fleck. A victory over a blue blood would have been the biggest win in the program’s history.
The Big Ten and Mid-American Conference both released statements on the clock controversy after the game, reiterating that a Broncos defender touched the ball while out of bounds with one second left.
Michigan fans’ celebration was certainly silly and they will be needled for it until the next cray thing happens.
For now, the team itself has to prepare for noon ET showdown with Oklahoma on Saturday as questions surround Underwood about his status as QB1 for the future.
Bryce Underwood #19 of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates after a 13-12 win over the Western Michigan Broncos at Michigan Stadium on Sept. 5, 2026, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Getty Images)
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Michigan and Oklahoma will battle in Ann Arbor. The game can be seen on FOX.
