In the aftermath of a contested finish between Michigan and Western Michigan, the Mid-American Conference has taken the rare step of formally appealing the game's outcome to the Football Bowl Subdivision committee, arguing that a failure in timekeeping protocol — not a judgment call, but a procedural one — may have denied the Broncos a rightful victory. The dispute invites a deeper question that sport has always carried within it: when the mechanisms meant to ensure fairness themselves falter, who holds the authority to restore what was lost, and at what cost to the record books?