Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy disappointed but moving on
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy doesn't like what happened to the Cowboys on Saturday. But, he says, the only thing to be done now is to move on and focus on this week's opponent, Pittsburgh.
A misinterpreted rule extended the game against Central Michigan when it should have been over and allowed the Chippewas to score a wild, winning touchdown on a Hail Mary and lateral — yes, both! — that covered half the field for a 30-27 upset of then-No. 17 Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys (1-1) — who dropped out of the Amway Coaches Poll this week — tried to kill the final 4 seconds of the game by throwing the ball away on fourth down, but they were penalized for intentional grounding, which is a loss of down penalty. Rules state that the game cannot end on an accepted live-ball penalty, referee Tim O’Dey of the Mid-American Conference, CMU’s league, said.
He later admitted there is a situation where the game can end on an infraction.
"I'm disappointed in myself that I called a play that could have been interpreted as intentional grounding," Gundy said in a statement released Sunday. "That play has been in our playbook for 12 years now and intentional grounding and an untimed down after the last play of the game never even crossed my mind.
"Of course in hindsight, I wish I would have done it differently, but in the big picture the game should have been over."
The rest of Gundy's statement:
"While I'm disappointed in myself, I am also disappointed that we had 10 rules officials who didn't properly apply the rule. I give credit to Central Michigan for coming up with a great play and executing it as well as they did.
"My reason for reaching out to you with this statement is this — we have another game on Saturday and letting the end of the Central Michigan game linger into this week would not help our team in any way. I want this to be our final comment on the end of the Central Michigan game, so we can close the book on it and move forward to Pittsburgh. In our program, we talk all the time about controlling the things we can control and not getting caught up in the things we can't control. We can control how we focus on and prepare for Pittsburgh. We can't control the decisions that were made Saturday, so I do not believe in benefits our coaches or players to dwell on them and rehash them beyond what we already did during postgame interviews, the comments that our athletic director made uesterday and now with this statement from me today."
Contributing: The Associated Press