Mike Gundy issues statement about officials botching ending

Mike Gundy issued a statement on Sunday about the officials messing up the ending of Oklahoma State’s game on Saturday against Central Michigan, which essentially cost the Cowboys a win.

Here’s the statement by Gundy:

“I’m disappointed in myself that I called a play that could have been interpreted as intentional grounding. 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.

“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.”

Gundy then said that the purpose of the statement is to put the controversy to bed so his team can move forward and focus on their next game.

“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 official 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 it benefits our coaches or players to dwell on them and re-hash them beyond what we already did during post-game interviews, the comments that our athletic director made yesterday and now with this statement from me today.”

The Cowboys lost the game 30-27, with MAC officials admitting after the game they made a mistake by allowing the Chippewas a final untimed play after the intentional grounding penalty by Oklahoma State. Though all parties acknowledged the error, the Big 12 said the outcome of the game was final and would not be reversed. Given the situation, it’s probably wise for Gundy to stop dwelling on the misfortune and instead focus on winning the team’s next game.