Central Michigan’s incredible miracle play to beat Oklahoma State on Saturday that has the college football world buzzing actually should not have counted.
Oklahoma State was up 27-24 on Central Michigan with four seconds left and faced a 4th-and-13 situation. The Cowboys’ Mason Rudolph stood in the pocket and fired a ball out of bounds down the field as time expired.
Rudolph was called for intentional grounding — which was expected — but what happened after that was a surprise.
The game should have ended on the penalty per NCAA rules, but officials actually said the game couldn’t end on a penalty committed by the offensive team and gave Central Michigan the ball. The Chippewas then scored on this insane Hail Mary lateral play and won 30-27. The problem is they never should have had the ball.
The NCAA rule book says a period should not be extended if the penalty was by the team in possession and if it costs the team a down. Both were the case with Oklahoma State.
From the NCAA rule book regarding untimed downs: pic.twitter.com/piB4p2oAmR
— Paul Myerberg (@PaulMyerberg) September 10, 2016
Rule 3-2-3. "The period is not extended if the foul is by the team and possession and the penalty includes loss of down." Oops.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) September 10, 2016
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy shares what the officials told him about the play:
end the game."
— Kyle Fredrickson (@kylefredrickson) September 10, 2016
After the game, MAC officials confirmed the game should not have been extended.
Now that the officials have admitted their mistake, there will be a big question about whether or not the outcome will be overturned.
