Central Michigan came into this weekend’s game as 17.5 point underdogs. So regardless of what happened, Oklahoma State deserved to lose this one.
Oklahoma State had the ball at the Central Michigan 41-yard line with just four second left to play.
Instead of running the ball or punting, the Cowboys decided to have quarterback Mason Rudolph throw the ball as far as possible, thus allowing time to expire.
On one hand, mission accomplished. Time expired as Rudolph’s pass sailed out of bounds.
On the other hand, since no receivers were running pass patterns, the officials called Oklahoma State for intentional grounding and allowing Central Michigan to run one untimed play, miles from the endzone.
The problem is the officials messed up the interpretation of the rule. The NCAA rule book states that that a period is extended if a penalty is accepted for a live ball foul but “the period is not extended if the foul is by the team in possession and the statement of the penalty includes loss of down.”
What they should have done is ended the game.
Surely, you already know what happened next.
Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush heaved a Hail Mary down the field, it was caught by wide receiver Jesse Kroll, who then lateralled the ball to Corey Willis. Willis ran the final 30 yards for the score, giving Central Michigan a 30-27 win.
Oops.
Here’s the sequence of events:
