RECAP: Oklahoma State stunned on play of the year

What the actual hell just happened? Oklahoma State went full Oklahoma State.

For the sake of transparency, I had this recap nearly written right up until the play that will henceforth and forevermore be referred to as Voldemort throughout this recap.

Man, life as an Oklahoma State fan is awesome. Except for when it isn’t. Today, it’s not. I’ll tell you right now that I am an eternal optimist with Oklahoma State athletics. I thought OSU was going 11-1 this year. I thought Mason Rudolph was a Heisman contender. I thought Squinky was dead.

Oh, how fickle college football can be. Oklahoma State literally lost a football game that they won. As my brother said after the game, “Never want to be the team that goes viral.”

Let’s talk about the game, before we get to Voldemort. Oklahoma State probably shouldn’t have won that game anyways. I watched a football team that just got flat out beaten. OSU was massively out-coached, out-hustled, and frankly, Central Michigan looked like they wanted it more. Voldemort was just the icing on the cake.

The Cowboys mustered 346 total yards of offense against Central Michigan. That is an issue. The defense folded at critical moments. That is a huge issue. But what’s even more disappointing is that this Vine won’t be the same. Ever.

Central Michigan is a solid football team, though. They will compete for the MAC title, and I think they were probably overlooked by OSU to begin with. How that happened? I don’t know. The Chips returned a veteran quarterback who was every bit as good as advertised. Their receivers caught everything. They were tough. Tougher than our beloved Cowboys.

Oklahoma State did not look like the team we saw last year at any point during this game. It doesn’t get any easier, either. Pitt comes to town next week, coming off a 42-29 win over Penn State today. Next? Oh, just a trip to Waco. Next? The new and improved Texas Longhorns come to town.

Now, let’s talk about Voldemort. This is how the play unfolded from my point of view.

1. Rudolph drops back and fires a ball through the sideline. Clock says 0:00, I open my laptop to post the recap (that is now deleted, RIP). Side note: it kinda sucks to have 700 words on the page and then have to delete them because of something that shouldn’t have even counted. I digress ...
2. Officials gather, call intentional grounding. My best friend who is at the game calls me. We’re discussing the potential repercussions of that call, and I said, “It just feels like something is about to happen. I don’t understand.”
3. Right as I say that, I hear my friend on the other end of the phone shouting “No, no no no no!!!!!!” I hung up. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The problem was that he was in front of the TV by about seven seconds. Seven seconds later, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
4. I nearly puked. I said curse words, some of which i’m not proud of.
5. I got on Periscope because obviously and I barely averted a mental breakdown live on the internet. Here it is:

6. I drank beer. Still am.

So, just an average afternoon for an Oklahoma State fan during football season. But let’s talk about that ruling ... According to the NCAA rulebook, and it’s clear as day, that play was illegal and should not have occurred.

Here’s a detailed explanation of the ruling from Mike Pereira:

I’m not sure what this means in terms of reversing the call. That said, if an “egregious error” was made, and the rulebook clearly states that the play should’ve never occurred, could it be overturned? Oklahoma State lost a football game that it won today, and it will be very interesting to see what happens going forward in the next couple days.

It also begs the question ... Does overturning the call even change anything?

Lots will have to be sorted out over the impending hours. Nothing will likely come by way of an overturned ruling, at least in my opinion. We’ll probably get a “we’re sorry” from the NCAA and that will be it.

The Cowboys now have a task in front of them, though. The coaches have an even larger task. Today is a pivotal moment for this football program. Getting this football team off the mat is crucial, and it needs to happen quickly. But it won’t be easy. Calling the next few weeks a gut check for Mike Gundy and this team is a massive understatement.