Oklahoma State lost to CMU, regardless of how they view it
Sure, the Central Michigan football team didn't have one of it’s most memorable campaigns last season.
The Chippewas finished with a final record of 6-7 after being completely demolished by Tulsa, 55-10, in the Miami Beach Bowl on Dec. 19.
CMU started the season showing promise at 3-0, however, and made one of the most memorable college football plays to beat Oklahoma State at Boone-Pickens Stadium 30-27. It gave the 2016 Chippewas something to be remembered by.
Junior wide receiver Corey Willis received a pitch from senior tight end Jesse Kroll, who caught the deep pass from senior quarterback Cooper Rush for one of the craziest scoring scenarios fans had ever witnessed.
However, the play shouldn't have counted.
The referees admitted that on the play before that outstanding Hail Mary pass, the intentional grounding penalty on fourth down against the Cowboys shouldn't have kept the game going. It should have been the final play of the game.
But it wasn’t. CMU won. Oklahoma State lost. It’s in the NCAA record books.
The Cowboys went on to have a great season, finishing 10-3 after beating Colorado 38-8 in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29. In addition to the CMU loss, Oklahoma State fell to Baylor and Oklahoma.
Just a couple of days ago, the Cowboys unveiled their flashy Alamo Bowl champion rings. They are orange, black and silver with the OSU logo set on a star background, the Alamo Bowl logo. It also displays their final record, which reads 11-2.
No, I’m not kidding. That's the record they have on their rings.
You would think at the Division I level of college football, immaturity wouldn't come into play like this but it has in Cowboy land.
It’s like when you're playing Madden and you start to lose a game in dynasty mode, so you simply quit the game. The loss didn't count and you can just play it over again until you win. That’s pretty much what OSU did, but they never won the game.
They lost. Regardless if the play counted or not, it went in the win column for the Chippewas and in the loss column for the Cowboys.
OSU had a good season, they bounced back from that loss against CMU early in the season, and went on to a double-digit winning season. CMU went on to lose seven of their final 10 games.
The Cowboys were the better team, and they still had the chance to stop CMU on that final play. The odds were still in their favor, and they just didn't get the job done.
I’ve watched college football since I was a little kid. I’ve seen teams lose on Hail Mary’s before. I have even been at a game to see it live, when the Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions on Dec. 3, 2015 when the “rebound pass” from Aaron Rodgers to Richard Rodgers gave the Lions a key loss in their season.
On the play before, their was a questionable face mask on Rodgers that shouldn't have ever been called, and kept the game alive to eventually give Green Bay that chance to win the game.
Here’s the difference: the Lions counted the loss like a professional organization. OSU is obviously still hurt about the loss, and is doing everything in their power to take it away from CMU.
Nevertheless, it doesn't matter what they do. It counted for CMU, and it didn't for the Cowboys.
While the Chippewas didn't have the greatest season, they can always look back on that play and know it was one of the greatest plays in college football history, whether it should have counted or not.
Even if OSU will never see or attempt to understand that, everyone else will.
