Let's rewind for a second and take a look back on a pivotal point in Oklahoma's 2016 season.
Most will already know what I'm referring to, but for those that need a refresher, it happened during the final minutes of Oklahoma State's tilt against Central Michigan about seven months ago when a rule was wrongly applied by the officials.
Instead of the game ending 27-24 in favor of the Cowboys, the officials wrongly awarded the Chippewas one untimed opportunity following an intentional grounding penalty by Oklahoma State, and Central Michigan converted on it in dramatic fashion.
The video picks up with 4 seconds left in regulation.
https://youtu.be/GSQitKqLAMs?t=8612
Reflecting back on the game, and that moment in an article in The Oklahoman today, Gundy says he would have reacted much differently than simply assuming that the officials knew the right interpretation of the rule.
“I should have taken my shirt off and laid on the field and said we’re not playing anymore until we know for sure, but I thought I already had enough issues with things I have done in the past so I was going to be a nice guy. It cost me a game."
"“I don’t know if I’ll ever know all of the rules. I would like to sit here and say I would.”
Gundy goes on the share in the article that they've looked into bringing a rules expert on board to be with them during games to make sure something similar to the CMU situation doesn't happen again.
A mistake like that that wrongly costs a team a game could easily mean the difference between a College Football Playoff, or New Years Six bowl bid, and a second tier bowl game, not to mention all the incentive money that would be lost for a head coach and his staff and marketing opportunities on the biggest bowl stages in college football. For a number of college football programs, it actually makes a whole lot of sense to invest in a traveling rules expert.
“I’ll tell you what we have thought about. We’ve thought about trying to find somebody that is an expert on the rules and have them with us during games for that reason. What’s funny is that, as proven during the Central Michigan game, a lot of times the officials don’t even know the rules because there are so many of them.”
Gundy and Oklahoma State finished the season 10-3 with losses to Baylor and Oklahoma to go along with that CMU loss, but who knows what could have happened for the Cowboys if the rules in that game back in September had been applied correctly.
Head here to read the full piece from The Oklahoman.