Refs admit Central Michigan Hail Mary shouldn’t have occurred

The referees of the game between the Central Michigan Chippewas and Oklahoma State Cowboys admitted the Hail Mary shouldn’t have happened.

The Central Michigan Chippewas pulled off the heist of the century on Saturday. With time running out on the road at Oklahoma State, Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush threw a Hail Mary to Jesse Kroll, who wasn’t in the end zone. Kroll flipped the ball to Corey Willis, who ran the ball in for the touchdown.

It was an incredible play that left everyone in Stillwater stunned and everyone wondered what just happened. Well, it turns out the play should have never happened in the first place and the Cowboys should have been declared the winners. With seconds left, the Cowboys had the ball and decided to heave the ball to run out the clock. They did that, but it was ruled intentional grounding and the Chippewas got a free play.

However, according to the rules, the Chippewas should only have gotten the ball on a defensive penalty and if they were the team in possession. There is no extension for a loss of down play. After the game, referee Tim O’Dey confirmed to pool reporters that the play shouldn’t have counted.

So now, Oklahoma State has a loss on their record that could hurt them in the long run as the season goes on. When a resume matters, they now have a loss that was put on them by officials. It’s rare to see the officials admit a mistake, but this is a pretty big one and one that’s going to greatly affect a program.

It’s hard to see anything good coming out of this. One can only hope that this doesn’t affect Oklahoma State at the end of the season, if they’re vying for a playoff spot.