Gundy statement: 'Disappointed' in 10 officials who misapplied rules

With the dust still settling from Oklahoma State's uneasy defeat at the hands of Central Michigan, Cowboys coach Mike Gundy did his best to pick up the pieces Sunday.

In a statement, Gundy said he's disappointed in himself for calling the play that led to the last-play disaster - or miracle for Central Michigan - but lamented the officials' incorrect decision to extend the game.

"Of course in hindsight, I wish I would have done it differently, but in the big picture, the game should have been over," Gundy said. "While I'm disappointed in myself, I am also disappointed that we had 10 rules officials who didn’t properly apply the rule."

Related: Oklahoma State AD calls ref error 'incomprehensible'

With only four seconds left on the clock and his team up three, Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph was instructed to heave a ball up on fourth down so the clock would run out. Oklahoma State was called for intentional grounding, and that should have been the end of the game, but the officials awarded Central Michigan an offensive play, leading to the Hail Mary-lateral touchdown for the win.

Gundy's full statement can be read below:

I'm disappointed in myself that I called a play that could have been interpreted as intentional grounding. That play has been in our playbook for 12 years now and intentional grounding and an untimed down after the last play of the game never even crossed my mind. Of course in hindsight, I wish I would have done it differently, but in the big picture, the game should have been over. While I'm disappointed in myself, I am also disappointed that we had 10 rules officials who didn’t properly apply the rule. I give credit to Central Michigan for coming up with a great play and executing it as well as they did.

My reason for reaching out to you with this statement is this – we have another game on Saturday and letting the end of the Central Michigan game linger into this week would not help our team in any way. I want this to be our final official comment on the end of the Central Michigan game, so we can close the book on it and move forward to Pittsburgh. In our program, we talk all the time about controlling the things we can control and not getting caught up in the things we can’t control. We can control how we focus on and prepare for Pittsburgh. We can’t control the decisions that were made Saturday, so I do not believe it benefits our coaches or players to dwell on them and re-hash them beyond what we already did during post-game interviews, the comments that our athletic director made yesterday and now with this statement from me today.