Gundy, Stoops bond over Oklahoma State’s humiliation before ‘Bedlam’

This season’s installment of “Bedlam,” the annual meeting of Big 12 Conference foes Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, will mean a little less thanks to the Central Michigan Chippewas.

What could have shaped up to be a critical game in the College Football Playoff landscape when the season began was derailed on September 10th in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Down three points with no time left on the clock, Central Michigan used an untimed down to score on a 51 yard Hail Mary-lateral play exploiting what can only be described as one of the greatest defensive collapses in the history of competition. The Chippewas stunned the then #22 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. Let’s watch again:

It’s beautiful if you’re a CMU fan. Less so for the Oklahoma State faithful. But while many of his peers likely would have handled the setback more gracefully, Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy has been unable to get past the embarrassment of such a humiliating loss. A loss that in all likelihood will keep the Oklahoma State out of the College Football Playoff conversation. We later learned that the game should have ended before that play was allowed to occur. Based on that, Gundy thinks that the result of the game should be changed.

“Nobody will ever convince me we didn’t get the win,” said Gundy. “I know Kirby had mentioned the committee feels a certain way about that game, but I think Kirby is playing poker and they see us as a 10-win team. That’s just my opinion.”

“In my opinion, the conference, our conference, should take charge and stick up for us and say, you know what, we’re going to get this right. Or there’s got to be some lawyer out there that’s willing to make a name for himself. He ought to be all over it for a flat fee.”

He’s talking about his conference hiring a lawyer. To be clear, Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy thinks that the Big 12 conference should hire a lawyer to award his team a win. It’s disappointing and discouraging that a man who so confidently wears the hair that he does is unable to properly process failure, and his inability to move on from a game that was played more than two months ago only adds to the Oklahoma State humiliation. But much like the friend who will double down that the girl who left you wasn’t worth it, Gundy has some support.

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops is in Gundy’s corner. The loss must’ve been difficult for Stoops as well, as it takes some luster off of this week’s rivalry game, and also exposes his conference as.....meh. Beatable.

“In my eyes they only have one loss, if you play by the rules,” said Stoops. “They review everything else out here. They review a first down. You couldn’t review if that play should have been allowed or not. I have one of those. I count myself with one extra victory. That one at Oregon that everyone counted as a loss. My record book is a little different than everybody else’s.”

I wonder if Central Michigan head coach John Bonamego has his own personal record book. Probably not. He probably just uses the one the rest of us use. The one that shows his unimpressed Chippewa team marching into Stillwater and ruining Family Day for the Cowboys. Yes, it was Family Day. Doesn’t it make it a little more delicious?

But as if this plea from two titans of leadership weren’t enough, Mike Gundy says that there’s an army of coaches who are equally appalled at this egregious miscarriage of justice.

Is it at all possible that these coaches are telling Mike Gundy what he wants to hear so he’ll go away? Because I feel like he would yell at you if you didn’t agree with him. And I could link to the video, but you already know what I’m talking about.

There’s been enough tears. I certainly hope this weekend’s “Bedlam” game offers some closure for those so deeply impacted by Oklahoma State’s humiliation. It’s time to move on. Fire Up.