By now, Central Michigan's last-second "Hail Mary" has made its rounds on social media and is already being dubbed one of the plays of the year.
The only problem: the play shouldn't have ever happened.
With no time left on the clock, Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush heaved a toss to Jesse Kroll, who lateraled the ball to Corey Willis, who scored to beat No. 22 Oklahoma State 30-27.
The play before, Oklahoma State attempted to throw the ball out of bounds to run out the final seconds of the game and secure the win. The Cowboys were called for intentional grounding, and the Mid-American Conference officials working the game gave Central Michigan one more play. With the penalty of intentional grounding, the offense loses a down, and it was fourth down.
The MAC officials were wrong in giving the Chippewas the extra play, but the play still stands. The conference later issued a statement saying the final play should not have been played and the officials had been suspended.
“You concern yourself with the things you have control of,” Central Michigan coach John Bonamego said on Monday. “We had an opportunity to run one more play, and we made the most of that opportunity.”
While the officiating crew was suspended by the MAC, the result will not be reversed.
Even though the play should not have happened, Central Michigan grabbed the win, and with that, four votes for the Associated Press poll.
“Oklahoma State had 11 players on the field that could have stopped it, but they didn’t,” Bonamego said.
Other Power Five games
Other than Central Michigan, four other MAC teams played Power Five schools. Three lost and Ohio won.
Akron lost 54-10 to ranked No. 9 Wisconsin. Akron coach Terry Bowden said his team was outplayed physically.
“When you play a top 10 team, you don’t always win,” Bowden said.
Ball State traveled to in-state, Big Ten school Indiana and lost 30-20. While it was a close game, Ball State was down early because of turnovers.
“You simply cannot have three turnovers,” Ball State coach Mike Neu said.
Eastern Michigan lost to Missouri 61-21. Even though they lost by 40, coach Chris Creighton saw some positives coming out of the game.
“Our offensive line really came through,” Creighton said. “They kept our quarterback upright all game”
Kent State Loses to FCS School
Kent State lost to Football Championship Subdivision school North Carolina A&T 39-36 in four overtimes. That game drops the Golden Flashes to 0-2 on the season.
Even though some consider FCS schools lesser opponents, Kent State coach Paul Haynes knows that these schools are no pushover.
“We’re not particularly a powerhouse program, so we don’t take anyone lightly,” Haynes said.
Kent State will have to recover to play Monmouth during the weekend.
“We licked our wounds this morning, and we are looking forward to getting out to practice and get better," Haynes said.
