Cowboys overcome officials' calls

By Matt PalmerCommentary



Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy had to beat a little more than just Texas Tech to get the first Big 12 Conference win of his head coaching career.

He had to overcome a couple of strange calls by officials.

A pass interference call late in the first quarter on OSU safety Jacob Lacey brought Gundy to the hash marks.

Adamant the call was wrong, Gundy had to be restrained by the coaching staff.

Then the real bad calls came.

In the second quarter, a backward pass by Tech quarterback Cody Hodges, which was picked up by Tech's Taurean Henderson on the bounce, initially was ruled an incomplete pass.

Even junior high referees know a backward pass is a fumble.

After much delineation and a review, the officials said it was an inadvertent whistle, which meant the down would be replayed.

And in the third quarter, a pass caught by OSU receiver D'Juan Woods off his knee was ruled incomplete.

The ball never reached fewer than 3 feet off the ground, yet an official saw it bounce?

After another lengthy review, the call was overturned, and OSU got the ball where Woods was tackled.

In the officials' defense, I guess everybody has their off days at work.



Palmer is a News -- Eagle sports writer.