Mike Gundy calls for consistency from officials

After feeling like he was left on the wrong end of some officiating decisions during a non-conference win over Arkansas in Week 2, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy voiced his displeasure with how the SEC crew called the game.

Expanding on his gripes on Monday, Gundy said he wasn’t really upset with the officials themselves, though he didn’t like certain calls they made. But his reason for ire wasn’t being called for penalties, but those plays have not been penalties in prior weeks or, in one case, even earlier in the game.

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And it led to Gundy calling out the NCAA’s national coordinator of officials, Steve Shaw.

“I’m going to call the director of the SEC. It’s not his fault, it’s Steve Shaw’s fault,” Gundy said. “He runs the officials. He’s in charge of all this. He needs to get everybody in one room and say ‘This is the rules. This is how we’re calling it. If a guy barks out a signal and he’s in the line, it’s a penalty. If a guy barks out a signal and he’s back here, it’s not a penalty.’ It doesn’t make a difference to me what they call, I just need consistency. And what upset me was we’ve done that multiple times and nobody ever said a word about it. So those officials, it’s not their fault, either. It’s the guy in charge. It’s his fault.”

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Gundy pointed to celebration penalties as one area where officials, coaches and players alike are all approaching the matter subjectively.

Cowboys quarterback Alan Bowman was called for a celebration personal foul when he fired finger guns at the Razorbacks sideline. And while Gundy certainly wasn’t quibbling with the flag thrown on Bowman in that moment, he did point out that it’s a useful window into how these things are subjective. Would it have been a penalty if Bowman did the finger guns, but not to overtly toward the opponent? Gundy just can’t say, and he doesn’t like that.

“Don’t get me wrong, Bowman should’ve got flagged, he should’ve got two flags,” Gundy said. “But the point being is, what’s a celebration in your mind might not be in mine. It’s judgmental. And we need to clean that up. There’s only one way to clean that up: No celebrations. Because how do we know? I see it differently than you do. That was an issue.”

Gundy kept on, citing issues about the SEC crew calling penalties around the tackle box differently than crews he’s normally worked with.

“We had the cut block on the touchdown. We threw the touchdown to Brennan [Pressley], right? And they called a cut block based on the tackle box. So the tackle box is an imaginary spot that we use for blocking and we use for the quarterback to throw the ball away. And once the play’s established, based on where the outside leg of the tackle is, and the outside leg of the backer is, that tackle box is established. And that never moves. So if there’s anything that goes on outside, by rule, that’s illegal, it’s a penalty. If there’s anything that stays inside, it’s not a penalty, based on cut blocks, chop blocks, quarterback, all those things.

“We’re getting inconsistencies on that. We shouldn’t be.”