‘The Most Selfish Penalty Ever’: Morris Doesn’t Sugarcoat Young’s Late Penalty

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AMES, Iowa — Wyatt Young has played with a fire all season, and on Saturday, it burned the Cowboys.

Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State 51-49 on Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium after the Cowboys took a lead in the final minute.

But in the process of taking that lead, Young strolled over to the wall separating the fans from the field and let some of the Cyclone faithful know how he felt.

Between that exchange and an official apparently guiding him back onto the field, Young was flagged, which pushed OSU’s ensuing kickoff back, giving Iowa State good field position with 50 seconds left. With OSU’s defense already struggling, the Cyclones promptly got into field-goal range and walked it off against the Cowboys.

After the game, OSU coach Eric Morris didn’t mince words about Young’s penalty.

“To put the nail in the coffin at the end on Halloween night, we have the most selfish penalty ever,” Morris said. “After we score a touchdown and go up and put our defense in a bad position right there. That falls on me. That falls on me as the head coach. That’s something, I’ll get that fixed.”

Young’s in-your-face attitude has been noted going back to even the West Virginia game. Then he was asked about it again the next time he was made available to the media, where he was asked if his fiery on-field attitude had ever led to a flag.

“No, sir,” Young said on Oct. 13. “I keep it in between the whistles. I try my best to, at least.”

Well, the first of such flags came in perhaps the worst moment possible.

“At that point in the game, a kid with that much experience that’s played so well, knows he needs to celebrate with his teammates,” Morris said. “He didn’t celebrate with his teammates. That’s our rule, and there’ll be punishments because of it.”

Young’s final touchdown capped what would’ve been an outstanding game for him.

He finished with seven catches for 74 yards and two touchdowns. Instead, of his go-ahead touchdown, this game will be — in part — remembered for what happened after it.

Another element to the play, is it was well-designed in an area the Cowboys have struggled this season. Young ran in front of Drew Mestemaker as OSU’s quarterback took the snap. Mestemaker flipped it to Young while faking a give to Caleb Hawkins, and Young strolled into the end zone rather easily.

The topic after essentially every OSU game this season has been their struggles in close, and they made it look easy just to step on a rake right after.

You also wonder how much the play before might’ve led to Young’s flag. Caleb Hawkins had a 5-yard run from the Iowa State 19-yard line, and after the play, ISU’s Duhron Goodman gave Young a punch to the facemask. It was flagged, moving OSU to the 7, and Young got his get-back on the next play.

Based on Morris’ comments, it doesn’t sound as if it’s going to be a fun few upcoming days for Young. It also sounds like his quarterback is going to try to play good cop, while his coach plays bad cop.

“It’s just hard because he plays his best when he’s walking that line,” Mestemaker said. “Obviously we can’t have that happen, and he knows it. He’s beating himself up the most out of anyone. Just gotta be there for him. It sucks. We gotta learn from it and move on.”