Jamie Pollard, Iowa State’s athletic director, took the podium after Iowa State’s 37-20 loss to Oklahoma State. The loss came after a controversial touchdown reversal that ruled in favor of the Cowboys.

Pollard criticized officials for missing critical calls in games, saying Iowa State has been on the “short end of the stick” too many times. Here is his statement in full:

“Iowa State University takes great pride in how we conduct our business, and those of you who know me personally know that I work very hard to make sure my staff and I adhere to that. That being said, we’ve been on the short end of several controversial calls and it’s hard to sit idle and watch ESPN, Fox, other announcers not debate but to feel sorry for Iowa State because maybe there will be another apology for a call. Coach Rhoads and I have tried to deal with that internally and have tried to do it the right way. But it’s no longer fair to put our student athletes, our coaching staff and our fans in that position.

“Coach Rhoads and I, a year-and-a-half ago raised an issue, and we were the lone vote, and ever since that time we’ve been on the short end of the stick. I don’t know how things change. But it’s frustrating and it’s not fair. It’s not fair, again, to our players. It puts them in a position that I know a couple of them did some things during halftime that are inappropriate. I don’t fault them. I don’t fault them. They’re frustrated. And they’re frustrated with a lack of action.

“So we’ll continue to work internally, through the appropriate channels, but I felt it was appropriate to stand up here right now and stand behind our team and stand behind our coaching staff. And I recognize that the Big 12 does not allow comments to be made on officiating. And I recognize there are penalties for that. But folks, our institution’s been penalized already. I can think of three situations where the fine has been pretty great because we lost games as a result of calls that either we were apologized [to] or the media certainly felt we should we certainly should have been apologized to. We can’t get that back. That ends careers for football coaches, [athletic directors] and presidents, and so something’s got to be done. I don’t know what it is, but there needs to be more accountability on what happens in certain situations. Thank you.”