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A personal foul penalty rarely called in the fourth quarter was very expensive for the mountaineers and canceled what could have been an attempt by WVU TD. Mountaineer quarterback Will Grier found offensive midfielder Kennedy McCoy on a long run and dipped to the goal line.
However, the gain has been canceled. The reason for the penalty was that the WVU receiver T.J. Simmons continued blocking an Oklahoma database well after they left:
West Virginia had a big defeat because T.J. Simmons went on to block an Oklahoma database out of bounds.
And two games later, Will Grier escaped, Oklahoma took over for a TD. Brutal! pic.twitter.com/eseIz4cwaB
– #FreePhillipDorsett (@ ftbeard_17) November 24, 2018
It is a rare sentence that you do not hear often. The NCAA Rules Book says nothing about blocking out of bounds:
Late strike, action out of bounds
ARTICLE 7.
[…]
c. It is illegal for a player to be clearly out of bounds when he initiates a blockage against an opponent out of bounds. The point of the fault is where the blocker crosses the touchline when leaving the field.
Simmons clearly did not "initiate" the blocking against an opponent off the field. The block was already underway. It sounded like an improvisation on the part of the official, but you can see his reasoning. The defender was already well off the field. You can not drive a defender thoroughly into the crowd, right?
A few games later, Grier escaped the football and was returned for a touchdown to put the game further beyond the reach of the Mountaineers. Their eventual return would be insufficient.
It's obvious that WVU fans did not like this call in a critical moment, but it's pretty easy to understand why the flag was launched here.
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