Lincoln Riley had every right to be enraged. Officials in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, the first College Football Playoff semifinal game Saturday, missed an obvious pass interference call late in the first quarter, which would have handed Oklahoma some desperately needed help to continue its drive.
With about four minutes remaining on the first-quarter clock, Sooners quarterback Jalen Hurts was scrambling on 3rd-and-10 on his team’s own 38-yard line. Moving backward, Hurts launched the ball, and at first, it looked like it was headed for the sideline.
But the ball ended up bouncing off Jadon Haselwood, the intended target who was already on the ground. LSU cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. was covering Haselwood when the Oklahoma wide receiver cut back up, and when Stingley seemingly realized he was beat, he grabbed Haselwood’s right arm and pulled him to the ground.
This was not called pass interference #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/giHfSgLT0n
— ESPN (@espn) December 28, 2019
There are plenty of times in football when no one seems entirely sure what constitutes pass interference, but this is not one of those cases. It was so blatantly obvious to everyone except the ACC officials on the field.
And when no flag flew, Riley exploded on the sideline.
Lincoln Riley is going ballistic at the officials after that non-call pic.twitter.com/H8lipJrc5o
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) December 28, 2019
Even ESPN’s rules expert Matt Austin agreed, saying that “definitely should have been a foul,” which would have kept Oklahoma’s drive alive with a 15-yard penalty.
Instead, the Sooners punted, and LSU scored a touchdown on the next drive to take a 21-7 lead with about a minute left in the first quarter.
College football Twitter was baffled by this missed, super obvious call.
lol this is an atrocious no-call on Derek Stingley’s pass interference pic.twitter.com/2QnV4bFx3n
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) December 28, 2019
HOW CAN THAT NOT BE PASS INTERFERENCE!!!??? JUST A STOMACH-TURNING MISSED CALL. LSU HAS ENOUGH ADVANTAGE WITHOUT A REF BEING THEIR 12TH MAN.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) December 28, 2019
No flag? Holy crap that’s bad.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) December 28, 2019
No pass interference was called on this play 🤨 pic.twitter.com/bXnWoOuNKC
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 28, 2019
LOL I am never going to call for a pass interference flag but LOL wow.
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) December 28, 2019
RT if this was pass interference pic.twitter.com/Qvz6g4P4gv
— Elite College Football (@EliteCollege_FB) December 28, 2019
Other than tackling the Oklahoma WR, that wasn’t pass interference.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) December 28, 2019
Apparently it's only pass interference in the #PeachBowl if you pull a knife on the receiver pic.twitter.com/fKDy1TdLIy
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 28, 2019
No flag? Lol wow
— Tony Jefferson (@_tonyjefferson) December 28, 2019
No flag? That was one of the easiest calls I may have ever seen.
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) December 28, 2019
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