The first college football Saturday of the year made it approximately one half before controversy struck.
West Virginia has a bone to pick after an apparent no-call helped give Penn State a touchdown as time ran down in the first half in Morgantown.
Omari Evans’ 55-yard catch that helped set up a touchdown on the very next play appeared to be a potential offensive pass interference, with Fox’s Joel Klatt among those who believed there was a missed call.
“Omari Evans maybe gets away with a little bit of a push right there,” Klatt said over a replay of the catch. “And gets himself free. Did he extend and push off? Oh absolutely.
“That’s a miss right there and Omari Evans benefits and now he gets the ball deep inside the 30. See that left arm right there? That’s a shove and he gets away with it on a big deep ball.”
The play, which came with 10 seconds to go in the half and Penn State at its own 27-yard line while leading 13-6, changed the tenor of the game going into halftime.
Had the pass fallen incomplete or been negated by penalty, it’s likely that the Nittany Lions would have simply kneeled out the clock.
Instead, Drew Allar hit Harrison Wallace III for an 18-yard score with six seconds to go before halftime, bringing Penn State’s lead to 14 at the break.
Potential missed call aside, though, Penn State had things rolling early in the game, particularly with Allar.
At the half, the highly touted quarterback had already thrown for three touchdowns and nearly 200 yards.
