By Matt Thacker
Big East officials admitted yesterday that referees blew a call on West Virginia’s on-side kick that helped spark WVU’s huge comeback win against the Cardinal football team last Saturday.
After Steve Slaton of West Virginia rushed for a touchdown with 8:16 left in the game to bring his team within 10 points of Louisville, the Mountaineers attempted an unexpected on-side kick.
Marquis Melvin of West Virginia recovered the kick. A referee threw a flag after a Louisville player was knocked down by a player from West Virginia, but the penalty was waved off.
A defensive player has the right to make a play on the ball without being hit before it goes 10 yards, but the officials determined that the ball had required distance.
“We are acknowledging that a mistake was made on the call,” said John Paquette, associate commission of the Big East. He added that no action would be taken and no official apology or statement would be issued.
Head Coach Bobby Petrino said the Big East had told him that the officials didn’t realize the player was trying to make a play on the ball.
According to Big East regulations, the play was not reviewable. Had a penalty been called, U of L could have taken possession inside Mountaineer territory.
Louisville Sports Information did not comment, but during his press conference yesterday, Head Coach Bobby Petrino stressed the importance of being able to rebound from mistakes which he said they did not do in this case.
“We try to tell our players all the time that it’s not what happens to you in life it’s how you react to it,” Petrino said. “And there are going to be thing in football that you have to react to and overcome, and we didn’t do that.”
