Neal Brown on controversial end to first half vs. Penn State: 'I want some explanations on that'

Penn State extended its lead lead in the final moments of the first half during their 34-12 win over West Virginia on Saturday, scoring on an 18-yard strike to Harrison Wallace III to take a 20-6 lead into halftime.

However, the was a bit of controversy in the moments leading up to that touchdown pass, and Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown wants an explanation for it.

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During the play before the touchdown pass, the Nittany Lions were set up inside the WVU redzone thanks to a 55-yard catch from Drew Allar to Omari Evans. However, it appeared that Evans pushed off the Mountaineers defender to make the grab but no flag was thrown. Joel Klatt, who was on the call for FOX, called it a “miss” by the officials. Brown believes the touchdown should be been reviewed as well.

“That should never happen with 32 seconds ago,” Brown said after the game. “Now I’ll say this, if we’re going to have replay, then we need to have replay in the first half. So I want some explanations on that, because having the ability to watch the video at halftime — we had that long break, the lightning delay, so I really watched every play of the first half — and I don’t understand. I’m going to have to get some explanation on that, because you have replay, so plays get checked.

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“The touchdown at the end of the first half, the ball looked like it was moving and it never went to replay. So why do we have it? I don’t understand how we have it if it never goes [to replay. And I’ll say this, the officiating is really, really hard. The crew the game did a nice job, and that’s in live time. That’s fast, but we shouldn’t have mistakes in replay ever, so I want to get some explanations on that.”

Brown said that while the call ultimately didn’t matter given the final score, but at the time the score was 13-6 and with the touchdown only added to their defecit before halftime. He still doesn’t want the play to be forgotten.

“The bottom line is we played poorly,” Brown continued. “I say that giving credit to Penn State. They won the game, but that’s not what we’re capable of. We have higher expectations for ourselves.

West Virginia will look to rebound from their season-opening loss when they host Albany this weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET live on ESPN+.