‘I thought that’s what interference was’: Brent Venables, Drake Stoops sound off on no-call
There’s no way to sugarcoat what happened to Drake Stoops in the end zone. He was the victim of assault. But if you ask the Big 12 official just feet away from the play, he’d be a terrible eyewitness.
Don’t call him to the stand.
Stoops was having a career game. And that was an opportunity for him to put an exclamation point on a Bedlam performance for the ages. And the official observing the play robbed him of it.
It wasn’t the only questionable no-call in coverage; Oklahoma State got away with a great deal on Saturday.
“I felt like I was getting held on the out and up,” Stoops said. “I ran out a couple times, but they didn’t call it.”
Oklahoma State defensive back Dylan Smith was as shocked as Stoops, Brent Venables, and Oklahoma fans.
Smith didn’t celebrate once he popped back up on his feet. He stared at the referee for a brief moment instead, almost as if he was expecting to be called for pass interference. – Justin Martinez, The Oklahoman
— 𝕺𝖐𝖑𝖆𝖍𝖔𝖒𝖆 𝖛𝖘. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 (@soonergridiron) November 4, 2023
More: Social media reacts to pass interference no-call.
It was such a head-scratching moment that the ESPN rules analyst was baffled by the no-call. Venables didn’t mince words on the failure of the officials saying, “I thought that was what interference was.”
It was pass interference, Coach. Though Oklahoma could have played better in other moments for it to have not mattered, the fact of the matter is that the no-call mattered.
Instead of kicking a field goal to cut Oklahoma State’s lead to three, the Sooners would have had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line with a chance to take the lead.
Instead of being down three in the final two minutes, the Sooners would have been up one and putting the onus on Alan Bowman to go win the game.
And we’ll never know how differently the game would have turned out because the Big 12 officiating crew kept the flags in their pockets. And in that singular instance, kept the Sooners from having a chance to win the game.
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