Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman couldn’t help but feel annoyed as he watched a potential touchdown catch and run from Jayce Brown get erased by, of all things, a penalty on the opposing team during a 35-34 loss to Baylor on Saturday at McLane Stadium.
With about 4 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, K-State quarterback Avery Johnson found his best wide receiver with a deep pass up the right sideline. Brown made the catch, escaped the clutches of Baylor defender Caldra Williford and then took off for the end zone.
A touchdown would have given K-State a 37-32 lead with a chance to go for an important two-point conversion.
But it wasn’t to be. Why? Because Williford grabbed hold of Brown’s helmet and yanked it clear off his head as he tried to make a tackle. In college football, a play is instantly blown dead if the ball-carrier loses his helmet for any reason. Brown threw his hands up in disgust when he heard the whistle blow. He was never tackled, after all. Then his long hair bounced with every step he took on his way back to the K-State huddle.
Baylor was assessed a penalty for the illegal helmet removal. Brown still picked up a 48-yard gain on the play and the flag moved K-State into the red zone with 3:49 left on the clock. It was still a huge play for the Wildcats.
K-State went on to score on a short field goal from Luis Rodriguez with 1:48 remaining, which gave the Wildcats a 34-32 lead. But they wanted more. Not getting it left K-State fans, and Klieman, pointing back at Brown’s long catch after Baylor won the game on a late field goal.
“If they don’t face mask Jayce,” Klieman said, “and if his helmet doesn’t come off, we would have already scored.”
It is impossible to know how much a K-State touchdown in that situation would have changed the game. Even with a score, Baylor and its high-octane offense would have several minutes to answer.
Still, Johnson would have taken his chances.
“We were in a RPO read and Jayce had a really good release and beat his guy deep,” Johnson said. “If we score right there ... you can say we scored too fast and gave them too much time, but I think forcing the team to go all the way into the end zone is way more important than burning more clock and kicking and field goal.”
The Wildcats can do little more than chalk it up to bad luck. But fans felt cheated by the facemask penalty. Why should Baylor have benefited from it?
That prompted some to vent about the rule.
According to Rule 12-3-3 in the NCAA rule book, the officials could have considered awarding K-State with a touchdown in that situation. But only if they deemed the Baylor penalty to be “a palpably unfair act” and if they thought that a K-State touchdown was “equitable.”
An aggressive face mask probably doesn’t meet that criteria. Still, it was discussed among purple-clad fans.
It’s an obscure rule, but it was referenced in the NFL last year when the Washington Commanders wouldn’t stop jumping off sides against the Philadelphia Eagles during a playoff game as they tried to tackle Jalen Hurts on a quarterback sneak. If they continued to commit the same penalty over and over, the officials warned them that Philadelphia could be awarded a touchdown without actually reaching the end zone.
