Iowa State Receiver Says He Was ‘Robbed’ After Oklahoma State Interception

Zeb Noland threw it up. A.J. Green came down with it. Sort of. Maybe. Probably. Green and Iowa State Marchie Murdock tussled in the back corner of the end zone over the ball, and it looked in real time as if Green was the recipient of Noland’s gift to give Oklahoma State the 49-42 win over ISU.

Other angles support other theories. I have no idea who actually came down with it. I only know that whichever team did not get it was going to be livid. If you watch this first video, it seems clear that Green caught it.

https://twitter.com/FanSportsClips/status/929456030878072832

But if you watch the second, it looks far more questionable. Not only does Murdock have his hand on the ball but when he rolls over it looks like he’s cradling it. I don’t know, though. I’ve watched it ~30 times, and I have no idea. If I was one of the refs I would have just run off the field and retired.

I’d say this was a TD for Iowa State… ISU WR is first to have control of ball. Knee down. https://t.co/FI7FJgpJAJ

— Blake Lawrence (@Blake_Lawrence) November 11, 2017

Anyway, Murdock was on the wrong side of the call, and he was not pleased about it. Here’s what he tweeted when he got to the locker room.

His coach Matt Campbell was more diplomatic.

“They felt like he had possession of it when they came down on the ground,” said Campbell. “It’s one of those bang-bang calls. I could sit here and complain about it, but that’s not who we are, and that’s not what we do. There’s a million different plays that we could have made in the game to not be put in that situation. That was a tough situation.”

Mike Gundy said he told Green and Rodarius Williams that they would be challenged throughout, and they were. They had some rough moments, but the goal-line stand at the end was not one of them.

“In the last series when we broke the huddle, we told four (A.J Green) and eight (Rodarius Williams), ‘They’re going to go after you and post up their big guys and throw it at you,'” said Gundy. “Eight came up with two big plays and obviously four made a big one in the end. I was very proud of those guys for that.”

UPDATE: I lied. It seemed pretty clear that it was an interception.

Here's the @usatsimg photo of the last INT. Obviously doesn't capture the entire thing, but pretty clearly looks like #okstate ball. pic.twitter.com/JobRkgOkHC

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) November 11, 2017