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Defensive delay of game? West Virginia and Kansas flagged for it

One of the rarest penalties in football was called three times in the first half of West Virginia’s 38-22 win against Kansas.

Both teams were hit with delay of game penalties on defense – two against Kansas and one against West Virginia.

The flag is thrown when officials can hear defensive players attempting to simulate the offensive snap count and force a bad snap or false start.

The calls were made early, Kansas had one in the first quarter and one in the second and West Virginia’s came in the second quarter.

Offensive tackle Colton McKivitz said Kansas defenders barking cadences led to shaky snaps by Mountaineers center Matt Jones on two series.

“It was definitely addressed to the line judge, saying ‘These guys are yelling to get us to jump,” McKivitz said. “I think they did a pretty good job of hearing it to settle it down.”

Crunching numbers from Saturday’s game

— West Virginia had no receivers to gain 100 yards, the first time that has happened this season.

14 — Number of times quarterback Will Grier has thrown for 300 or more yards in a game. He’s three behind Geno Smith for the school record.

— Contributing: Allan Taylor