Interception out-of-bounds tossed to another player in-bounds

[mrcrumley]

In the 2001 Peach Bowl, the Offence threw a pass that was caught by Defender A mid-air and going out-of-bounds. Before he touched down, Defender A tossed the ball to Defender B, who was in-bounds and 4 yards up-field. The ball was awarded to the Defense, but the Defense was also charged with an illegal forward pass penalty.

I disagree with the call. I believe that since Defender A failed to come down with the ball, possession hadn’t yet changed. Therefore, there could be no illegal forward pass. Technically, wouldn’t tossing the ball, in this case, be a tipped ball instead of a pass? I think the correct call would have been to award the Defense with possession at the point that Defender B was tackled, and to have no penalty charged. I suspect that there wasn’t (and still might not be) a rule governing this specific and strange play in the rulebook. Can anyone shed some light on this situation?

You can view the play by going to the following URL:

http://espn.go.com/media/2001/m12/ncf_011231aub1v.avi