Oregon’s coaches took advantage of a loophole in the rule book and it could have resulted in action during the NCAA season.
With 10 seconds left in the Ducks’ win over Ohio State on Saturday, the Buckeyes were driving to get within range for what would have been a game-winning field goal when Oregon called a timeout. After the stoppage, the Ducks sent 12 defenders onto the field for a third-down play that resulted in an incomplete pass and Ohio State leaving with just six seconds on the clock.
Oregon was flagged for illegal participation and essentially traded an extra defensive back after an obvious pass down for a five-yard penalty that burned four seconds off the clock — a smart move that is now under scrutiny.
Steve Shaw, the secretary of the NCAA rules editor, told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday that the NCAA Football Playing Rules Committee is actively “involved” in investigating the game for possible action. The Big Ten officiating team handled the play appropriately, Shaw said, but the rules committee is discussing a way to handle the play.
In the past, the rules committee has responded to such fair play incidents with interpretation bulletins issued throughout a season. The bulletins are often intended as a guideline for officials at future matches.
“We’ve had a good dialogue on this piece,” Shaw told Yahoo Sports. “We recognized how it happened.”
Mid-season rules interpretations are not common, but they have occurred in the past in similar plays that violate a component of the rules committee – that a penalty should not benefit the penalized team. The goal of any interpretation is to discourage coaches from further exploiting the rules, which can only be changed during a longer offseason process.
To discourage the action in the Oregon-Ohio State game, either interpretation would likely order the officials to reset the game clock to its original time. Shaw declined to comment on any details.
In an interview Monday, a grinning Oregon coach Dan Lanning appeared to acknowledge that coaches had deliberately used a 12th player — a defensive back — to assist with an obvious pass down.
“We spend an inordinate amount of time on situations, and there are situations that don’t happen that often in college football,” he said, “but this is one that we’ve obviously worked on. Here’s how you can see the outcome.”
