The NCAA football rules committee provided new guidance on Wednesday to fix a loophole that let second-ranked Oregon take advantage of an illegal substitution penalty late in their win over Ohio State to run down the clock.
As Ohio State was trying to score in their final possession with only seconds remaining, Oregon was penalized for having too many players on the field, resulting in a 5-yard penalty. Although the Buckeyes gained 5 yards, this move took four seconds off the clock. Oregon ended up winning the game 32-31.
“After the Two-Minute Timeout in either half, if the defense commits a substitution foul and has 12 or more players on the field and participates in a play, officials will penalize the defense for the foul and at the choice of the offended team, reset the game clock back to the time shown at the snap,” the guidance explained.
“The game clock will then restart on the next snap,” it added. “If the 12th player was trying to leave the field but was still present at the snap and did not affect the play, then the usual substitution penalty would apply without any clock change.”
Steve Shaw, NCAA coordinator of football officials, stated that a “guiding principle of the NCAA Football Rules Committee is that there should be no benefit when a team commits a penalty.”
“The goal of this in-season interpretation is to remove any clock advantage from committing a substitution foul and to eliminate any gain for the defense if they break the substitution rule,” he said.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day has not made any comments about the situation. The Buckeyes were also affected on their final drive by an offensive pass interference call that set them back.
Oregon coach Dan Lanning suggested during his Monday news conference that the Ducks took advantage of this loophole.
“We spend a lot of time on different situations, and some don’t happen very often in college football, but this was obviously something we had prepared for,” Lanning said. “You can see the result.”
Oregon took the lead with 1:47 left in the game when Atticus Sappington kicked a 19-yard field goal, giving the Buckeyes a chance to drive down the field for a possible winning field goal.
With Ohio State facing a third-and-25 from the Oregon 43, the Ducks called a timeout with 10 seconds remaining.
Just before the ball was snapped, Oregon defensive back Dontae Manning stepped onto the field, adding an extra defender. Ohio State was unable to complete a pass against Oregon’s 12-player defense on the next play, and the Ducks received a penalty for illegal substitution.
Ohio State gained 5 yards from the penalty but lost four seconds off the clock because the penalty was considered a live-ball foul.
This left the Buckeyes with only six seconds remaining, and quarterback Will Howard tried to run up the middle but slid a moment too late, preventing Ohio State from calling a timeout for a potential game-winning field goal at the Oregon 26.
