The NCAA football rules committee announced new guidelines on Wednesday aimed at closing a loophole that allowed Oregon, ranked second, to take advantage of an illegal substitution penalty in their narrow win against Ohio State. This decision came after a crucial moment in the game where Oregon was penalized for having too many players on the field, which resulted in time being taken off the clock despite Ohio State gaining yardage. The Ducks ultimately triumphed with a score of 32-31.
During the final moments of the game, as Ohio State was attempting to score, Oregon received a 5-yard penalty for having an excessive number of defenders on the field. While this infraction allowed Ohio State to advance 5 yards, it also cost them four seconds, which proved vital in the closing seconds of the game. As part of the new guidance, after the Two-Minute Timeout in either half, if a defensive team commits a substitution infraction involving 12 players on the field who partake in a down, they will be penalized. The offended team can now choose to reset the game clock back to what it displayed at the snap.
The guidance specifies that the game clock will resume on the next snap after the penalty, but if the twelfth player was in the process of exiting the field and did not have an impact on the play, then standard substitution penalties would apply without any clock adjustments. Steve Shaw, the NCAA’s coordinator of football officials, emphasized the committee’s commitment to ensuring that no team benefits from committing a penalty. He stated that this in-season directive aims to eliminate any potential advantage derived from clock manipulation due to substitution violations.
Ohio State’s head coach, Ryan Day, has refrained from commenting on the controversial play. It is noteworthy that the Buckeyes also faced a setback due to an offensive pass interference penalty during their last drive. Oregon’s coach, Dan Lanning, hinted at the strategy employed by his team in his post-game news conference, indicating that they had extensively prepared for such situations, even though they are rare in college football.
Oregon managed to take the lead with 1:47 remaining in the game, thanks to a field goal from Atticus Sappington. This score granted Ohio State the opportunity to mount a final drive for a potential game-winning kick. However, they faced a challenging third-and-25 situation from the Oregon 43-yard line, which was compounded by a timeout called by the Ducks just before the final play. In a pivotal moment, Oregon’s defensive back, Dontae Manning, entered the field late, resulting in the Ducks having 12 players on defense.
Although Ohio State gained five yards from the penalty, the four seconds lost due to the illegal substitution proved to be detrimental. With only six seconds left on the clock, Ohio State’s quarterback Will Howard scrambled but fell short of having enough time to call a timeout for a last-minute field goal attempt. Following the loss, the Buckeyes dropped to No. 4 in the AP Top 25 rankings.