After Dan Lanning Exploits a Loophole, the NCAA Overreacts to Close It

Moments ago Steve Shaw, the NCAA's football Secretary-Rules Editor issued a rules interpretation to prevent next-level shenanigans like Dan Lanning's intentional penalty in the last ten seconds of the 32-31 win over Ohio State.

With Ohio State driving to the Oregon 43, 3rd and 25 with 10 seconds to play the Ducks took a timeout, then sent 12 men on the field to give them an edge in preventing a big play while burning precious seconds off the clock. The time was far more valuable than the five-yard penalty, a genius move by the Oregon coaches, anticipating a situation most coaching staffs hadn't ever considered.

Shaw's statement in full:

"After the two-minute timeout in either half, if the defense commits a substitution foul and 12 or more players are on the field and participate in a down, officials will penalize the defense for the foul and, at the option of the offended team, reset the game clock back to the time displayed at the snap.

The game clock will then restart on the next snap. If the 12th defender was attempting to exit but was still on the field at the snap and had no influence on the play, then the normal substitution penalty of 5 yards would be enforced with no clock adjustment.

"Football is a very dynamic game," Shaw said. "Occasionally there are specific situations where committing a penalty can give a team an advantage. 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 eliminate a potential clock advantage for committing a substitution foul and take away any gain for the defense if they violate the substitution rule."

The clarified rules interpretation does discourage a rash of gamesmanship at the end of games, but it naturally leads to a question:  If the NCAA wants to review rules and officiating, why don't they start with an honest effort to improve and standardize officiating around the country, rather than focus on one team and one play while ignoring how inconsistent and sloppy officiating is from coast to coast?

Every week there are outrages. Targeting. Roughing the Passer. Pass Interference. Games are decided by phantom calls and excess flags and wild variations from league to league and region to region. Officiating hasn't kept up with the quality of play and the speed and talent of the players.

Rarely than merely obsessing over Lanning's brilliant move, why not make a good faith effort to address the overall quality of officiating. The Rules Committee has a lot of work to do.