NCAA changes controversial rule Oregon exploited to beat Ohio State

The Oregon Ducks’ leash on beating the rulebook has run out after coach Dan Lanning exploited a loophole regarding 12 men on the field penalties to help down Ohio State.

NCAA secretary-rules editor Steve Shaw announced in a statement that an amendment would be made to the rulebook to “take away any gain for the defense” in the event that the defense has too many players on the field in the last two minutes of either half.

If 12 players actively participate in the play, as the Ducks did Saturday, offenses will now have the option to take a penalty and reset the clock to where it stood when the ball was snapped.

When a player is in the process of running off the field, it will still be a “free play” for the offense, and the clock will not reset to the time of the snap.

“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.”

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During Oregon’s 32-31 victory Saturday in the epic Big Ten Showdown, Ohio State was driving for a late field goal with 10 seconds left when Ducks cornerback Dontae Manning ran onto the field as the 12th defender for 3rd-and-25 play from the Oregons’ 43-yard line.

Quarterback Will Howard threw an incomplete pass while facing an extra defender and four seconds came off the clock, while Ohio State advanced five yards due to the penalty.

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For Oregon, this trade off made sense since Ohio State lost valuable time while still remaining out of field goal range and the Buckeyes had to risk potentially not getting out of bounds on the next play.

The rule change now makes this a dead-ball foul, meaning Ohio State would advance five yards and still have 10 seconds at its disposal.

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The game ended on the next play when Howard slid one second too late during a scramble, preventing the Buckeyes from attempting a go-ahead field goal.

A grinning Lanning told reporters after the game the penalty was no accident, as the Ducks purposely applied exploited a loophole that ended up being the difference in the game.

“We spend an inordinate amount of time on situations, and some situations don’t come up very often in college football, but this was obviously something we had worked on,” Lanning said. “You can see the result.”

Oregon moved up the rankings to No. 2 with the win, while Ohio State now sits at No. 4.

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