Oregon brilliantly exploited the NCAA rule book to secure its landmark 32-31 win over Ohio State on Saturday night, purposefully or serendipitously putting 12 men on the field with 10 seconds to play.
Finally asked about it Monday, Lanning did not explicitly confirm Oregon purposefully committed a penalty in order to gain an advantage in a highly-leveraged situation... but he did grin ear-to-ear when asked, and then explained the strategy behind the situation.
So, to their credit, Oregon smartly turned the rule book against itself in order to gain an advantage, and the entire college football world took notice.
Including the people who write the rule book.
NCAA secretary rules editor Steve Shaw told Yahoo on Tuesday that the NCAA Football Playing Rules Committee is "engaged" in "examining the play for possible action."
As stated below, 12-plus men on the field is a dead-ball penalty on the offense but a live-ball penalty on the defense.
Closing the loop hole would simply require restoring the clock to the time remaining at the snap, but it remains to be seen whether the Rules Committee can or will change the interpretation mid-season.
“We’ve had good dialogue on this play,” Shaw told Yahoo. “We’ve recognized the way it played out.”