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The NCAA enacts a rule change after Oregon’s late 12-man penalty shortened playing time against Ohio State [Video]

The NCAA enacts a rule change after Oregon’s late 12-man penalty shortened playing time against Ohio State [Video]

Oregon’s apparent ingenuity led to a rule change during the season.

The NCAA sent out a rules memo on Wednesday outlining the new procedures for referees if a team commits a substitution foul within the final two minutes of a half.

With 10 seconds left in Oregon’s 32-31 win over Ohio State in Week 7, Oregon called a timeout and added a 12th player to the field after the timeout. Ohio State threw an incomplete pass from the spot where the 12th player was located.

Oregon received a five-yard penalty, but there were four seconds left on the clock. Ohio State QB Will Howard scrambled up the middle as time expired on the next play and Oregon won the game.

Going forward, the clock will reset when a team tries to repeat what Oregon did in the final two minutes of each half.

“If the defense commits a substitution foul after the two-minute timeout in either half and there are 12 or more players on the field involved in a down, the officials will penalize the defense for the foul and, at the option of the offending team, set the game clock to the time shown at the snap,” the NCAA memo said. “The game clock is then restarted at the next snap. If the 12th defender attempted to leave the ball but was still on the field at the time of the snap and had no influence on the play, the normal substitution penalty was assessed with no time adjustment.”

The change comes after NCAA Director of Officials Ross Dellenger told Yahoo Sports that a change to the rule was under consideration. But could there still be a gap? Oregon’s 12th defensive lineman was not involved in the game against the Buckeyes. Is the wording in the new interpretation regarding a player running off the field a sufficient deterrent for a team to not try Oregon’s tactics again with a change?

On Monday night, Oregon coach Dan Lanning did not specifically confirm that the Ducks intentionally had a 12th defender on the field, but made it clear that his team had practiced several end-of-game scenarios.

“There was a timeout before that – we spend an inordinate amount of time on situations,” Lanning said. “There are some situations that don’t happen very often in college football, but we’ve obviously worked on this one. This way you can see the result.”