Southern California football caught Northwestern off guard early in the second quarter of the teams’ Week 11 game on Friday, Nov. 7, when third-string quarterback Sam Huard successfully attempted a disguised fake punt.
That sneaky special teams play from the No. 21-ranked Trojans (No. 19 in CFP) was a missed penalty by the officials on the field.
In a Sunday, Nov. 9 news release, the Big Ten Conference said Lincoln Riley’s Trojans should have incurred a ‘team unsportsmanlike conduct penalty,’ as Huard wore the same jersey number as USC’s normal punter, Sam Johnson.
‘During Friday’s Northwestern at Southern California football game, with 13:58 remaining in the second quarter (fourth-and-6), USC No. 80 (Huard) lined up 13 yards in the backfield within a punt formation and completed a 10-yard pass. A second USC No. 80 (Johnson) is listed on the Trojans roster and punted twice in the contest,’ the release read.
The issue of the matter was that Huard, who is listed as No. 7 on USC’s online roster, was listed on the game day roster as No. 80, the same number as Johnson. The Big Ten cited Rule 9, Section 2, Article 2, Paragraph D — ‘Unfair Tactics — of the NCAA football rulebook as the rule that the Trojans violated:
‘Two players playing the same position may not wear the same number during the game,’ the rulebook states.
Here’s a clip from the Fox broadcast where there was initial confusion from broadcasters Jason Benetti and Robert Griffin III on the situation:
‘It was just a well thought out thing by several of our staff members,’ Riley said following USC’s win on Friday, Nov. 7. ‘It got added at the right time and we had confidence in it. Sam stepped in there, made a good throw, had a guy kind of in his face, was a good throw, made a nice play, and it was a key point of the game.’
The Big Ten added that its review of the fake punt will continue with both USC and Northwestern.
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