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USC Trojans (official thread)

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Last night Lincoln Riley lost the game for USC. Here are two example of the terrible play calls. Early on they were in 4th and three or four and in field goal range. Instead of taking the easy three points he goes for it and gets stopped. Later in the game with 4th and one he does some kind of sweep play instead of a QB sneak. What was that trick play where he wanted to have his star receiver throw the ball in rainy conditions? He really needs to be investigated for impersonating a head coach.
 
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exhawg said:
So USC had to cheat to beat Northwestern? Not just that, but their scam will only work once, so it isn't like they can try it again in a game that matters, since everyone will keep their eye out for jersey number shenanigans from now on.
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www.espn.com

USC's sneaky fake punt, newlywed Texas Tech fans top college football Week 11 superlatives

USC got tricky with its jersey numbers for a fake punt, Texas Tech fans made it to "College GameDay" after a wedding and more from Week 11.
www.espn.com www.espn.com



Tied with Northwestern in the second quarter of a Friday night contest at the Coliseum, USC opted for some trickery to generate a spark. Lining up for a punt on fourth-and-6, the Trojans lined up third-string quarterback Sam Huard in the punter's usual position, where he completed a quick pass to move the chains.

One distinct detail was essential in selling the fake: Huard wasn't wearing his usual number. A few weeks ago, the reserve signal-caller quietly changed his number from No. 7 to No. 80 on USC's game-day roster in anticipation of the play. Not coincidentally, Trojans punter Sam Johnson also wears No. 80.

It's not the first time a team has used some dual-number trickeration to pull off a fake -- during bowl season last year Bowling Green's third-string quarterback, Baron May, changed uniform numbers to be similar to Falcon punter John Henderson's No. 19, helping him throw a fake punt touchdown pass in the first quarter of the 68 Ventures Bowl.
 
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ScriptOhio said:
www.espn.com

USC's sneaky fake punt, newlywed Texas Tech fans top college football Week 11 superlatives

USC got tricky with its jersey numbers for a fake punt, Texas Tech fans made it to "College GameDay" after a wedding and more from Week 11.
www.espn.com www.espn.com



Tied with Northwestern in the second quarter of a Friday night contest at the Coliseum, USC opted for some trickery to generate a spark. Lining up for a punt on fourth-and-6, the Trojans lined up third-string quarterback Sam Huard in the punter's usual position, where he completed a quick pass to move the chains.

One distinct detail was essential in selling the fake: Huard wasn't wearing his usual number. A few weeks ago, the reserve signal-caller quietly changed his number from No. 7 to No. 80 on USC's game-day roster in anticipation of the play. Not coincidentally, Trojans punter Sam Johnson also wears No. 80.

It's not the first time a team has used some dual-number trickeration to pull off a fake -- during bowl season last year Bowling Green's third-string quarterback, Baron May, changed uniform numbers to be similar to Falcon punter John Henderson's No. 19, helping him throw a fake punt touchdown pass in the first quarter of the 68 Ventures Bowl.
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The B1G released a statement yesterday that a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty should have been called, since a team isn‘t supposed to have 2 players at the same position with the same number. But it wasn’t a penalty when the fake was run, since it was their first punt formation. The penalty occurred on their first actual punt when the regular punter became the 2nd guy using #80 at that position.

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Southern California should have been assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty during its game against Northwestern for having a reserve quarterback who executed a fake punt wear the same number as the Trojans’ regular punter, the Big Ten announced Sunday.

Early in the second quarter of Friday’s game in Los Angeles, third-string quarterback Sam Huard lined up in the punter’s spot wearing jersey No. 80 on a fourth-and-6 play. He took the long snap and completed a pass to Tanook Hines for a 10-yard gain. The Trojans scored a tie-breaking touchdown five plays later and won 38-17.

Sam Johnson, the Trojans’ regular punter who wears No. 80, punted for the first time on the next possession. At that point, the Big Ten said in a statement, USC should have been penalized under the NCAA’s “Unfair Tactics” rule (Rule 9, Section 2, Article 2).
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In his presser yesterday, the NW’ern coach was classy and said he didn’t blame the refs for not knowing which #80 came out for the punt formation. Since it was USC’s first punt of the game, and the Trojans don’t have names on their jerseys, how would they have known?

It does make me wonder about Egbuka and Downs both returning punts last year, although I’d have to check to see if they both did that in the same game. I’m sure Ryan Day has somebody studying the roster to ensure the Buckeyes won’t have that problem in future games.
 
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I remember Cal doing this to Ohio State a while back. 2012? 2013? The backup QB was the same number as the punter.
I'll see if I can find it... Or maybe my memory is wrong.

Edit: So it was the starting QB (Jared Goff) who shared numbers with the Punter (Cole Leininger) - #16.

www.espn.com

Ohio State 52-34 California (Sep 14, 2013) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the Ohio State Buckeyes vs. California Golden Bears NCAAF game from September 14, 2013 on ESPN. Includes all passing, rushing and receiving stats.
www.espn.com www.espn.com


16:50 Goff lined up as the punter and completed a pass for a first down.
Also, whatever you do, don't zurp straight to 13:55 and watch that play. I hate that a QB doesn't even need to be out of bounds, yet, to get the "late hit" penalty.
 
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BB73 said:
It does make me wonder about Egbuka and Downs both returning punts last year, although I’d have to check to see if they both did that in the same game. I’m sure Ryan Day has somebody studying the roster to ensure the Buckeyes won’t have that problem in future games.
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I looked at game reports from last season, and they show that Egbuka and Downs were both on for some punt return plays against Nebraska. They weren’t both listed as punt returners for any other game.

But the participation reports are unreliable, so I watched the replay of that Nebraska game, just skipping through to the Nebby punts. Gus Johnson called the returner Egbuka at least twice, but it was actually Downs on each punt I saw. I couldn’t always make out the name on the jersey, but fortunately Egbuka was wearing white socks/tape on his calfs and Downs wasn’t. So it doesn’t look like they got away with anything last season, despite what some player participation info (and a play-by-play guy) states.
 
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On another issue, read/heard that USC/Xichigan were both considering leaving the B10 due to this $2.2B equity thing. Might not be a bad thing that USC goes independent, might get their own network deal (being in the SoCal market). Don't recollect why USC asked to join B10 (UCLA is/was broke in athletic department), so the big money was an issue? B10 money was about +$40-50M more than P12, but never have heard USC was hurting for much of anything. Anyone else got a read on this?
 
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