Big Ten says USC should have been penalized on its next drive after its fake punt with a QB wearing the punter’s number

The Big Ten says USC’s fake punt against Northwestern should have led to a 15-yard penalty later in the game.

The Trojans pulled off a fake by switching backup QB Sam Huard’s number from No. 7 to No. 80, the same number that punter Sam Johnson wears. Early in the second quarter, Huard entered the game in a punt formation and completed a 10-yard pass to Tanook Hines for a first down. USC then scored a touchdown later on the drive for a 14-7 lead in their Friday night win over the Wildcats.

On Sunday, the Big Ten said that USC should have been assessed a 15-yard penalty when punter Sam Johnson entered the game on USC’s next drive because he would have been a second player lining up to punt while wearing No. 80.

“NCAA Football Playing Rule 9, Section 2, Article 2 is labeled ‘unfair tactics,’ with paragraph ‘d’ stating ‘Two players playing the same position may not wear the same number during the game,’” the conference said.

“If a foul was identified when #80 (Johnson) entered the game as a punter, a Team Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty would have been assessed resulting in a 15-yard penalty from the previous spot.”

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USC’s ability to execute the fake was likely helped by the school’s lack of names on the jerseys. USC is one of the few schools in college football that only has numbers on player jerseys. Northwestern would have had to recognize that it was Huard in the game instead of Johnson.

And even if officials did call a 15-yard penalty later in the quarter, we think 15 yards ahead of an obvious punting situation is a fair trade-off for a touchdown on the previous drive.

After the game, Northwestern coach David Braun admitted that USC did change Huard’s number on the game day roster. Huard was still listed at No. 7 on the USC website, but the official roster had him at No. 80.

“One of their backup quarterbacks, No. 7, was wearing No. 80, the same number as their punter. Did not show up on their roster online, hadn’t shown up anywhere else but they did legally submit that,” Braun said. “Was on the game day roster that was here present at the Coliseum and the lesson I’ve learned in that for the rest of my career is when we arrive at a facility we will go over that with a fine-tooth comb and look for any of those potential issues. If we knew that their backup quarterback was in the game in that situation we either would have been in safe [punt coverage] or called a timeout.”