USC/Utah ending

[Steven Tyler]

I don't know if this has already been posted.

The last play of the Southern Cal/Utah game last Saturday was a blocked FG by the Trojans. USC picked up the blocked kick and ran it in for a touchdown. A flag was thrown on the play because the USC bench, including Lane Kiffen came running onto the field during the runback.

The refs huddled for a few minutes, disallowed the score and said by rule the penalty is declined. The final score was USC 17-Utah 14. The PAC-12 today said the refs got the ruling the wrong and USC was awarded the TD resulting in a 23-14 final.

I don't know all the details, but the big hoopla is coming from Vegas because the line was USC minus 8 1/2.

Does anyone know why the score was changed and what the PAC-12 gave as the reason?

[JugglingReferee]

The score was changed because the score should have counted. Because it was the last play of the game, there was no possible way any any further to occur, and therefore no other events to rule upon. (Assuming that the PAT is trivial.)

[JugglingReferee]

Here are some links on the subject.

Pac-12 office changes Utah-USC final score; Trojans win 23-14 ? but hold your tickets! | Beyond The Bets

Pac-12 explains Utah-USC score correction - ABC 4.com - Salt Lake City, Utah News

Statement from Tony Corrente, Pac-12 Coordinator of Football Officiating, regarding the final play in Saturday night's game at the Los Angeles Coliseum between USC and Utah, in which USC won 23-14:

"The final play of the game between USC and Utah was ruled properly and the touchdown did stand. There was a miscommunication between the officials and the press box that led to the confusion about the final score. We will make the appropriate adjustments to improve communication between on field officials and press box personnel so that we avoid any scoring issues in the future."

[TXMike]

The only thing the R did wrong was to fail to actually signal the TD although the crew's game report reflected the score DID count. The crew knew what the true score was although the media and the Italians did not.

[Robert Goodman]

Probably someone mistook the "penalty declined, canceled, or nullified" signal for "no score".