Ohio State had 12 players on the field for fake punt play canceled by Georgia time out

Georgia’s timeout before an Ohio State fake punt was one of the most talked about plays in Saturday night’s thrilling College Football Playoff semifinal. It turns out, OSU should not have picked up a first down, even if the play had run.

The Buckeyes were in position to stay on the field with a new set of downs, for good reason. Screen captures of the game show that OSU had 12 players on the field for the fake punt. If properly called, the officiating crew should have flagged the Buckeyes and nullified the fake if the whistles had not blown the play dead.

On the infamous timeout call – Ohio State had 12 players on the field. How terrible was the PAC 12 Officiating? pic.twitter.com/v2bPxBr4eV

— Matthew Strickland ? (@strickland) January 1, 2023

Timeout of the year by Kirby Smartpic.twitter.com/ehKI5G41yE

— PFF (@PFF) January 1, 2023

The Pac-12 officiating crew had a rough night in Atlanta. The timeout should not have been needed, but it appears OSU was going to be able to run the play with 12 men on the field if not for the whistle. The timeout call will be talked about for years to come.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.