Oklahoma scores controversial touchdown vs. Auburn on apparent ‘hide-out’ play
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Auburn’s big defensive mistake in the second quarter of Saturday’s SEC showdown at No. 11 Oklahoma was filled with controversy and maybe a little rule-breaking, too.
With 10:45 left in the second quarter in a 3-3 game, Sooners quarterback John Mateer found Isaiah Sategna III for a 24-yard touchdown connection that seemed way too easy. Maybe that’s because it could have been deemed illegal on second look.
Here is the touchdown to a ridiculously wide open Sategna, who was gliding down the left sideline with no Auburn player in ear shot of him:
Apparently, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze and Tigers defensive coordinator DJ Durkin were trying to call a timeout before the weird play, and they both let the officials know it after the damage was done by Mateer’s TD pass.
But the 22nd-ranked Tigers might have also been the victim of an illegal play, with Sategna seen drifting toward the sideline but not going out of bounds. When he stayed inbounds, the Auburn defense was oblivious to it, and so that’s why Sategna was so wide open on the touchdown pass.
According to ESPN rules analyst Matt Austin, if Oklahoma used a ‘hide-out’ play to fake Auburn out, it’s an illegal play and the touchdown shouldn’t have counted.
Here’s the video of Sategna making like he was going out of bounds without going out of bounds:
Whether it was an illegal play or not or whether Auburn should’ve been granted a timeout or not, the play counted and so did the touchdown.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
