Well, what I’m really asking about was one of the penalties that caused it to be pushed back that far. I was sort of watching at the time, but didn’t catch the full gist. Here’s what I understand to have happened:
Miami scores a touchdown on a goal-line run. While the players were unpiling, Sebastian the whatever-the-hell-he-is runs out on the field to congratulate the scorer. This draws a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, enforced on the try. Fine.
The scrimmage line for the try is now the 18 yard line. Miami’s kicker puts this (35-yard) boot through the uprights, but there’s another penalty flag. I believe the call was 12 men on the field (Miami).
Somehow, this resulted in another 15-yard walkoff, putting the ball on the 33. On the next attempt, their kicker again nails the try, this time from 50 yards.
So here’s my question: Is 12 men on the field a 15-yard penalty in college, or am I missing some important detail about this? I had always thought that it was a 5-yarder - 15 seems really steep. It is 5 yards in the NFL, according to their Digest of Rules.
I can’t seem to find the NCAA rulebook online except for this, which seems so disorganized and incomplete that I really hope it’s not the genuine article. If it is, I couldn’t track down what the penalty is for too many players on the field.
Slight tangent: Is this the first time a penalty has ever been called on a mascot? Referee faces the camera, hits the microphone button, says “Fifteen yards, unsportsmanlike conduct, on the guy in the pelican suit”.
12 men on the field can be a 5 yard or a 15 yard penalty in college and high school football.
It’s a 5 yard penalty, if the 12th guy was in the huddle and then tried to leave the field but didn’t get off, or tried to leave by going out through the end zones. You have to exit the field by the sidelines. These are usually called “substitution infractions”.
If the 12th guy lined up in formation and participated in the play, it’s a 15 yard penalty for “illegal participation”.
When Oklahoma played Washington in the Orange Bowl back in the late 1980s, Oklahoma was flagged for a 15-yard penalty when the “Sooner Schooner” came out on the field prematurely after an Oklahoma score.
See BobT’s response above. Just wanted to add that in college football, the ref doesn’t announce which player the penalty was called on, just “the offense” or “the defense.”
I was watching that game, and was amazed on that stream of events. For some reasion I recall that in this case the ref did give the number of the mascot – #00
