ABC rules analyst: Oklahoma should have been penalized for substitution trick on touchdown

According to ABC rules analyst Matt Austin, Oklahoma got away with one on a play that resulted in a touchdown against Auburn on Saturday.

With the score tied 3-3 and Oklahoma driving deep in Auburn territory, wide receiver Isaiah Sategna made for the sidelines as if he was being substituted for, but stopped right before entirely leaving the field. When the ball was snapped, no one on Auburn’s defense realized he was eligible, and he breezed into the endzone for a touchdown score.

As Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze lost it on the sideline, ABC announcers Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy were just as confused as everyone else, though McElroy thought it should have been a penalty. They called in Austin, who initially said that while he couldn’t see the receiver at the sideline from the camera angle, “you cannot use the substitution process to deceive your opponent.”

“If that’s what they were trying to do, that’s an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty,” he added. “It should be fifteen yards and no touchdown.”

When the ABC broadcast showed a new angle of Sategna on the sideline, it seemed even more apparent that Oklahoma had gotten away with some trickery.

“The way the receiver is walking to the sideline, his body language says, ‘I’m going off the field.’ Then he stops right by the sideline, and it’s his own sideline; that’s no coincidence,” added Austin. “To me, this is a hideout play, and it should be an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.”

According to On3’s George Stoia III, the team practiced this play all week.

It sure sounds like the Sooners got away with one here. At the time of this writing, they lead 16-10 in the fourth quarter, so that touchdown will likely loom large over the final score.