Big Ten Admits Officials Mis-Spotted the Ball on Oregon’s Tying Two-Point Try in 17-15 UCLA Win

The Big Ten acknowledged Sunday that its officials spotted the ball incorrectly on Oregon’s final two-point conversion attempt in UCLA’s 17-15 win Saturday, a mistake that left the Ducks trying to tie the game from a yard farther back than the rules allow.

With 2:16 remaining at Autzen Stadium, Oregon quarterback Brock Thomas found wide receiver Evan Stewart for a 44-yard touchdown to cut UCLA’s lead to 17-15. Two-point conversions start at the 3-yard line. Thomas ran the first attempt and was stopped at the 1-yard line, but UCLA linebacker Sammy Omosigho was flagged for a facemask, giving Oregon another try.

By rule, the retry should have been spotted at the half-yard line — half the distance to the goal from the end of Thomas’s run. Instead, officials measured half the distance from the original line of scrimmage and placed the ball at the 1.5-yard line. Running back Jordon Davison ran up the middle and was stopped short, preserving UCLA’s win.

“Per rule, the ball should have been spotted half-the-distance to the goal from the end of the run of the first attempt,” the Big Ten said in a statement posted Sunday. The conference said it has been in contact with the officiating crew and “will continue to emphasize consistent application of the playing rules.”

A win that kept UCLA unbeaten — and dropped Oregon from the Top 25

UCLA improved to 5-0 behind a defense that forced seven turnovers, while Oregon fell to 3-2 and dropped out of the Top 25 from No. 13. The Bruins played the second half without injured quarterback Nico Iamaleava; backup Ty Dieffenbach threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to running back Wayne Knight early in the fourth quarter for a 17-6 lead, and Knight finished with 103 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning declined to blame the spot after the game, pointing instead to his team’s five lost fumbles and two interceptions. He also second-guessed his own decision to attempt a two-point conversion after Oregon’s first-quarter touchdown, which failed. “You gotta protect the ball, right?” Lanning said. “And you can coach it, and you can say it, but if it shows up, you’re not coaching it well enough.”

UCLA coach Bob Chesney credited defensive lineman Sahir West and the defensive front for the goal-line stop, and said Oregon’s chances of converting on the ground would have been high even from the correct spot. Oregon got one more chance after a UCLA three-and-out, starting at its own 5-yard line with 48 seconds left, but a completion followed by laterals ended when defensive back Dante Lovett recovered a fumble at UCLA’s 33-yard line — the Ducks’ seventh turnover.

Third acknowledged officiating error for the Big Ten this season

The Oregon spot was not the first officiating mistake the Big Ten has acknowledged this season. Earlier, the conference and the NCAA’s FBS Oversight Committee said instant replay protocols were not properly followed when Michigan’s Hail Mary beat Western Michigan 13-12 after replay officials put one second back on the clock. A week before the Oregon game, the Big Ten said officials should have let Nebraska retry a missed extra point late in its 48-23 win over Maryland after the Terrapins were flagged for roughing the snapper.

UCLA rose nine spots to No. 12 in Sunday’s AP poll. The Bruins host Wisconsin at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, while Oregon hosts Nebraska at Autzen Stadium the same day.

Reporting based on coverage by Pro Football Network.