The Pac-12 has acknowledged that a clock mistake played a role in the delay of game penalty assessed to Oregon State in its loss at Fresno State.
According to a Pac-12 spokesman who spoke to The Oregonian/OregonLive, the play clock was set incorrectly at 25 seconds instead of 40 seconds on the sequence that led to the penalty. The issue came after the previous play, which affected the reset of the clock.
The sequence started before Oregon State’s third-and-five snap. Umpire Anthony Britt blew the play dead when a Fresno State defender appeared to be signaling for a timeout.
Referee Gary Reed then announced there was no timeout and reset the play clock to 25 seconds. Braden Atkinson then completed a four-yard pass to Jesse Legree.
But the clock started again at 25 seconds rather than 40, and when Oregon State sent Maalik Murphy out to try to go for it on fourth-and-one, the Beavers just missed getting the snap off before time expired. Oregon State coach JaMarcus Shephard said the program submitted the play to the conference for review and had not gotten an explanation as of Monday morning.
The penalty pushed Oregon State into a fourth-and-six situation, and Caleb Ojeda came on for a 54-yard field goal that gave the Beavers a 3-0 lead.
The conference’s public-statement policy covers a “game-ending call or no-call impacting the result of the game” and “call involving a significant error in officiating mechanics.” In the Pac-12’s view, this situation did not rise to that level.
Oregon State, now 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-12, turns to Texas State next. The Beavers host the Bobcats on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Reser Stadium in Corvallis.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. PT.
The game will air on The CW, channel 32 in Portland, with radio coverage on KEX 1190 in Portland and KEJO 1240 and 93.7 in Corvallis. Streaming is available through Fubo, and viewers in Oregon can also watch locally with a HDTV antenna on channel 32.1 KRCW-TV in the Portland metro area.
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