Big Ten states USC should have been assessed penalty for punting trickeration vs. Northwestern

The Big Ten stated USC should have been penalized for its fake punt against Northwestern Friday night. The reason? Two players played the same position with the same jersey number.

“During Friday’s Northwestern at Southern California football game, with 13:58 remaining in the second quarter (4th at 6), USC #80 (Huard) lined up 13 yards in the backfield within a punt formation and completed a 10-yard pass,” the statement read. “A second $80 (Johnson) is listed on the Trojans roster and punted twice in the contest. NCAA Football Playing Rule 9, Section 2, Article 2 is labeled ‘Unfair Tactics,’ with paragraph ‘d’ stating: ‘Two players playing the same position may not wear the same number during the game.’

“If a foul was identified when #80 (Johnson) entered the game as a punter, a Team Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty would have been assessed, resulting in a 15-yard penalty from the previous spot. The Big Ten will continue to review the situation with both institutions.”

Later, Jason Benetti learns that this is actually USC backup QB Sam Huard throwing on the fake punt.

Huard is the nephew of Benetti's former broadcast partner, Brock.

"My phone is going to be a disaster if Brock watches this. An absolute disaster." pic.twitter.com/pPwzgTrECO https://t.co/Tm6JF6hbWa

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 8, 2025

USC has punter Sam Johnson, who wears No. 80. They also have backup quarterback Sam Huard, who wears No. 7. But on this fake punt, Huard actually wore a No. 80 jersey to line up as the punter in the second quarter, with the game tied 7-7. He completed a pass for a first down to keep the drive alive.

The Trojans went on to win 38-17, but they were in a dogfight in the first half. There’s no doubt this play started swinging the momentum in USC’s favor. Funny enough, FOX play-by-play man Jason Benetti thought it was Johnson who threw it, until later being told it was Huard wearing a different number.

How did USC get away with it? How did they even pull it off without any officials realizing in real time? Apparently, Huard switched to No. 80, matching Johnson’s number, prior to the game and the official roster was handed over to the officials pregame.

Northwestern coach David Braun admitted he and the staff should’ve been more prepared for that situation. Seemingly, USC planned for Huard to pull this off only on a trick play, but no one noticed the rule violation in real time.,

“One of their backup quarterbacks, No. 7, was wearing No. 80, the same number as their punter. Did not show up on their roster online, hadn’t shown up anywhere else, but they did legally submit that,” Braun said postgame. “Was on the game day roster that was here present at the Coliseum, and the lesson I’ve learned in that for the rest of my career is when we arrive at a facility, we will go over that with a fine-tooth comb and look for any of those potential issues. If we knew that their backup quarterback was in the game in that situation, we either would have been in safe [punt coverage] or called a timeout.”