Watching the Kentucky/Tennessee game yesterday brought to light a loophole in the NCAA rules.  Here’s what happened:

*Tennessee has the ball first and is intercepted in overtime. 
*Kentucky plays conservatively and sets up a field goal to win the game.  Kentucky’s FG attempt is blocked.  The ball goes backwards and is live.  If Tennessee recovers and returns it to the opposite endzone they’ll score 2 points and win the game. 
*Tennessee CB freshman Eric Berry recovers the ball and appears to have a lane while sweeping right across the grain of defenders.  There appears to only be one defender with an angle to stop him.  To ensure the tackle, the Kentucky defender grabs Berry by the facemask and drags him down.  It is a blatant, and flagrant, illegal tackle done to ensure the tackle isn’t missed.  Flags fly.

But the catch is this: it’s overtime.  Teams are supposed to get the ball on the 25 yard line regardless of DEFENSIVE penalties that occur DURING the last play of the last overtime after the original offensive team has lost possession of the ball. 

Okay, that was a little confusing.  Let me try to clear that up.  

When Kentucky was kicking the field goal, they are the original offensive team.  When the FG attempt is blocked and Tennessee recovers, Tennessee becomes the offense and Kentucky becomes the defense.  The original offensive team (Kentucky) has lost possession of the ball.  Any penalties committed by Kentucky during the moments of the game when Tennessee (the original defense team, and now the offensive team) has the ball ARE NOT ENFORCED!

Yes, that’s a fact. 

On that play, where Eric Berry was blatantly and flagrantly illegally tackled, flags were thrown.  But what happened?  Nothing.  Nothing at all.  

Kentucky was on offense first in the next overtime and got the ball at the 25 yardline just as they are supposed to per NCAA overtime rules… despite the fact that one of their players resulted to an illegal, potentially life ending tackle to stop the ball carrier in the very last play of the last overtime.  

Here’s the ESPN play-by-play.   Scroll down to overtime when the score is 38-38.  You’ll see that Kentucky’s FG is blocked, and then in the next overtime they get the ball on the 25 yardline without any penalty.  SI’s play-by-play shows the same thing (I checked just to make sure one of them just didn’t make a mistake). 

So what’s the significance of this loophole?  Well, honestly, not much.  It just means that when teams lose possession of the ball in overtime, they can freely commit flagrant penalties without fear of penalty (actual penalty, not just getting flagged).  It may not seem that powerful, but it sort of is.  Just like what happened in the Kentucky/Tennessee game: a game saving illegal tackle… is essentially LEGAL!  

Normally, the game cannot end on a defensive penalty, but that rule does not apply in overtime when the original offensive team loses possession of the ball.  So it’s quite unfair to Tennessee to have to go to another overtime when Kentucky got away with an illegal tackle to save the game and wasn’t punished.  

I think this loophole should be patched up by the following rule: if such events were to happen, then there should be a "half the distance to the goalline" penalty from the spot of the foul, or a "move the ball to the 1 yard line" penalty (such as Pass interference in the endzone with NFL rules), AND the current offensive team gets ONE last free play to score via field goal or touchdown.  I know, I know.  Those are HUGE big time penalties.  And it definitely seems unfair, but what are the other alternatives?  A do-over?  Keep the same players on the field where they last were at the time of the penalty, and just let the play re-start as if the illegal game saving tackle didn’t happen???  Umm… no. 

The fact is, Tennessee should have gotten some sort of remedy for that illegal game saving tackle.  It was definitely possible that if it weren’t for that illegal tackle that Eric Berry would have scored and won the game (I know Tennessee won anyways, but that’s off-topic).  Instead, Tennessee gets screwed out of that illegal tackle.  What if Tennessee had LOST the game in the next overtime?  It certainly would be unfair that they lost and didn’t get any sort of remedy for the illegal tackle.   

If anything, when Kentucky got the ball on offense for the next overtime, the rules should have evaluated the 15 yard personal foul penalty then.  Thus, Kentucky should have gotten the ball at the 40 yardline instead of the 25 yardline.  But the problem with this remedy is that penalty enforcement should occur IN THE SAME OVERTIME, and be relative to WHERE the foul happens and not in the next overtime (that’s why my two suggested remedies are superior although VERY heavy penalties).  But nope.  Didn’t happen.  Illegal tackles go unpunished in overtime after the defense gains possession of the ball.  Loophole.  Feel free to maliciously, flagrantly, and blatantly facemask tackle to save the game because nothing happens!  Woo!!!