USC began the second half of Saturday’s college football game against Cal-Berkeley by finishing the first half. Seriously. That’s a real thing that happened. It was unlike anything to ever happen before.
The bizarre scenario began when the Golden Bears called a timeout with 12 seconds left in the first half.
Caleb Williams and the Trojans offense had the ball on 4th-and-11 at the Berkeley 45-yard-line. He completed a 29-yard pass for a first down. There was one second left when the play was blown dead.
Because of the new rules, the clock does not stop on first downs unless it is inside two minutes during the second or fourth quarters. The clock should have stopped in this instance.
If there was one second left, USC had a chance to kick a field goal.
That did not happen. The clock expired and both teams went into the locker room.
Lincoln Riley was not having it. He stayed behind to talk to the officials.
Meanwhile, Cal’s band took the field for its halftime performance. The discussion continued!
Eventually, in the middle of halftime, it was ruled that there was one second left on the clock before the clock expired during the first half. USC was granted one additional play before halftime.
However, it was already too deep into halftime to bring both teams back out. As a result, the Trojans were awarded one single play from the first half, which was to be played to begin the second half.
Justin Wilcox was irate.
To recap:
- Trojans tight end Lake McRee’s knee was down with one second left in the first half.
- The clock expired.
- Both teams went back to the locker room. The band was on the field.
- The officials overturned the initial ruling and put one second back on the clock.
- Neither team returned to finish the first half before halftime.
- Halftime took place as planned.
Trojans kicker Denis Lynch got to practice the exact kick that would end the first half during halftime.
USC and Cal returned to the field for the second half.
Before the second half began, the Trojans finished out the first half with a field goal. Lynch missed.
Immediately following the miss, which ended the first half, the second half began.
Got it?
College football is a totally normal sport. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise!