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The USC Trojans and Lincoln Riley picked up 38-17 victory over Big Ten foe Northwestern on Friday night to keep their slim College Football Playoff hopes alive.
But the victory didn’t come without a little bit of controvesry.
Early in the second quarter, with the score tied at 7-7, the Trojans faced a 4th-and-6 from their own 46-yard line. They lined up to punt, but rather than doing so, delivered a pass to wide receiver Tanook Hines for a first down. USC went on to score a touchdown on the drive and never looked back.
Trojan trickery 🫨@uscfb put third-string QB Sam Huard in punter Sam Johnson’s uniform and pulled off the fake punt in their 38-17 win over Northwestern 👏 pic.twitter.com/KuOMrWQpj5
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 8, 2025
USC Trojas Pull Off Clever Trick For Fake Punt That Some Are Calling Dirty
That alone didn’t cause any controversy. After all, there’s nothing wrong with a fake punt. But the way that USC designed the fake punt had some fans calling “foul.”
See, USC punter Sam Johnson wears No. 80 and appeared to be the one who delivered a dime to Hines for the first down. But that wasn’t the case.
Instead, USC quarterback Sam Huard, a former five-star recruit and the nephew of former Washington star and current FOX commentator Brock Huard, was wearing Johnson’s number.
But Huard isn’t listed on the USC roster as No. 80. He’s listed as No. 7. So at some point, he clearly changed jersey numbers.
Now, if a player enters the game wearing a different jersey number than what is listed on the roster, the referee must announced the change of number.
However, according to members of the media, Huard was listed on the gameday roster as No. 80. Meaning that, to some degree, Northwestern should have been aware of the possibility. But not everyone saw things that way.
“It’s legal, but it comes off as cheating!” one fan wrote.
“So football’s product is so over-reffed and awful that now we are wearing costumes to fake punt,” another fan wrote. “Miss me with this low rent garbage…pathetic….just make the game better.”
So, what say you? Was this great coaching by Riley and the Trojans? Or did they breech an unwritten rule of the game?