Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira: USC’s number-switch fake punt should have been called back

The USC Trojans broke out a wild switcheroo that delighted the college football world on Friday night. According to Fox rules analyst and longtime football referee Mike Pereira, it shouldn’t have counted.

The Trojans were tied 7-7 with the Northwestern Wildcats early in the second quarter, facing fourth-and-6 from their own 46-yard line. A player wearing No. 80 came onto the field, which would be expected since USC’s punter, Sam Johnson, wears that number.

However, when the ball was snapped, the player wearing No. 80 faked the punt and instead found wide receiver Tanook Hines for a 10-yard completion and first down. A few plays later, the Trojans scored a touchdown and rode the wave to a 38-17 victory.

It wasn’t until after the play happened that everyone realized No. 80 was third-string quarterback Sam Huard, who had changed from No. 7 to No. 80 before the game in a move recorded on the official roster handed over to Northwestern.

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

Northwestern coach David Braun admitted after the game that, even though he was still No. 7 on the unofficial online version, Huard was indeed No. 80 on the roster his team was given, and they should have been ready.

“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. “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.”

While the move appeared to be above board, if not incredibly tricky, Pereria told The Athletic that he thinks there’s one problem that should have led to this play being called back and penalized.

The reason? Because the NCAA rulebook states that “two players playing the same position may not wear the same number during the game.”

“Huard was lined up as the punter,” Pereira said, “so therefore that’s actually a 15-yard penalty because both he and Johnson lined up as the punter (in the game).”

The former official did note that USC’s lack of last names on the back of their jerseys makes it extra hard for referees to catch this kind of chicanery.

“They never would (notice) because another thing that makes it hard is USC’s one of the teams that doesn’t have names on their uniform,” he said. “Not that they would memorize names, either. … You’re not as an official going to look into the face and say, ‘Oh wait a minute, that doesn’t look like Johnson, that looks like Huard.'”

So in the end, it sounds like USC got away with one here, though not for the reasons some college football fans assumed. One person who will be very happy to hear the play should have been illegal is Dave Portnoy, who ranted against it on Big Noon Kickoff on Saturday.