USC receiver Deontay Burnett scored a touchdown at the Rose Bowl on Monday on a pick play. That’s often illegal, but in this case, it’s not.
Why Rose Bowl refs reviewed and overturned this USC pass interference flag
It’s a clean, clever play, and officials eventually called it right for a USC touchdown.
USC receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (No. 9) ran a slant pattern that doubled as a way to obstruct Penn State cornerback Christian Campbell (No. 1), freeing up Burnett to score.
On the surface, it looks like offensive pass interference by Smith-Schuster. A flag initially came out, but after a video review, officials picked it up. The touchdown counted.
From the NCAA’s rulebook (bolding mine):
Offensive pass interference by a Team A [offensive] player beyond the neutral zone during a legal forward pass play in which a forward pass crosses the neutral zone is contact that interferes with a Team B eligible player. It is the responsibility of the offensive player to avoid the opponents.
That “neutral zone” line is what saves USC here. Quarterback Sam Darnold’s pass to Burnett doesn’t cross the neutral zone at all. Burnett catches the ball just behind the line of scrimmage, which means Smith-Schuster can’t be pass-interfering. And because Smith-Schuster isn’t otherwise holding or illegally roughing up Campbell, he’s OK. This is clearly not a penalty, and officials eventually made the right call.
The rulebook says a “forward pass touched by a player (eligible or ineligible)” is a reviewable play. This was a forward pass, and the review found that it was caught behind the line. Pass interference isn’t reviewable, in and of itself, but the replay here showed there couldn’t be pass interference at all. It’s the same protocol that allows officials to review a play to see if a ball was tipped, which also can make PI impossible.
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