Sooners accused of cheating on wild TD but OC explains why it was legal

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle didn't cheat, he just outsmarted.

College football fans and even the ABC broadcast crew accused the No. 11 Sooners of cheating to score their first touchdown in their 24-17 win over the No. 22 Auburn Tigers on Saturday in Norman. After streaking up the sideline, OU wide receiver Isaiah Sategna was wide open for the 24-yard pass from John Mateer in the second quarter to put the Sooners up 10-3.

Isaiah Sategna's TD wasn't against any rules like college football fans proclaimed

After the play, ESPN's rules analyst Matt Austin said it was illegal for a player to pretend to leave the field for a substitution, so the Sooners should have gotten a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty instead of points on the board. It looked as if Sategna was headed toward the sideline before the ball was snapped.

Here's Austin's full explanation and both angles of the play:

College football fans, especially ones rooting for Auburn, were outraged as the play went viral on social media and the Sooners were accused of stealing points from the SEC officiating crew. However, when Arbuckle was asked about the play after the game, he said it wasn't even close to being illegal and there wasn't even any deception involved.

"We ran the ball the play before," Arbuckle explained. "(Sategna) just quick motioned over there. It was a tempo call. He got lined up. He pointed to the official. He was never out of bounds or anything like that. They just didn't cover him. It was good awareness by (quarterback) John (Mateer) to see him with nobody on him. He just ran and it was a great job by him."

OU head coach Brent Venables echoed Arbuckle's explanation even before Arbuckle took the podium postgame.

"We didn't substitute," Venables said. "We were on the field. We asked the official if we're lined up, we're on the ball, everything's good and legal. We weren't in a big hurry or anything like that."

What the replays didn't show was Tory Blaylock's run up the middle for a two-yard loss the play before. During that play, Sategna was sent in motion from right to left toward OU's sideline. He then just kept going after the play until setting up near the sideline.

On OU's radio broadcast, Teddy Lehman said Bob Stoops told him that the Sooners had practiced the play all week. And practice made perfect.

Arbuckle was asked secondly about the play "toeing the line" with the substitution rule.

"I don't know how much toeing the line there was," Arbuckle said. "It was a tempo play and he pointed to the ref, and the ref nodded his head and said he was in right there, so I don't know how much deception went on there. It was just a ball play that we executed on."

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