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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 43845, member: 289"] The rule at the time was that the moment a team kicked the ball, they became the defensive team and the other team became the offensive team. Sweeney slammed into both the kicker and holder after the kicker's foot made contact with the ball. At that point Syracuse had become the "offensive" team and a penalty against the offensive team does not require an additional play- the game can end on the infraction. But the referrees stepped off the penalty and gave Notre Dame another play and they kicked the game winning field goal. Syracuse pointed out that under the rules, they were the offensive team at the moment of the infraction and the penalty should not have been enforced. The NCAA agreed but cited another rule that the result of a game could not be changed once the game was over. Syracuse pointed out that the whole issue is when the game was over and the score at the point the game chould have ended was Syracuse 15 Notre Dame 14. The NCAA still refused to change the result but said that if Notre Dame conceded the game, (as Cornell had done when they were granted a fifth down that allowed them to beat Dartmouth in 1940), it could still go into the books as a Syracuse victory. After the controversy, the NCAA realized that switching the identity of the offensive and defensive teams in mid-play was a bad idea and that the intent of the rule that the game cannot end on a penalty against the defense was so the defense wouldn't have cart blanche to break the rules on the last play. Sweeney had, (stupidly, since it was a 56 yard field goal attempt), gone all out to block the kick and committed a clear infraction he should not have been allowed to get away with. They changed the rule to state that the kicking team remained the offensive team throughout the play. My view is that Syracuse's positon was legally correct but morally, Notre Dame should have been granted the extra play. [/QUOTE]

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