How the Pac 12 screwed Vegas

[Jacie]

Sun Sep 11 06:49am EDT

How USC tacked on one last touchdown, two hours after the final gun

By Matt Hinton

USC 23, Utah 14.
When USC left the field Saturday night, it was with a hard-fought, narrow 17-14 escape in its first Pac-12 game — in the first Pac-12 game, period — over Utah. By the time the Trojans began drifting into dreamland on the West Coast, the final score officially read 23-14, recording a solid, two-score USC victory. How did that happen?

The short answer is: Because the Pac-12 said so. On the final play of the game, with Utah down 17-14 and lining up for a 41-yard field goal attempt to tie, 6-foot-7 USC offensive lineman Matt Kalil went up to swat the kick away — directly into the arms of USC cornerback Torin Harris, who took it the distance for an uncontested touchdown as time expired. As the Trojans stormed the field and gamblers everywhere fell off their barstools (see below), an official dropped a flag: Most of USC's bench had begun sprinting onto the field as soon as Harris had begun sprinting toward the Utah end zone, triggering an easy penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Thus did the Trojans become the first victims — at least temporarily — of the controversial new taunting rule adopted over the offseason, which calls for unsportsmanlike calls against the scoring team during the course of a touchdown play ("live-ball" penalties) to negate the touchdown itself. Since USC's bench turned the field into a stampede long before Harris crossed the goal line, officials accordingly took his touchdown off the board and called the game as a 17-14 final. Oh well: A conference win is a conference win.

But Las Vegas didn't quite see it that way, and to the great fortune of the betters who put money on the Trojans as 8.5-point favorites to win, neither did the Pac-12. A couple hours after the game went final, the conference announced it had decided to count Harris' touchdown, on the grounds that the unsportsmanlike call against the USC bench was committed by players who weren't involved in an active play (a "dead-ball" penalty), and dead-ball penalties do not trigger the new taunting rule. The touchdown was restored, and the final score now reads USC 23, Utah 14.

:greedy_dollars: And from the desert, there came great lamentations:

Contacted about the finish by The [Los Angeles] Times, a supervisor at the MGM Mirage Sports Book said, "That cost us huge. We needed USC to cover the 8½ and when they didn't allow that touchdown, that killed us."

The switch, he said, made for a six-figure loss for his sports book.

"Now we lose double," he said, "because we'd already cashed out. We can't collect from people we already paid."

See? At first, everyone complained about the new taunting rule, but the first time it's invoked, literally everybody wins.

[instigator]

Wow.

[Flagstaffsooner]

suc and gamblers, hmmm.

[limey_sooner]

You can bet vegas will now stipulate that all bets are based on the score immediately after the game regardless of changes which may be made by the conferences.

[BigTip]

I am very surprised the sports books paid twice. "Official results in, we paid, tough luck"

[BigTip]

Sports books to "winners": "Take your ticket to the Pac 12 and let them pay you"

lol

[Flagstaffsooner]

Wonder if these PAC clowns will reverse calls in the OU/uo game?

[CowboyMRW]

There's still another 13 weeks plus bowl games for the bookies to rake it in. I don't feel bad for them

[limey_sooner]

Ridiculous move by the PAC. What happens when the teams are from two different conferences. Do they just declare Pac team a winner?

[Memtig14]

This is the conference we are fighting to get into because the SEC is dishonest?

[FtwTxSooner]

Somebody should lose their kneecaps over this...

[Turd_Ferguson]

Somebody has lost their kneecaps over this...fixed

[sooner59]

Dang.

[Hotrod3157]

The score change cost me $600 profit on my $50 parlay. Stupid PAC-12!! I about blew a gasket last night when I saw they changed the score hours after the game was over. I'm guessin the bookies will still make a "little" money before the season is over no tears for those guys.

[BoulderSooner79]

The ruling sounds more like a lawyer technicality than football. In this case, the players entering the field clearly did not affect the play. But what if they got in the way of tacklers trying to chase the guy down? A real fast guy could have caught him by surprise, stripped the ball, and then taken it the other way. All remote possibilities, but weird things happen. This also seems like saying "you had too many men on the field, but we'll let it slide this time".

[SoonerMom2]

Turned out to be the press box. Right call was called on the field:

Pac-12 officiating coord. Tony Corrente says final play USC-Utah was correctly ruled TD on field, but press box didn't get the word.

[JLEW1818]

getting married soon, so i took this year off from sports betting.

very tempting too. as soon as USC ran it back, and they "took it away" for a second, i told ole girl this will screw a bet over.

[Hotrod3157]

The ruling sounds more like a lawyer technicality than football. In this case, the players entering the field clearly did not affect the play. But what if they got in the way of tacklers trying to chase the guy down? A real fast guy could have caught him by surprise, stripped the ball, and then taken it the other way. All remote possibilities, but weird things happen. This also seems like saying "you had too many men on the field, but we'll let it slide this time".

Yeah I thought it was a kind of weird explanation and I still don't get it really.

JLew I dont bet much just on the rare weekends where I see 3 or 4 games where the spreads seem out of whack to me. Which is normally on college games more then pro games.

[opksooner]

Gee, I feel so badly for Vegas. :concern:

[Texas Golfer]

The Pac-12 also has to prop up USC's stats and margins of victories to promote them being higher in the polls for better bowl games.

[8timechamps]

PAC 12 Office: In this case, the players entering the field clearly did not affect the play...

So let me get this right, a player can run off the sidelines during a scoring play and slap his *** while riding the make believe donkey and the play still stands? But a kid celebrating a game winning score in a meaningless bowl game has his touchdown removed?

Makes perfect sense.

[rekamrettuB]

The Pac-12 also has to prop up USC's stats and margins of victories to promote them being higher in the polls for better bowl games.

HEEEEYYYY-OOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!

[badger]

I would just like to let all SF.com posters know that while Vegas was majorly screwing with everyone because of the pac 12's call, the vBettors of vBookie here at SF.com did not feel the wrath of any such screwjob.

You see, I set my lines so early in the week that it wasn't vegas' 8.5 spread, bu rather, USC by 10. Thus, it didn't matter to me if they won by 3 or 9, because both fell into the SF.com vBookie line of 10 :D

Additionally, the SF.com posters that called the oddball bet of points actually getting removed from the scoreboard due to the excessive celebration rule were fairly paid, because points were indeed removed, even if they were added later.

One more reason everyone here who is discussing Vegas needs to try out SF.com's version of Vegas, vBookie. Click the link in my sig line if you never have tried it before. :D

[BigTip]

I'm thinking one of these decision making Pac 12 officials went heavy on USC...

[pphilfran]

Somebody needs to explain to me how Vegas got screwed...

[8timechamps]

Somebody needs to explain to me how Vegas got screwed...

In reality, they didn't (and never do), but in this case, they had to payout twice. Once for those that bet on Utah to cover, and a second time for those that bet on SC to cover.

[pphilfran]

In reality, they didn't (and never do), but in this case, they had to payout twice. Once for those that bet on Utah to cover, and a second time for those that bet on SC to cover.

i missed the paying out twice, thanks! yep, they got screwed..

[Tear Down This Wall]

This is the "clean" conference David Boren wants to join? It's supposedly better academically, but willing to roll over for bookies?

What a joke!

We already know their officiating is rotten from the game at Oregon five years ago. And, this is the conference our leaders want to join.

Fine. But, don't try to give me the bullsh*t anymore about this conference somehow being ethically superior to the SEC. It's nothing but bullsh*t.

We're begging to join a conference that bends to Vegas and can't officiate.

[pphilfran]

This is the "clean" conference David Boren wants to join? It's supposedly better academically, but willing to roll over for bookies?

What a joke!

We already know their officiating is rotten from the game at Oregon five years ago. And, this is the conference our leaders want to join.

Fine. But, don't try to give me the bullsh*t anymore about this conference somehow being ethically superior to the SEC. It's nothing but bullsh*t.

We're begging to join a conference that bends to Vegas and can't officiate.

You missed the same key point that I did...

The bookies got screwed....when the initial final score came out they payed the winners...and the winners hauled azz....then the new score is posted and the "old" losers are now winners and they wanted paid...so the bookies payed out twice...

The betting public that was fast on their feet were the one that benefited...

[OUInformant]

I want to complain more about the NCAA and their stupid taunting rules.

[BigTip]

And I am sure not all those Utah bets got paid either, since the reversal came within two hours. I know I frequently can't get back to a book where I made a bet until the next day. And probably no "freelance" bookies got burnt because most bookies run accounts and don't pay out cash immediately after a game is over anyway.

It is a very unusual occurrence though.

[BigTip]

I found this:


According to Todd Furman, senior race and sportsbook analyst for Caesars Entertainment, his sportsbook won’t recognize the change made by the Pac-12 office.

“We graded the bet at 17-14,” Fuhrman said. “We dont recognize overturned results. Every book can operate how they choose. However, they should have it addressed in their house rules.”

The Las Vegas Hilton is one of a few books that are going by the updated score of 23-14, meaning they will be paying out USC tickets in addition to the Utah tickets that were already previously cashed. It’s a double loss — and a nightmare situation, really — for these books, who must adhere to their posted rules.

A supervisor at the MGM Mirage sports book told the LA Times that his book needed USC to cover the 8.5 points, and said the disallowed touchdown “killed us,” as most of the action was on Utah.

[pphilfran]

I found this:


According to Todd Furman, senior race and sportsbook analyst for Caesars Entertainment, his sportsbook won’t recognize the change made by the Pac-12 office.

“We graded the bet at 17-14,” Fuhrman said. “We dont recognize overturned results. Every book can operate how they choose. However, they should have it addressed in their house rules.”

The Las Vegas Hilton is one of a few books that are going by the updated score of 23-14, meaning they will be paying out USC tickets in addition to the Utah tickets that were already previously cashed. It’s a double loss — and a nightmare situation, really — for these books, who must adhere to their posted rules.

A supervisor at the MGM Mirage sports book told the LA Times that his book needed USC to cover the 8.5 points, and said the disallowed touchdown “killed us,” as most of the action was on Utah.

What a damn mess...anymore you can't count on even the simplest things...

[BigTip]

as most of the action was on Utah.

This means that the books would make out better if the USC side of the bet won.

Depending on how many Utah bets they paid out in that two hour window, they might have come out ahead by taking the reversal into play. I'll be curious to read the gambling trades to see how it all played out.