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By Andrew McCarty
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The lasting image from a dominant 38-17 victory for USC over Northwestern on Friday night was a trick play the Trojans whipped out on special teams that had social media talking.
Head coach Lincoln Riley had third-string quarterback Sam Huard wear a No. 80 jersey — the same number worn by the team's punter — for a fake punt that came in the second quarter. Huard completed a 10-yard pass to Tanook Hines and extended a drive that ended in a touchdown run from star quarterback Jayden Maiava.
Prior to the game on Friday night, Huard wore No. 7, but was listed as No. 80 on the USC roster this week.
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Northwestern coach David Braun credited Riley and special teams coordinator Ryan Dougherty for their creativity, describing it as a "lesson learned."
"Did not show up on the roster online. Had not shown up anywhere else," Braun said. "But they did legally submit that. 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 we arrive at a facility, we will go over that with a fine-tooth comb and look for any of those potential issues."
While Braun wasn't furious with the trick play from Riley, longtime NFL official Terry McAulay made it clear he believes the Big Ten should respond immediately with a rule change.
"One would hope the Big Ten will address this harshly during the week," he said in response to the trick play.
Riley, meanwhile, revealed he had the trick play up his sleeve for several weeks.
"It was just a well-thought-out thing," Riley said. "Had it at the right time and we had confidence in it, and Sam stepped in there and made a good throw. Had a guy kind of in his face. ... We have some creative guys on our staff."
In the end, USC walked out with its seventh win on the season. The Trojans close out the season against No. 20 Iowa, No. 9 Oregon and UCLA.
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