SMU used a weird formation to con Navy on game-winning 2-pointer

The Mustangs used a savvy trick to confuse the Midshipmen.

In overtime on Saturday against Navy, SMU decided to go for the win with a two-point conversion in overtime. The Mustangs had just scored a touchdown to answer Navy’s on the prior possession, and they pulled off a 31-30 win with this decisive trick play:

Officials reviewed it afterward before determining that everything was legal and the Mustangs had, in fact, beaten the Midshipmen with that clever play design. The review was ostensibly to see whether the Mustangs had lined up in an illegal formation or had an ineligible man downfield. (The review was standard, because it was a scoring play.)

SMU did some weird stuff on this play to mess with Navy.

The weird stuff revolved around an SMU offensive lineman who had gone in motion before the play and was lined up as a slot receiver by the time the ball was snapped:

Nobody would figure that Pursley, who’s a listed 300 pounds, would be a target for Mustangs quarterback Ben Hicks. He actually couldn’t be a target, by rule (more on that later). But Navy sent someone to cover him anyway.

There are two important rules SMU had to follow here.

They are really basic, but an offense can still use them to confuse a defense:

1. Seven men have to be on the line of scrimmage at the snap.
2. Only the guys on the ends of the line are eligible receivers (and thus, only those guys are allowed to go 3 yards or more downfield by the time the QB throws beyond the line).

While the formation was weird, SMU didn’t break any rules.

Count the men on the line of scrimmage:

Seven. No. 6 there, our lineman friend in the slot, appears to have his head in front of the waistline of the SMU center. That’s the NCAA’s standard for being “on the line.”

On that diagram, only the guys numbered 1 and 7 were eligible to catch a pass or go downfield on a pass. And those are the only “linemen” who did.

There’s one receiver aligned outside the eventual pass-catcher, tight end Hunter Thedford. Because Pursley, the 300-pound lineman, had moved over to the slot (but stayed on the line), Thedford kind of looked like the left tackle on the play. But he was suddenly on the end of the line, making him eligible to catch a pass. Because Pursley stayed on the line, he couldn’t actually run a route, but Navy appeared confused and accounted for him anyway.

The Midshipmen were slow to cover Thedford, who released toward the end zone after briefly staying in to block as the de-facto left tackle. Hicks found him, and SMU won its first game by using effective subterfuge.

You’ve maybe seen tricks like this before. In the AFC playoffs in 2015, the Patriots used some formation and eligible-receiver deception to rip off some big plays against the Ravens.