Kansas St Oklahoma Football

Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops talks to his players on the field during the Sooners' 31-30 loss to Kansas State last Saturday. (AP Photo/The Norman Transcript, Kyle Phillips)

(Kyle Phillips)

Alabama fans still irritated by Sammie Coates' game-tying touchdown aren't the only ones irked by the NCAA's rule on linemen being downfield during pass plays.

Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops complained about the rule allowing linemen to be up to 3 yards downfield during pass plays after a 31-30 loss to Kansas State. Several teams have taken advantage of the rule to design quarterback pass-run options or pass plays that show run, such as Jake Waters' 62-yard touchdown pass to Glenn Gronkowski for the Wildcats' first score on Saturday.

Such plays take advantage of the practice of linebackers and other defenders to read the motion of the offensive linemen in deciphering whether a play is a run or a pass.

"The linemen running down the field and trying to throw a pass when they're five yards down the field, to me is ridiculous," Stoops said Tuesday night, as reported by ESPN. "Football has gotten to where it is stupid, letting guys run [running] plays then throw the ball. I'm just not a big fan of it -- it's lenient and all of a sudden it's 3, 4, 5 yards.



"Once you get to a certain point it's not even fair."

Auburn's fourth-quarter game-tying touchdown in last year's 34-28 Iron Bowl win over Alabama was a similar quarterback pass-run option in which Nick Marshall drew Alabama defenders toward him before throwing a 39-yard touchdown pass to Coates, prompting debate on whether some of Auburn's linemen may have been too far downfield during the play.