Neither side loses!
The Big Ten’s college football season finally began this past weekend and with it came a controversial ending to the game between the eighth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions and the Indiana Hoosiers. Because of how the game ended – Indiana won 36-35 — DraftKings Sportsbook decided to refund all bets on the Penn State money line.
In tweet Saturday night, DraftKings Sportsbook said the final play was a “tough call.” The moneyline bets include live bets made in-game, but not parlays.
Upon further review….
To explain what happened that resulted in DraftKings’ decision, Indiana, a 6-point underdog, tied the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion with 22 seconds left. The game went to overtime and Penn State scored first to go up by seven.
On its first possession, Indiana scored a touchdown on a nifty third down pass and catch from Michael Penix Jr. to Whop Philyor. Now it was time to kick the extra point.
Or not.
Underdogs to a top ten legendary program, Indiana decided to go for the win. Penix dropped back to pass on the two-point conversion, couldn’t find anyone open immediately, stepped up in the pocket, and decided to make a break for it. He ran left, looking like he had an opening, but a defender closed quickly.
At the sideline, Penix dove from the three-yard line, stretching his right arm and the ball as far as he could toward the pylon. He was hit at about the two-yard line, but his momentum carried him just far enough. The ball touched the pylon and the nearest official signaled that the two-point conversion was good. Indiana had won!
Or had they? It was so close that the play was obviously going to be reviewed. Looking at a million different angles in slow motion, the margin was razor thin, but it looked like the ball may have touched out of bounds just before it hit the pylon.
The problem for Penn State – and the benefit for Indiana – was that if it is too close to call, if there is not definitive evidence to change the call, the ruling on the field must stand. Because the ruling on the field was that the conversion was successful and the officials watching the replay video apparently could not tell definitively one way or the other, the conversion remained good and Indiana won the game.
Just be happy
It seems that DraftKings disagreed with the ruling, otherwise it probably would not have given refunds to Penn State bettors (for those wondering, since Penn State was a six-point favorite, the play did not affect people betting with the spread).
Some of the reactions to DraftKings’ decision were a bit puzzling. One person said, “This is a weird precedent to be setting. Bets should live and die on the field. Doesn’t matter if the call was right or wrong.”
Ok, that’s reasonable. The call was the call, the score was the score. Leave it at that.
But then there was another person who tweeted this:
The guy is on top of the world because his team just beat Penn State on a crazy, gutsy play, and he’s saying that he might not use DraftKings again because the sportsbook was…generous? Nobody who placed other bets was hurt by DraftKings’ decision. DraftKings literally gave away money. It affected nobody negatively. Sure, it probably wasn’t completely altruistic – DraftKings probably sees it as a marketing move – but to complain about it seems silly.