Oregon's coaches exploited a loophole in the rules that could lead to in-season action by the NCAA.

With 10 seconds left in the Ducks' win over Ohio State on Saturday, the Buckeyes were looking for a game-winning field goal when Oregon called a timeout. After the stoppage, the Ducks sent 12 defenders onto the field for a third-down play that resulted in an incomplete pass, leaving Ohio State with just six seconds on the clock.

Oregon, charged with illegal participation, essentially traded an extra defensive player on an apparent passing play for a five-yard penalty with four seconds left – a smart move that is now under scrutiny.

Steve Shaw, the NCAA secretary's rules editor, told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday that the NCAA Football Playing Rules Committee is actively “busy” studying the game for possible action. The Big Ten officiating team handled the game appropriately, Shaw said, but the rules committee was discussing a way to approach the game.

In the past, the Rules Committee has responded to such “fair play” incidents with interpretive bulletins issued throughout a season. The bulletins are often intended as a guide for officials at future games.

“We had a good dialogue on that play,” Shaw told Yahoo Sports. “We realized how it turned out.”

Mid-season interpretations of the rules are not common, but have occurred in the past in similar games that violated one component of the rules committee – that a penalty should not benefit the penalized team. The goal of any interpretation is to prevent coaches from further exploiting the rules, which can only be changed during a lengthy offseason process.

To discourage action in the Oregon-Ohio State game, any interpretation would likely instruct officials to reset the game clock to its original time. Shaw declined to comment on details.

In an interview Monday, a grinning Oregon coach Dan Lanning appeared to acknowledge that coaches intentionally used a 12th player – a defensive back – to help on an apparent passing down.

“We spend an inordinate amount of time on situations, and there are some situations that don't come up very often in college football,” he said, “but we obviously worked on this one. So you can see the result.”