OT: LSU's Jeremy Hill scores TD, gives Iowa a chance

Facing 3rd-and-5 at the Iowa 37 with just over two minutes to go, LSU back Jeremy Hill took a handoff, passed the down markers, broke multiple tackles, and scored a TD to put LSU up 21-7 with only 2:02 to go.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=340010099&period=4

Easy for me to say from the comfort of my couch, but I think LSU would have been ever-so-slightly better off had Hill gone down past the sticks but before the endzone.

Had he been tackled after gaining the first down, LSU would have had four guaranteed pre-snap clock runoffs, and Iowa with only 1 timeout could only prevent one of them.  3 x 40 seconds = 2:00 minutes.

The thought occurred to me as he scored.  I dismissed it thinking, in such a low scoring game, what's the difference?

What happens next but Iowa almost takes it to the house on the return, and scores in two plays with the clock stopped before each in just a total of 20 seconds, or with 1:42 remaining.

At this point, Iowa had a chance.

It turns out that LSU would recover the onsides kick, but with only three guaranteed pre-snap clock runoffs and Iowa possessing a timeout, LSU ended up having to punt with 8 seconds left.

You never know...