So I was born in 1996. So by the time I was able to understand football, the Buckeyes were in the early days of the Tressel Era. Here lately I've been looking into the Cooper years some more. My dad always tells me, "Everyone hates the Cooper years now, because we could never beat Michigan and could never win a bowl game. But let me tell ya, those teams in the mid to late 90s were some of the most talented teams to ever touch a football field". 

I decided to watch the 1995 Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game. As Ohio State gets some momentum going towards the middle of that game, the crowd really gets into it. Then, the refs stop the game for "Excessive crowd noise". The commentators then explain the rule to the fans. My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe it! Notre Dame could not hear the snap count, and were forced to take a time-out. The coaches were going nuts saying Ohio State should have been charged the time-out. I believe in the end, the refs charged it as a referee timeout and play was resumed after an announcement was made to the fans. 

Does anyone here remember that rule? And if so, was it very common to see called? And were the games less rowdy than they are today? I couldn't imagine being told "You have to quiet down" with Penn State trailing 39-38 last Saturday. 

Thanks in advance for the input and everyone have a great weekend! Go Bucks!

Edit: I didn't specify in the thread. But the rule has been removed, obviously. Just wondering what it was like when it was in place. 

Here is the brief clip which shows the rule after it was called: