The Pigskin
Page
2014 Pre-Season Clips (2)
TECHNICAL NOTE: For those not aware, when viewing these videos in the You Tube window, you can adjust the resolution for a sharper view. Notice in the lower right hand corner of the video player window a setting icon that looks like a gear. Click on that and you can adjust the setting up to 360p, 480p or even 720p in some cases. This will give you a sharper image.
The video page will continue bringing you clips which are good learning material as we all work together to understand and enforce the sometimes complicated NCAA football rules. The videos are not meant to demean or belittle any official. They are used so that ALL officials can learn from the situations and issues other officials encounter in their games. No official has ever completed a career error-free. But by sharing our errors with others we help them avoid the same pitfalls. NCAA football officials at all levels exhibit incredible rule knowledge week in and week out. We can always get better and this page hopes to serve in that effort.
The last poll question play featured a play where viewers were asked to judge whether a player committed an intentional grounding foul. 95 members of our "crew" judged it to be intentional grounding. But another 47 said no foul. The majority of that group (34) said it could not be intentional grounding as it was not a forward pass.
Much has been written about the "goal line extended". It remains one of the most difficult plays officials have to rule on. Players are typically moving at top speed and make very athletic movements as they try to get the ball to the goal line. This is the language from a CFO bulletin in 2011: "For a ball carrier to score a touchdown, we know that the ball in his possession must break the plane of the goal line. But the interpretation of the plane of the goal line now is this: The goal-line plane runs between the pylons and includes the entire pylon. This plane does not extend beyond the pylons except in two specific cases: when a ball carrier touches the pylon, and when a ball carrier touches the ground in the end zone. In the new 2011-12 rule book you will find this change in two places: Rule 2-12-2 (definition of goal line) and in Rule 8-2-1-a (how a touchdown is scored)." If the ball carrier manages to get the ball to the goal line plane, between or over the pylons, the ball carrier need not touch the ground in the end zone nor touch a pylon for a TD to be scored. Would you judge this play to be a TD or should ball be spotted in bounds just short of the goal line? Please view this play video and take the poll. (Please remember to scroll down and click on the DONE button after making your choice.)
The blocking below the waist rules continue
to prove difficult to officiate. Luckily, there is no change to them for
this season so our officials can get another year of experience looking at these
plays on the field and on film to become better aware of what should be flagged
and what should not. A82 started this play as a "restricted" blocker as he was
spread wide to the right (top of the screen). The ball as snapped at the A-40.
At the time of his block below the waist at the A-49, the ball carrier was at
the A-48. The questions we need to ask are: Was the block a "10-2"
block? (It clearly was). And was the block back toward A's own end
line (i.e. a "peel back")? While not directly back toward the
end line at a 90 degree angle to the end line, it was also not directly
"east-west". Is the angle of this block sufficiently close to being toward
the end line that it should be flagged? Viewers may want to look at AR 9-1-6-III
Tight Time Situation at
End of Game
It is not clear what the Team B head coach
was so agitated over. Perhaps he incorrectly thought the game clock should
have run down to 0. There clearly was time left when the pass hit the
ground. The crew did a good job of moving the coach back to the sideline.
Viewers can decide for themselves if the coach's conduct warranted a flag (none
was thrown). Two Team B players put their team in great jeopardy by
choosing to celebrate 20-15 yards behind the succeeding spot. Team A could
have easily taken advantage by creating a defense offside situation, or worse,
by running a play against 9 defenders had they chosen to do so. They got
away with that celebration in this play, just as the coach then got away with
making his timeout call too close to the snap.
When the game clock is running with less than a minute remaining in a half, and a team commits a foul that causes the clock to stop, there is an option for the offended team to also choose a 10 second subtraction from the game clock. In this play, the clock was stopped for the incomplete pass so the subsequent false start did not qualify for the Zap-10. But since the clock was stopped and there was so little time left in the half, it seems the crew would have had better clock awareness to know what the true time remaining was at the time of the false start.
Penalty Enforcement on Passing Play
This year when Team B commits a PERSONAL
FOUL during a passing play, Team A can elect to have both the result of the play
AND the penalty yardage in most situations. In this video clip, the Team B
foul was NOT a personal foul so penalty enforcement is the same this year as it
was last year. Team A can elect the result of the play or the penalty
yardage from the previous spot. Since the pass was completed or more than
a 10-yard gain, the penalty was declined. The same will be true this year.