2010 Post-Season Week 4 Clips
Intentional Grounding ? Two plays that demonstrate some of the aspects of the intentional grounding (IG) rule. Recall that in order to be ruled illegal IG, the pass must have been an attempt to save loss of yardage. (7-3-2-f) This typically means a QB is under duress when he throws a pass that is deemed to be an act of IG. A pass is NOT intentional grounding if thrown to an area where an eligible receiver has a reasonable opportunity to catch it. The viewer can decide if IG flags would be warranted in these 2 plays . Play 1 Play 2
Crew Work A common attribute of the best crews is that they work together to "get it right." They are not afraid to speak up when it is warranted and they are not so proud that they stay with a call when they should not. Here are two examples of great crew work. In the 1st, a kick catch interference called is waved off after another official correctly observed the "fouling" player was blocked into the returner. There are other actions in this clip worth reviewing. Observe the B after throwing the flag. Does he go with the ball which threatens the goal line? The ball is not dead but he seems to be focused on his spot of "foul." Also, observe red #66. He did illegally touch the kick and drew a bean bag for doing so, but was his action also an illegal batting? Play 1 In the 2d, a block in the back against white #52 was deemed by another official with a different angle to be legal so the flag was waved off. Play 2
Defensive
Holding Some defenders will attempt to break up
a screen pass play by legally blocking the intended receiver before the ball
gets there. This is legal. However, the defender is not allowed to
tackle the receiver. The illegal act was flagged in this play. Since
the pass did not cross the neutral zone and the foul was not beyond the neutral
zone, there is no automatic 1st down as part of this penalty. (9-3-4-e)
Succeeding Spot With 7 on the crew, we should be able to ensure we get previous spots correct on incomplete passes. The ball was snapped from the right hash and an incomplete pass was thrown. The ball was spotted at the right hash for the next down. But, before it could be snapped, for some unknown reason, the ball was then moved to the left hash.
"Down By Contact" A phrase that has been creeping into the vernacular of NCAA referees is "down by contact.' The phrase is often used in conjunction with instant replay announcements. This phrase has no meaning under NCAA rules although it may come from NFL rules. A ball carrier is down or he is not. Contact is immaterial. The continued use of this phrase could cause incorrect NCAA rules knowledge.
Illegal Batting & Advantage-Disadvantage Philosophies A play that generated some discussion recently included an illegally batted ball but the bat had little impact on the result of the play. In the first play, the ball, fumbled by Team A, was just about to go out of bounds with no Team B player anywhere nearby. The fumbler illegally batted the ball forward and it went out of bounds. If there had been no flag, even if the ball went out of bounds in advance of the fumble, it would have been returned to the spot of fumble. Play 1 The 2d play is an illegal bat of a blocked extra point kick. Again, the ball was going out of bounds. This time a defender batted it to keep it in play. (NOTE: The foul is for batting the ball forward, NOT for batting it to keep it from going out of bounds, contrary to statement of the announcer.) Play 2 There are some who would argue that in both of these plays, the fouling player gained no advantage and therefore perhaps a flag should not be thrown. Some crews and conferences have adopted advantage/disadvantage philosophies on plays like this which are contrary to the rules. Such philosophies may work in the NFL where there are only @30 teams and @100 officials but they are ill-suited for the NCAA with the large number of officials and teams.