JustRules

I'm glad the 40-second play clock is here to stay. I may try to pick up a consulting fee from the officials in other states who don't think it will work for them for whatever reason. The folks in the press box probably appreciate the numbering changes as much as anyone. When we review video it's often impossible to see numbers and we really don't have a major need to see them. Yes, you can now legally snap with 9 players. I think they confused this by saying at least 5 linemen and no more than 4 backs. Essentially what this rule is doing is no longer making it a foul if the offense only has 10 players and they are missing a lineman. They are already disadvantaged because they are short a player. Why add a penalty on top of it? The 5 linemen part really isn't necessary because it's already covered with the numbering requirements (5 players on the line numbered 50-79). I had my first illegal bat last year and we ended up with 2 on the season. Both were during free kicks and the player was trying to keep the ball from going out of bounds. But I agree they are both rare. The rest are fine and straight forward and don't happen very often. No different than the interpretation you have to make today for non-runners. If the defender lifts his leg as the runner is going through the hole or he does a slide tackle to trip him, it's a foul. It didn't happen very often when it was legal so I don't expect it to happen often now.

I reported it above and DK said he's going to look into it. He's not sure if it's something he can fix.

Based on the administrators and families I've talked with in Carmel, this is not even close to a factor in their decision. If they had 2 or even 3 high schools in the district, they would still likely be very competitive in most activities. They have a building with enough space, lower levels apparently show small class sizes coming up, and they have a great reputation with their current school district. Why should incur the cost of building an entirely new school and then be well under capacity for their current building?

The defensive rule about rushing is interesting. I had not seen that one yet. A key will be in the definition. It says a defender can't rush from more than 2 yards outside the widest offensive lineman. By rule there should be at least 7 offensive linemen on most plays. A receiver wide on the line is a lineman just like the player (commonly referred to as a guard) lined up next to the snapper (commonly referred to as the center). Does that mean someone could rush from 2 yards outside of him? Or more likely inside of him but more than 2 yards wider than the nearest lineman (commonly referred to as the tackle)? Or maybe they just consider the 5 interior linemen (not including the ends)? What about an end lineman aligned directly next to the tackle (commonly referred to as a tight end)? Does the 2 yards start with the tackle or tight end? If it's the TE, what if that player steps out 2-3 yards in either a 2-point or 3-point stance. Does that change anything? I'm sure the rules get much more specific in defining those things than this article. It will definitely be interesting to see. I used prefaced several of my comments with "commonly referred to" because those positions are not listed in the rule book. A player starts as either a lineman or a back. The linemen are are either ends (2) or interior linemen (usually 5). The ends are often WR or TEs, but that's irrelevant to the rule book. The snapper is the only interior lineman further designated and obviously refers to the person who snaps the ball. The QB also isn't mentioned. He's just the back who receives the snap. If the throws a legal forward pass he then becomes a passer. Until then he's just a runner. Officials obviously use the commonly known positions when communicating with coaches and players, but when it comes to rule knowledge, it's critical to know those definitions because they are referenced as such throughout the rule book and have very distinct meanings.

The IFOA did an excellent video a couple years ago to help recruit videos. It's always good to share in conversations like this. Especially if you are a HS senior or current college student, please watch this and ask if you are ready to walk away from the football field yet. The IFOA can help you get started! It's a great way to make some side money during college and if you find out you love it you have tapped into a great network of people and a great avocation you can do for many years. You could even make it to D1 or the NFL! Indiana has produced several NFL officials including Region native and Purdue grad John Parry, who worked the Super Bowl last weekend!

People often think of LN as a weak MIC conference team because their football team has struggled. Their football team is still pretty good. It's just hard to overcome in the MIC. I believe they have around 17 sports and typically win sectional in 8-12 sports each year. Their athletic programs are doing just fine overall.

This would be awesome and I know several other schools who have considered this. Please contact the IFOA if you need any curriculum help with football. I'm sure they would be happy to help provide it. Definitely connect with your local officiating association (likely Western out of Lafayette). I'm sure they would provide assistance as well.

Hey coaches...do you have any funny stories about your get back coach?

When I use the page numbers to navigate within a topic, my screen does a strange scrolling and then displays a page with no content. I have to go back to the topic listing and pick the next page. Does anyone else have this same issue?

It's there prerogative to have the one high school or multiple high schools. I doubt athletic success is a major factor. Even if they had 2 schools I'm sure both would be extremely competitive in most sports. The drawback is fewer students get an opportunity to compete at the varsity level. There is only 1 starting QB, 1 starting PG, 1 leadoff hitter, 1 #1 singles tennis player. They have several swimmers who would qualify for state at other schools, but can't get into the varsity heats for Carmel. I'm not a huge fan of forcing districts to split into multiple schools. That should be a local decision.

No. I don't pay for online forums. I would understand if the administrators did this, but I would likely not participate if this was done.

I don't believe this training has anything to do with how coaches or administrators treat officials specifically. It looks to be more about gender and sexual orientation; race and ethnicity; disabilities; religious tolerance; unconscious bias; and diversity and inclusion. If officials fall into those categories then yes it would include treatment of officials.

Love data! Did you know most high school officials average 4-5.5 miles per game?

Congrats. That is truly an elite group of student athletes who will do well in the future. Maybe some could become officials!

I still hear fans and coaches and commentators complain about calls and laugh at those pool reports. They say the official is just trying cover up or justify their bad call and it doesn't change anything so why bother. I enjoy them as an official, but I don't believe the general public really cares. This forum is a little different because you have established a relationship and trust with the other posters. If you went to some other random HS forum in the country and answered a random rules question, it's not likely you would get the same response.

Another official gave me a great analogy. You are part of a sales team and you've received a request for a proposal for one of the largest contracts you could ever get (conference championship assignment). The due date comes and goes because you forgot to make a note of it (inexcusable error for someone normally really good). If you had bid on it your firm very likely gets it because you are the best in the industry and you are one of the top sales people (top 3 official at your position to be assigned to this game). That's a big financial loss for your company (huge PR nightmare for the NFL but not a financial loss for the league). Are you fired over that one mistake? Probably not because of your proven success in doing the role. If you are a newer sales guy or one that hasn't performed well you likely weren't given that lead just like a newer or lower rated official wouldn't have been given that assignment. The 3 officials involved in that call were rated in the top 3 over the course of the season and had previously worked multiple playoff games including 2 Super Bowls. They just had a really bad, very public error at the most unfortunate time of a critical game.

The only reason the other leagues have full time officials and the NFL doesn't is they have games every day of the week throughout their season. You can't easily have another job during your season. That's different with the NFL. There are no other games for them to work during the week. They spend at least 15-20 hours Monday-Friday reviewing game film, training videos, rules quizzes, crew and position teleconferences, etc. In the offseason they are attending camps and clinics often in a teaching capacity to college and high school officials. I agree with bobref I don't think you'll see a significant difference in performance (they are already right 98% of the time) by hiring them to be full time. Some of these guys make more money from their full time gig than their officiating gig (especially the new guys) so they would have to significantly increase the pay to make them all full time. The old saying "the juice probably isn't worth the squeeze" applies. I think they are using some of the full time guys now to put together training videos and other materials. I believe 2 of the guys working the Rams-Saints game are full-time officials. As for the missed PI call, there are just times where your eyes fool you. That bad of a miss very rarely happens. Maybe a couple times a season. Other "misses" are often very close judgement calls that may only be wrong if you slow it down to watch frame by frame (i.e. some of the catch/no catch calls in the Chiefs-Patriots game). The beauty of football (sports in general) is they aren't perfect. The ball bounces funny. The QB misreads a defender. The receiver slips on his cut. The running back fumbles when he's hit. The coach goes for it on 4th and 2 from his own 28. The defender lines up in the neutral zone. This isn't precision engineering on an airplane. The officials strive to do their very best and the guys working in the NFL are amazing at what they do. But they aren't immune to criticism and it's deserved for that one call.

I think it's because no matter what the official said the average fan wouldn't believe them. All you have to do is read replies to Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino tweets. They give very clear explanations of rules and why something was or wasn't called. They don't hold back any punches and will be critical when necessary. And almost every comment is negative. I would love to see the comments as well, but the general fans just want a punching bag and something to blame. I don't know that it would actually help at all.

I wouldn't be surprised. Be ready for an updated definition of PI similar to the catch/no catch rule. Careful what you ask for. I'm also guessing the calamity rule the NFL has is more for something intentional and outlandish. Like they discovered an entire team got sick during the game because someone gave them rotten food. An incorrect judgement call (regardless of how incorrect) is not a reason to enact this rule. No matter what they do with replay or technology there will still be people involved and there will still be errors. Even when calls are correct fans will complain. There is no way to avoid that.

If you look at his profile he's a radio talk show host in Houston and likes to be controversial based on some of his other posts. That's what columnists and radio hosts are supposed to do. It draws attention. I agree he was probably trying to be funny and it exploded from there. He's an opportunist and took advantage of it. A high school football forum several states away is talking about him. Mission accomplished. BTW...none of my boys are playing football but two of them are into robotics which is very cool. The time and effort the kids put into designing and building the robots and the stress and excitement during one of the competitions is amazing. Indiana has some of the best robotics teams in the world. The VEX State Championship will be in Lucas Oil Stadium in early March and the FRC State Championship will be in Kokomo in early April. Both will send teams to their respective world championships at the end of April. First Lego League is the elementary and middle school feeder into FRC. Here is a highlight video from last year's state competition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDulj5MSnI4

Can you add Unbiased Official back to the school/conference list? I'm not actually from Corydon. I just picked a school at random.

Committee meeting today and will make final votes tomorrow. Announced changes will be mid-February.