JustRules

It's ultimately just another person's judgement whether it's a Sky Judge or the main office in NYC making the call based on video. Most of them aren't as obvious as the NFC Championship game. We'll see how it's implemented but I'm guessing it will eventually be as technical as the catch rule has become. That's when people will hate it because it will either slow the game down even more or it will result in a judgement call by replay they feel is incorrect. Let's say the NFC Championship play was closer to bang-bang. Does replay make that DPI if they can stop the video 2 frames before the ball arrives and see contact? When do you define "ball arrived" if the receiver doesn't touch it? How much contact is too much? Those things are all judgement better left to the naked eye and address the 2 or 3 times per season an error of that size is made.

Partial schedules exist because their opponents have submitted their schedule. If Carmel provides their schedule every opponent will have the Carmel game show up on their schedule because the opponent is tied in the database. I wonder how often teams submit conflicts and discover their opponent doesn't have the same game on their schedule.

That's up to each state to decide. 5 should still be the minimum because you'll have even more passing than 11-man. 6, 8, and 9 man games are often very high scoring. If you go to 4-man crews the position you lose ii the back judge so you wouldn't have anyone at the goal line on many plays snapped outside the 10. Many states have 5 and 7 man crews now for HS football but we are far from that for two reasons: increased cost and shortage of licensed officials.

Would the coaches have to be members of the IFCA? Do they have a criteria for joining? Could a team stack their membership with several lay coaches? If the number of assistants is limited it could help smaller schools as there are twice as many 1A and 2A schools as 5A and 6A schools.

I think Perry and Southport did the same thing when they shared the field at Southport.

Since it's all data driven if 5 of the teams submitted schedules the opponents would be known for all games except for those the 5 unreported teams play each other. I'm sure he could go in and make some assumptions, but each of those teams would be missing 4 games. I imagine he just keep looking or waiting for those other schools to submit their schedules.

Great to hear. Nice stadium but the field was rough especially at the end of the season. I understand the frustration of the teachers and empathize with them. But the school is already spending a bunch of money to maintain the current field so that money will now be saved. Over the life of the field they probably aren't spending any more money with the turf than they did with grass. It's just going to someone different and different timing. The per classroom cost of the field is also probably minimal. I see they had about 29k students in the district and if you assume 30 students per classroom (SWAG), that's $1000 per classroom. That's not an insignificant amount, but it's probably smaller than most people realize. The most recent data I found for teachers was 2016-17 (https://compass.doe.in.gov/dashboard/personnel.aspx?type=corp&id=0235) and they had 2153 teachers. That breaks down to $450 per teacher. If they invested that money in raises instead, it's probably only a 1% raise. I'm glad they are making facility upgrades, but I also hope they continue to focus on the primary function of the schools and that is education and teachers. Athletics are an important component but they are a supporting component to the overall mission of the school.

You are old school my friend. When I started 20 years ago I was told that was the old school way of doing it. I was taught to just count the backs. As long as there weren't more than 4 and we knew we had 11 there had to be 7 on the line. I knew the 3 on your side of the ball was the original mechanic, but you then had to give 3rd base coach signals to the opposite wing to agree on balanced or unbalanced. This is a much better rule and it matches what most crews have been doing tor years anyway.

That's not close to only being a warning, especially when the slot guy is telling you he's a back (arm punched backward). The wing on top was asleep on that one. The only possible "out" is he may not have seen all 4 guys back with the QB from his angle. Because of how they are stacked one of those players could be blocked from his view. It's still an incorrect no call though unless the slot guy got on the line before the snap.

That's how I was taught nearly 20 years ago anyway and how most officials I know did it. This rule change aligns with how it was usually viewed anyway. I don't ever remember having a flag for only 6 linemen when a a team had 10 players. I'm sure it's happened though and was correctly called if it did.

Incorrect. They still need 5 linemen numbered 50-79 (which is what the rule change is essentially referencing). The snapper needs to legally snap it to a back so you need at least 1 of them. The smallest number you could legally snap with is 6. In your example the team would be guilty of illegal numbering because they don't have 5 players numbered 50-79 on the line of scrimmage. One confusion I've now heard a couple times is the backfield by coach's terminology and rules aren't the same. Any back is in the backfield whether he's behind the guard or next to the sideline. The previous rule said you had to have at least 7 on the line. That also meant no more than 4 in the backfield. Most officials just counted the backfield once they knew they had 11 players. If there were 4 they knew they had 7 linemen. The issue is if a team only has 10 players on the field and 6 of them were on the line they were guilty of an illegal formation because they were short a lineman. This rule change means that is no longer a foul. The offense is already at a disadvantage, why penalize them more? This is really more of a language change than anything to get to the same place.

We had the same set up at my HS in North Dakota. I assume only the larger schools had, but DE was required for HS graduation so not sure how the smaller schools did it (we had REALLY small schools...like 40 kids in the top 4 grades small). I have a 19-year old and a 17-year old that were in no hurry to get their licenses. The same is true for many of their classmates. The 19-year old has friends who still don't have their license and they aren't in a big hurry to get it. My 14-year old plans to get his permit ASAP though. My oldest son did the classroom DE and while it was a pain for 2 weeks to get off work early and rush him there in rush hour to get him there on time. But it was done after 2 weeks. My middle son did the online version and he didn't complete it in the 6-months. He had to pay extra to extend the time twice but he finally completed it. The problem was it only took him 18-hours of online time. They still require 30 hours so we had to log in to a couple computers and watch 10 minute videos over and over to get to the 30 hours. Totally useless time. My youngest son plans to do the classroom version.

Even if it's not intentional I think you would be smart to do something like this. The defense shouldn't gain an advantage for doing something like this either accidental or intentional. This scenario is why the NCAA rule sets the play clock at 40 for defensive injuries or helmets off at any point during the game. Keep in mind though this would have been an issue with the 25-second play clock as well. The play clock wouldn't have been started until after he game clock was under 25 and it would have started with 35 seconds instead.

And one of them is on his way back to the Big Ten. Adam is currently an umpire in the Missouri Valley. I believe he's had some alternate assignments in the MAC or B1G. I would be surprised if he doesn't ultimately get there.

Exactly. That's why I said the tackles fall to the wings or R. The RT in general is the one most likely to get away with anything unless he's on play side of a run or he gets beat so bad in pass pro that he takes down the defender in your view and the LT's block is not in play. So many things can draw your attention depending on how the play develops you have to know where best to focus your attention. That learning only comes from experience. No amount of rule study or discussion can help you there.

That's a fair question. Each official is responsible for watching specific players or players in an area of the field depending on how the play develops. The umpire's keys are the G-C-G. He doesn't usually pay much attention to the tackles but will try to have a feel for where they are, especially if a team is known to run RPO. But it's very difficult to see all 5 at the same time as well as see what the QB is doing. The LOS officials or referee will more likely be keying the tackles, but they have other responsibilities as well and may not have perspective on the location of the tackle in relation to the expanded neutral zone. And the officials who do see the lineman is beyond 2 yards isn't looking at the QB at the same time to know the status of the pass. That's why I started using the mechanic where I take a quick peak at the QB if KNOW an ineligible player is BEYOND the expanded neutral zone. If the ball is not yet released and is ultimately thrown beyond the neutral zone, then it becomes a foul. Otherwise it's a guess and I guessed wrong too many times so now i want to make absolutely certain. I hope that helps you understand why this is difficult but not impossible.

I heard a sports psychologist speak once (targeted to a group of parents) and his best advice was there are 4 major roles in any sporting event: players, coaches, officials and parents. Each group has a distinct job to do and nobody should do more than 1 of them. It makes so much sense! Of course as an official we have to worry about everyone else trying to do our job too.

And what if the team isn't in an offset gun formation? Or what if the other tackle or one of the guards bleeds downfield because he expects it to be a run? If we only officiated to what the players were SUPPOSED to do we would never have a hold or pass interference. Because they weren't supposed to make that contact. But they did. You do look for tendencies though and that's one I've never heard. I will definitely look for it on video to see if I notice it then apply i ton the field this Fall.

It's not really any easier with 7 because it still relies heavily on the U specific to RPO situations. The short wins can help a little more on the tackles because they have less focus downfield. The reason why it's difficult is because an official has to be able to see two different things (lineman downfield and pass released) happen on two different parts of the field (offensive backfield and back of the expanded neutral zone). And the 5 linemen can be spread out in that expanded neutral zone. You are completely correct that he's also looking for other possible issues. Illegal blocks (i.e. holding, chop blocks), or hands to the face for example. He's less likely to be moving toward the LOS because it's probably a run read, but depending on what the guards and center do, he may be doing that thus putting the tackles wider than his view and possibly behind him. He doesn't pay close attention to the tackles because his keys are the guard, center, guard. There really isn't a mechanic that will help you watch both of these places at the same time and not miss all the other things you need to be watching. It's equally difficult for the wings regarding defensive holding or pass interference at times. The official may see the contact, but if the ball is already going to the other side of the field, it's not a foul. They do something similar to what I described. See the potential illegal action and then take a quick peak at the QB to see if he's looking that way or already throwing the ball the other direction. That's where I picked up the technique I use and have since heard it taught at clinics I attend. Officiating is sometimes an inexact science. You put yourself in the best position possible to see what you need to see and then base any decisions on what your eyes tell your brain and how you apply the rules and philosophies you've learned to make the best call possible. Then you play it over in your brain again before deciding if it was a foul. The more you see similar types of plays either on the field or on video, the better you are able to recognize it and make an accurate call. You watch video to see if you still like what you saw and sometimes you adjust how you process it when you see it again. It's not unlike players who have to make reads, adjustments and decisions quickly on the field. Trying to figure out how to do that right every time is one thing I love about officiating. You strive for perfection but realize that is almost impossible to do. But you don't stop trying.

I think it's currently called a lot more often than it should. I think a lot of umpires see the ball thrown and when they turn they see a lineman 6-8 yards downfield and flag them. But when you watch the video that lineman was still legal. But as I said it's a very tricky thing because nobody is looking at the linemen and QB at the same time and even good officials make this mistake. I'm sure there are also plenty of times where the bleeding lineman is missed because the focus is on other lineman. You often can watch all 5 at one time. I should clarify too that all RPO teams don't do this every play. But every RPO team I have seen does have linemen often coming into the expanded neutral zone at various times during the game. Most of the time it ends up being a run or the QB throws it while the linemen are still legal. I don't know if there will be any more emphasis on enforcing it. What we are going to see is if the linemen can only be in the ENZ if they are engaged or if they can be there regardless before the ball is thrown. If it's the latter it won't be a change for a majority of officials. If it's the former it will affect many RPO offenses ability to run it, but it will be easier to officiate because the linemen can't be downfield at all before the ball is thrown. As run read will truly be a run read.

It's a lot harder than you think. The reason is the umpire has to watch two different things taking place in two different areas of the field. I have to know where the lineman is in relation to the line of scrimmage when the ball is released. He's not watching the QB so while he'll see the lineman but not know when the ball is released. As since linemen are coming out, he has a run read. If the releasing linemen aren't engaged there is no reason to watch them so he'll focus on the engaged blockers for holding assuming it's a run. All of the sudden the ball is in the air, and he has no idea where the other linemen were at the time the ball was released so he can't call anything. If we could watch all 5 linemen at the same time as well as the QB we would be super human. The way I do it now is sense if linemen are downfield but watch for engaged blocks. If I see a lineman is beyond the 2-yards allowed I take a quick peak back at the QB. If the ball is released or he's in near the end of his throwing motion, I let it go. If he still has the ball I go back to officiating my keys. If the ball is thrown any time after that I know I have a foul because I already had a lineman downfield. That seems to work because I now may only miss 1 per season. It also makes sure the foul is definitely there. It has taken years of practice and experience to get there. It's much easier to catch on video because you can stop the video the second the ball is released and do an inventory of the ineligible players. Can't do that on the field.

Every RPO I've seen at the HS and NCAA level has linemen coming out to try to engage a LB or at least drive the DL back to sell it as a pure run. Sometimes they drift too far before the ball is thrown (usually the fault of the passer and not the lineman). The problem usually comes in when a lineman may be 6-8 yards downfield when the pass is caught, but the rule applies when the pass is released. Often the lineman is fine at that point but coaches scream because they see the lineman way downfield when the ball is in the air. I was fooled by this many times when I was a newer official, but watching on film I realized the lineman was fine at the time of release. Now I'm much slower to flag it unless I"m absolutely certain the lineman was illegal when the ball was released.

My guess is they are going to clarify if ineligible players are able to go 2 yards prior to the pass only if they engage with a defender at the LOS. There is some disagreement on that as the rule says it both ways. Most officials I know allow 2 yards regardless of contact so we'll see if that changes. If they require contact at the LOS I bet we see little or no RPO going forward.

Each NFL team is affiliated with one of the AAF teams (http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25900439/everything-need-know-first-alliance-american-football-season). That article also explains how colleges are affiliated with each of the teams as well. This article confirms the Colts are affiliated with the Memphis team (https://saintswire.usatoday.com/2019/02/10/saints-aaf-memphis-express-davis-tull-damian-swann/). Cathedral and UIndy grad Reece Horn is playing for Memphis and caught 2 passes for 28 yards last weekend. If you look at the Memphis roster (https://aaf.com/memphis-express/roster) there are a couple names I believe have spent at least some time with the Colts.

Yes, they are still considered IHSAA officials as you are required to be licensed to work regular season varsity games as well. But the IHSAA is not involved at all in assigning those games. It's up to each school to hire their own officials. If they are found to have hired a non-licensed official they would be subject to forfeiting the game. Things like meeting attendance, rules meeting review, rules test only apply if you are a tournament official as well. I haven't seen as much of the playoff skipping as IO has seen in the Indy area. I'm only aware of one crew who does it, but they also don't work a full regular season either. There obviously has to be some of this though because 165-ish games get covered every week with a handful of crews not working, but only 145-ish crews apply for the tournament. That would imply 10-12% of the regular season crews don't apply for the tournament.