So last night in the Harrison-Logansport game, Harrison was leading 43-7 with a running clock and got the ball back from Logansport late in the 4th. They gave the ball to one of their linemen to carry the ball, ala The Fridge, and he gained three yards. A couple of QB sneaks after that and they were still moving the ball and very deep in Logansport territory. It became apparent that even running QB sneaks and the like, a score could happen before the game clock expired. Harrison then took a knee three times in a row ... sitting around Logansport's 12 or so, but still had around a minute and a half to kill. Choices seemed to be 1) take another knee and give Logansport the ball with a maybe a minute and a half left, 2) run the ball or go for a field goal ... thus adding points to the scoreboard, or 3) figure out how to get a net 10-yard punt. Harrison opted for #4 and took a delay. They then took a second delay and then a third. By the time of the third delay, there wasn't enough time on the game clock to make the play clock relevant and the teams lined up. In essence, Harrison ran the equivalent of six plays' worth of time of the clock with just three snaps and ended up on the Logansport 27 or so when the game was over.
Am I missing anything or, in that situation, the defense has no way to keep that clock from literally burning down as Harrison still had another 60 backwards yards that they could have given and burned a play's worth of time for each one. Even at half a minute per play, they had another 6 minutes worth of penalties that they could have peeled off the game clock. Granted, the defense could call a timeout, which would then force a snap on 4th down in that situation or, under normal circumstances, accepting the delay penalty kills the game clock until the snap occurs ... thus also forcing the 4th down snap. With the running clock, that clock stop in accepting the delay penalty seems to be nullified ... correct? ... leading to a situation where you don't even have to take a victory formation to run down the clock; just a half dozen or more delays if there aren't timeouts remaining.
Question
foxbat
So last night in the Harrison-Logansport game, Harrison was leading 43-7 with a running clock and got the ball back from Logansport late in the 4th. They gave the ball to one of their linemen to carry the ball, ala The Fridge, and he gained three yards. A couple of QB sneaks after that and they were still moving the ball and very deep in Logansport territory. It became apparent that even running QB sneaks and the like, a score could happen before the game clock expired. Harrison then took a knee three times in a row ... sitting around Logansport's 12 or so, but still had around a minute and a half to kill. Choices seemed to be 1) take another knee and give Logansport the ball with a maybe a minute and a half left, 2) run the ball or go for a field goal ... thus adding points to the scoreboard, or 3) figure out how to get a net 10-yard punt. Harrison opted for #4 and took a delay. They then took a second delay and then a third. By the time of the third delay, there wasn't enough time on the game clock to make the play clock relevant and the teams lined up. In essence, Harrison ran the equivalent of six plays' worth of time of the clock with just three snaps and ended up on the Logansport 27 or so when the game was over.
Am I missing anything or, in that situation, the defense has no way to keep that clock from literally burning down as Harrison still had another 60 backwards yards that they could have given and burned a play's worth of time for each one. Even at half a minute per play, they had another 6 minutes worth of penalties that they could have peeled off the game clock. Granted, the defense could call a timeout, which would then force a snap on 4th down in that situation or, under normal circumstances, accepting the delay penalty kills the game clock until the snap occurs ... thus also forcing the 4th down snap. With the running clock, that clock stop in accepting the delay penalty seems to be nullified ... correct? ... leading to a situation where you don't even have to take a victory formation to run down the clock; just a half dozen or more delays if there aren't timeouts remaining.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
5 answers to this question
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.