[Bob M.]

REPLY: Just a few thoughts;

1. Mike…you had a dream about this play??? You gotta really stop eating that red hot chili right before bedtime!
2. This is the one time in Federation ball that a foul actually causes the ball to become dead. Since you can’t kill it before the snap (who knows what A’s intentions are), your only alternative, if you believe it to be designed to deceive the defense into believing the snap was not imminent, is to shut it down right after the snap.
3. Some have mentioned the possibility of an unintended premature snap. Maybe there was no intent to deceive. But you should be able to figure that out. If this was a designed play, all other A players will immediately be fulfilling their assignments. The huddled backs will break toward predetermined blocking positions; the O-line will retreat into their pass blocking positions; the WR will run his fly pattern. You’ll know it when you see it! If this were just a case of a snapper with an itchy trigger finger, the rest of the offense would probably just be frozen in place—except for the back who caught the ball. He’ll probably look like a deer in the headlights. Most likely the defense will cream him because none of his teammates knew the snap was imminent nor were they in any position to block for him. And for such plays, the chances of this unaware back cleanly fielding this unintended snap are about the same as…Mike dreaming up another such play tonight!

I agree with Kevin and Tom that if this in any way looks like it was designed, it’s a USC foul.