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Originally Posted by sloth
Whats the big deal? These are supposed to be some of the best officials in the country. I don't think asking them to use basic common sense is too much to ask. In fact, I'd fault a HS crew for not taking the same action. Any trained moneky can blindly enforce rules, we are expected to think and apply some common sense to those rules. To a be a game manager and not a strict rules enforcer is what we are called to do.
BTW...I don't think this is grounds for a USC. Simply back them up 5 yards, add time back to the clock. Tell the offending coach if he does this again he will be looking at time being re-added to the clock plus a 15 yard penalty for a USC. Problem solved wihtout creating a big scene.
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Here's the problem... the statement from the NCAA was, ""If an obviously unfair act not specifically covered by the rules occurs during the game, the referee may take any action he considers equitable, including assessing a penalty." Unfortunately, this unfair act IS specifically covered by the rules - offsides is a 5-yard penalty. There is no wisdom from the NCAA (in case play or rulebook) telling us that 10 5-yarders on the same play should be a 15-yarder and a fixing of the clock.
It may be common sense to your or me, sitting here on our computers. But how many of us would have risked our lucrative college officiating careers essentially making up a solution on the fly and HOPING it coincided with the opinions of our superiors?
The answer is - Not Many.
And the fault lies in the rulesmakers who changed this rule without much peer review, or even simply reading here, where a number of us pointed out this specific problem with the rule.