[SoGARef]

No one seems to want to answer Robert's question.

The snap is an obvious snap infraction and the play should have been blown dead and flagged by the umpire. The rest of the play is moot!

But let's say the snap had been a legal snap, what would you then have?

The comment from the 2007 NFHS Casebook for Rule 9-3-3 says:
"COMMENT: Football has been and always will be a game of deception and trickery involving multiple shifts, unusual formations and creative plays. However, actions or verbiage designed to confuse the defense into believing there is problem and a snap isn't imminent is beyond the scope of sportsmanship and is illegal."

I have watched and listened (at full volume) to this play over and over. At no point before the "snap" is there any verbiage about a wrong ball. So, there is no verbiage designed to confuse the defense into believing there is a problem and a snap isn't imminent. The ball is snapped to the QB (again, we are assuming this is a legal snap) who then turns with a live ball to the coach and declares this is the wrong ball. Does not the defense have some responsibility to be aware of a live ball situation? Remember, there was nothing deceiving done before the snap and at the snap the only thing to happen was the offense did not move.

I'm having a hard time seeing this as deceiving and rather a defense that is asleep at the wheel. Yes, I can see where a referee could invoke Rule 9-3-4 and say, "I don't like it and in my opinion it is an unfair act." If we do, what are we going to enforce? Remember 9-3-4 does not have a specific penalty enforcement. If you call it unsportsmanlike but didn't kill the ball, the results of the play stand and you apply the penalty on the succeeding spot. If you call it a live ball foul you can negate the results of the play and come back to the previous or basic spot, but what do you call it and what is the yardage?

Probably what I will do is this. In my pre-game conference with the HC I ask if there are any unusual plays that I need to be aware that he might use tonight. This is certainly an unusual play. If he tells me about it I will probably suggest to him that he should not run that play tonight. I would also suggest that he get an interpretation from the State Association on the play. If he chooses not to tell me about the play and then runs it, I will probably flag him for unsportsmanlike conduct by invoking 9-3-4.

Sorry about the long post, but I felt a need for a devil's advocate.