[Suudy]

In our game last night, we had two situations of which I cannot find any rule support. While discussing it in the post-game, the rest of the crew was certain they had it right, but I'm still not so sure.

1. Late in the second quarter, A is out of timeouts. They are taking quite some time and as they approach the line, the BJ raises his hand to indicate 5 seconds left on the play clock. The QB calls timeout. Our WH stops the clock and signals A's timeout. The rest of us are saying "no timeouts for A." Once the WH looks at his card, he realizes it, then throws a flag and marches off 5 for DOG.

I argued that there is no DOG for this, just that we should not grant the request. Our WH said that is normally true, but if it is granted, and it is discovered that there are no remaining TO's, then a DOG is charged. I said this applied only if the coach challenged a ruling on the field and it failed. I was overruled by the rest of the crew and let the issue drop.

2. Our WH nailed A 3 times for IS for breaking the huddle with 12. I reminded him that it is not the huddle that matters, but that the replaced player leave immediately. On all 3 occasions, as the 12th A player entered the huddle, the huddle broke, and the replaced player left the field immediately. The coach (on my sideline) never objected.

In the end, neither mattered, as it was a blowout. However, I felt it was setting a bad precedent, especially since this team is 5-0, ranked #2 in the state, and is likely to make it to the playoffs. And in the playoffs, the officials are more likely to get things right, and they may see things not called that were called during the season.