Absolutely. I just found it amusing because they didn't even realize they were playing under college rules.


Agree, it is definitely subjective. I'm just speaking from my personal opinion on that. And yes, NFHS is definitely simpler overall.

I think that is why it will never change. All those changes and difference would have to be learned overnight basically and it would cause some problems. I just do not see this change right or wrong because of what is necessarily easier, but it would totally not fit the NF philosophy. Believe it or not the NF does use NCAA rules in any other sport and they are not going to change just for that one sport IMO.

Peace

I did some small college freshman games many moons ago. Back then, there were very few differences, even in penalty enforcements, so with help from my crew mates, I could bluff my way through.

I'd never try that today.

Point of Parliamentary Procedure
 

Actually Rich, there are 49 "Members" which use NFHS Rules for Football! (District of Columbia)

Interestingly, all 51 "Members" use NFHS Rules For Basketball

I didn't say members, I said states. Taxation without representation!

Doesn't New York State use NCAA rules for girls basketball? So maybe 50.5 members. ;)

Yes. Not because of 2 vs. 48 but because, as I stated, it is a better code for football. We've had many members in our organization over the years that have come from Fed states. I don't know of a single person that wants to ever go back to Fed. If they had to move, many would probably just work small college and not HS. I have 2 ex-Fed guys on my crew right now and I'd give you 100 bucks for ANY nice thing they said about Fed as long as you'd give me 5 bucks for everything they liked about NCAA over Fed. I could probably go a dollar and still come out way ahead.

The great thing about states adopting the NCAA rule set is they can make whatever changes to them that's good for their state and no one cares. Does Fed still get their panties in a wad about states going off the reservation? I know they did in baseball some time ago in Texas -- and I know most states I've heard of respect the Fed rule allowed exceptions. Texas has 40+ exceptions (mostly administrative). The cool thing is that on Saturday, we go work a small college game and virtually everything we call on the field is the same. I can call a fifth year HS guy in an emergency, loan him a shirt (if necessary), and he can be on the field in a college game (actually how I worked my first college game). Have any of you Fed guys done that with someone who didn't have actual college experience and/or didn't know NCAA rules?

I can't speak to what these unknown concerns are, but I have to say the NCAA rule set is better since Redding took over as Editor. He's cleaned a lot of things up.

One thing really doesn't have much to do with the other. The reason basketball, for example, plays Fed rules is that teams travel to other states often for tournaments. They need a consistent code among states if that occurs, which doesn't happen a lot in football -- at least not in Texas. I think for the most part, since the rules (Fed) exist, they just use them without a lot of thought.

Again, the change to NCAA rules would be a huge adjustment for all officials, not just the experienced ones. There are so many exceptions involved and it has little or nothing to do with what Redding might put in a book. Not everyone reads that book in the first place.

This IMO is why this change will never happen. Also there are NCAA rules that are not appropriate for most high school kids, like blocking below the waist rules that NCAA has. The FBZ is a lot easier to navigate than what the NCAA has and the NCAA is often very confusing. IMO you really need 7 officials for that kind of application and 5 would be hard to apply the rule properly IMO as well.

Peace

As far as basketball is concerned, 50 states may play under NFHS rules but quite a few states use some form of a shot clock as I recall. That's a huge inconsistency. It doesn't stop teams from crossing state lines to play. There are just as many football teams that cross state lines to play games as there are basketball teams in the states I've officiated in. Sure, if a basketball team travels for a tournament, they may play more than one game but schools that are close to state lines routinely play each other in many sports. They're natural rivalries in areas.

I don't buy the argument concerning officials only having to learn one rule set. In our association of 140 officials, less than 10% officiate college football. Why change the rules for less than 10% of the membership? Fewer HS student-athletes play college football, so the argument to change the rules for the benefit of the players doesn't hold water either. State associations are concerned with how the rules affect student-athletes, not officials. That's exactly the stance they should be taking.

The deal is simple: Only the organiz'ns that have formal input to the rules have to play by the rules. Anybody can play by anyone's rules set; they publish them, after all. For that matter, they can play by a previous edition; many adult leagues do that for football. And they can mix, match, and alter to please.

But you no play-a da game, you no make-a da rules. Seems perfectly reasonable for a governing body to say, we who are concocting the rules -- indirectly, all the member ass'ns together -- agree to play by whatever we come up with. That's how they get feedback. So sure, a state ass'n can use Fed rules with their own modif'ns, but then they have no say in the repair & maintenance of Fed rules in subsequent editions.

I'm really confused why there seems to be such concern about "different" rule codes. American Football is a great game played by people between the ages of 8 and 60+, that involves complex strategy, continual aggressive physical contact and competition.

The fact that there are rule accommodations to satisfy the differences between children (NFHS), young men (NCAA) and elite professional grown men (NFL) including significantly different instructional, performance and marketing objectives seems only logical.

Does it make sense to expect an interscholastic athlete to be able to immediately grasp the complexities and physical requirements of an experienced collegiate athlete, or a seasoned elite level professional, or expect those at higher performance levels to be burdened by restrictions and protocols designed to protect beginners?

Football is a progressive sport through which participants advance through the levels by means of accomplisment and ability demonstrated at pervious levels

And yet the state of Texas seems to do just fine.

While I don't think 2 should trump 48 or 49, those states show that NCAA rules work at the prep level, as well. There's just no compelling reason to play them.

Sure they work. The high schools and the pros started out playing by the same rules the college teams used. But then they had reasons for developing their own.

What's bizarre is when in recent time Fed football has gone out of its way to sound different from NCAA when there was no real reason to, other than to look original. The team K rule, I mean.

Sometimes the reason has just been, "You're sticks in the mud, ours are better." That must be how Fed, NAIA, and NJCAA wound up playing by those "Alliance" football rules that Fed instigated. It's not like the NAIA players were any less mature than NCAA's. Similarly in the interval when there were 3 regional rule sets used by the colleges, and then another interval when there were 2. (And that was just in the USA, let alone Canada.) Or when different pro leagues use different rules. Or different youth leagues. Usually it's a matter of some people wanting to change something, others wanting to keep it the same, and they split.

I do not think it is that petty. I think football at the high school level has different concerns and NCAA often does not address them or the main thing, you have college coaches that try to always find holes they can exploit. Those same exploitation do not take place in NF because there are more coaches and many coaches are not only coaches by profession. I do not think the NF goes out of their way, they just do not see the need to change something that is simple that is mostly taking place at the college level. Again, the players and skill level is very different from high school to college. Heck some even feel that what goes on at the D3 level for example should not be influenced by what happens at the D1 level. So many layers to what is going on, you are not going to get total agreement on what should be changed or how the rules should be the same.

Peace

Absolutely agree, it's not a question of "better" it's a matter of different objectives, designed to deal with different skill sets. NFHS Rules don't just apply to Varsity level, there's JV, Freshman, Modified and a whole gaggle of Youth Football that follow NFHS rules, with countless adjustments designed specifically for the individual leagues and groups.

"One size fits all", may be one of the dumbest objectives mankind has even considered, it NEVER, EVER works as well as expected about ANYTHING.

Consistency is usually a very good thing, except when it's taken down to the gnat's eyelash level for no practical, or common sense reason. Football is a great game that has always relied on common sense judgment by players, coaches and officials whose focus should be on the situation unfolding in front of them.