Ten seconds left in the game. Team A has no time outs left. A1's fairly long pass is complete downfield to A88 who tries to run out-of-bounds. He is about to get tackled inbounds, so he tosses the ball backwards out-of-bounds, losing maybe a yard or two, but stopping the clock.

I've got this as legal under Federation rules.

I would think coaches would actually design plays with this in mind. Any thoughts?

I think there's a lot of risk involved in the play. That's probably why you don't see it. Tell a HS player to toss the ball backwards OOB may be more risk than most coaches are willing to take.

Wow! I had never thought of such an ingenious idea before. LOL! I like that, but it does have an element of risk to it.

Something to think about in the interpretation of the rules concerning a backward pass out of bounds is how does it play into the delay of game rules?

Hmm...

It is a legal play in NFHS. Under NCAA, it's a foul, 5 yds and the clock will START ON THE READY.

How about this one?

A ball on their own 20 with only seconds left down by one point. QB drops back and completes a pass to a receiver that runs all the way down to B's 10 yard line. He realizes he's not going to score so he throws the ball forward to a blocker who takes the ball into the endzone.

Illegal forward pass. Decline the penalty and A has a touchdown. Accept the penalty and A will get an untimed down they can use to leisurely kick a game winning field goal.

Anything to stop this? I realize this would be pretty hard to pull off.

Rich

>>A ball on their own 20 with only seconds left down by one point. QB drops back and completes a pass to a receiver that runs all the way down to B's 10 yard line. He realizes he's not going to score so he throws the ball forward to a blocker who takes the ball into the endzone.<<

If the illegal pass is incomplete and the penalty is declined, I think you have to start the clock on the ready. Otherwise, you allow the offense to gain an advantage by committing an illegal act.

Clock rules say the the clock will be stopped when a legal or illegal forward pass is incomplete and will start on the snap. We can't change that.

So its better for B is the ineligible in question catches it and stays inbounds (but doesn't score - that'll stop it, too).

Yes we can...check out Case 3.6.3 Situation A. If an incomplete illegal forward pass was made for the purpose of conserving time, the referee is authorized to start the clock on the ready.

I again go back to my original post...a deliberately incomplete backward pass is not illegal and thus can be used to stop the clock.

Correct. Backward pass OOB stops the clock. No foul since there is no intentional grounding on a backward pass.

The original play is not against the rules. Why ask it twice?

Mr. RDfox's reference to CB 3.6.3.A brings out one thing that bugs me with NF rules.

They are quite clear in 3-4-3-e that the clock is to start on the snap when a legal or illegal FP is incomplete but yet in 3-6-3 several pages later, they give us what is an "exception" to that rule.
What is so hard about putting a pointer to that exception right into 3-4-3? Are they that pigheaded to use the words "exception" in the rules? (my answer is yes they are)

So, if team-A uses an illegal forward pass to kill the clock because the runner wasn't able to make it into the EZ, then by all means the clock should be started on RFP.
Even the NCAA code agrees with this.

However, if it were a backward pass OOB, then I and others are saying to start the clock on the snap as does a play in the FRD manual. NF rule 3-6-3 doesn't kick in because as currently written, it is not illegal to toss a pass backwards (and OOB). Not so for NCAA, but that's not the question.

Nothing illegal about this in Canada, and the ball is spotted at the OOB point. Since we're under 3 minutes, the clock will start on the snap because FP is OOB.

Mike