Do we need an untimed down?

[Ed Maeder]

Have a question on a situation we had tonight. After a play we had a double personal foul dead ball. There was 24 seconds left in the game both players were ejected. The clock was started on the ready for play and it ran out without a play being run. In the NFHS book in Rule 3-3 Art3 it states that a period must be extended with an untimed down if during the last timed down of the period a penalty is accepted. Are these penalties considered to be during a timed down and did we need to run a play or not?

[SJoldguy]

No untimed down necessary in your example because they are deadball fouls. . Only replay the down if a liveball foul is accepted. 2 exapmles: 1st example: A's ball with clock running with 5 seconds left in first half, A false starts and B accepts. After measurement clock starts on the ready. Time expires before the snap. No untimed down. 2nd example A illegal shift with 10 second left and the clock running. A1 is tackled with 5 seconds to go in 1st half. B accepts.clock starts on the ready. If time expires before A snaps, an untimed down must be run.

[SJoldguy]

RThe key to this situation is "if during the last timed down there is a live ball foul and the penalty is accepted. Deadball fouls are not during the last timed down. Also a USP would not extend the period for an untimed down

[SJoldguy]

JR did you reread your thoughts?

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by SJoldguy
JR did you reread your thoughts?

I did not see the part "dead ball." I just read double personal foul.

Peace

[SJoldguy]

JR, I always like reading your comments. They are very accurate. I tried to e-mail you about it but you are blocked.

[JRutledge]

Email me at [email protected]

Peace

[mikesears]

Originally posted by Ed Maeder
Have a question on a situation we had tonight. After a play we had a double personal foul dead ball. There was 24 seconds left in the game both players were ejected. The clock was started on the ready for play and it ran out without a play being run. In the NFHS book in Rule 3-3 Art3 it states that a period must be extended with an untimed down if during the last timed down of the period a penalty is accepted. Are these penalties considered to be during a timed down and did we need to run a play or not?

The key to understanding this is the phrase during the last timed down.

A down begins when the ball is legally snapped or free-kicked and ends when the ball next becomes dead. So in order to have a down in progress, the ball must be snapped. In other words, to have a foul DURING a down, the ball is live by definition.

[Ed Maeder]

We let the clock run out and one of the crew insisted we had to run an untimed down. We didn't and I read him that it had to be during a timed down and accepted, but he still insisted that the foul is considered during the down for some reason. Thanks for all the replies.

[cowbyfan1]

He probably consideered it part of the down once the ready was blown.