An interesting question came out at our midget meeting last night.

The play: The ball is snapped back to the QB but the ball just hits the QB's hands and falls on the ground. The guard picks up the ball and advances the ball. The referee had been informed prior to the play there is a planned loose ball. Or, if the R hadn't been notified there was some good dialog as to whether this could even be a foul for not telling the referee as the play could have been interpreted as a fumbled snap with the ball remaining live.

At first I thought Illegal / Illegal. Now I'm thinking legal in both.

Your ruling?

The fairly difficult part of this play the "planned" part of the rule. We have to judge intent. If it were planned, there are probably going to be clues. First the QB is probably going to put the ball down because if he just lets it hit his hands and fall to the ground, the ball could go anywhere. Second, the QB is probably going to be moving back and away from the ball because he wants to draw the defense to him and away from the ball. Third the lineman who picks the ball up is probably going to be making a definite effort to move towards the ball rather than blocking.

There is no predicting how a football will bounce, so if a midget team wants to try a loose ball play without placing the ball on the ground, they are in danger of turning the ball over or losing yardage.


If I see the ball hit the Quarterback's hands and fall to the ground, I wouldn't be inclined to call it a planned loose ball play.

it is amazing. i did a 7 year old game and a college game one saturday. the coaches at the 7 year old's game ran more complex plays than at the college game. sometimes the pee-wee coaches ignore the basics and try to make it to complicated and spoil the fun.