hello

I was working a game last saturday and had this situaton occur. The offense broke a play for 40 yards and as the running back was about to score there was a persoanl foul by the offense at the 30 yard line, as the white hat i counted the score and accessed the penalty on the next play. Is this the proper procedure for this situation, i seemed to have read this exact play in a casebook sometime ago.


thanks for the help

I can't quote the rules book but I'll my 2 cents worth. Sense the foul occured before the touchdown it's a live ball foul. The touchdown is waved off and the penalty is marked off from the spot of the foul. The case book offers something close: 10-5-3-C

Should have waived off the TD. It's a live-ball player foul enforced under the all-but-one principle. The down should have been replayed after the 15-yard penalty.

Stuff happens...just learn from it and move on.

In my judgement, the PF was after the TD. :)

mcrowder, were you at the game?

In my judgment, I am not going to award a TD to the team that fouled.

It was a live ball foul and should have been penalized from the spot of the foul. Tough call.

Many officials penalize it like you did in order to avoid the anger of the offensive coach.

My technique in trying to avoid these stupid fouls that officials get blamed for -- we didn't do it! -- is to yell out to the players something like "don't hit him!" or "keep it clean" or something to the effect to let them know you are there and looking. The words don't really matter.

I've seen players get some engrossed trying to figure out what the crazy referee is saying until they forget to even think about hitting.

My comment was not entirely serious. However, how often have we seen exactly this kind of play get ignored because the referee feels the PF was so far from the play that it shouldn't take away the TD. Right, wrong, indifferent - it happens. I'd much rather have that particular official call it correctly, but so many just won't. SO - if you're one of those officials who just won't call this, it's FAR better to instead "see" the foul happen right after the TD. Then at the very least, the kid knows he's not going to get away with that kind of nonsense, and the coach rips him a new one (which he deserves) for costing him 15 on the KO or XP.

If you don't flag it the first time, what happens later when the other kid retaliates (or the first kid figures his late hit is acceptable) on a similar play, and seriously hurts someone?

I can see letting a mild block in the back go but I think a personal foul should be handled regardless of the situation.

If in your judgement the foul occured before the runner crossed the goal line, then you must penalize from the spot. NO touchdown, and fifteen yards from where the foul occured.

I think it should too.

But you see people overlook it because of their perception of severity of the penalty. I'd rather THOSE people at least penalize on the succeeding instead of just ignoring or giving it a "Hey, don't do that".

I believe it's of upmost importance for professional officials to make difficult calls, and a personal foul,one where a player could get injured, is one of the most important, regardless of where it happens and when it happens. Our job is not to buffer a kid or program, but to interpret the rules in the spirit of the game in order to create an even playing field. The kids play, coaches coach, fans cheer and we monitor and officiate.

I'd have to see it but I'll nail cherry picking all day long. If it is flagrant, you are missing the rest of this on and all of the next one. I watched a D1 game last week where there was a flag in another county from the play and the R's explanation was that a personal foul was committed on a defenseless person.

This is a live ball foul treated as a dead ball foul. Access penalty yardage on the try.

By "This is a live ball foul" do you mean the original play??
The personal foul occurred before A entered the end zone, so
why do you enforce the yardage on the try? This isn't an unsportsmanlike foul or a non-player foul.

How can you justify that by rule?