Has anyone else noticed an extra official (or, at least, someone dressed in stripes) in the backfield with the R? Is he keeping time on the field? (The scoreboard clock has been broken for most of the game.)

No, but I saw the referee get caught up in front of the QB in the first 2 minutes of the game. It happened to me in a varsity game for the first time this year. I felt like a complete bozo when it happened (it was so fast) but the only thing I could do was step quickly to the side and let the QB get behind me. When I saw it last night I laughed and it just goes to show it happens to these guys who are among the best in this business too.

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REPLY: Unfortunately, the mechanics prescribed for the R by the SEC cause this to happen too often.

I was caught inside exactly once. Trust me - that's all it takes.

On mine, QB was in shotgun, and I was probably 8 yards behind him - about 2 yards too far forward, at minimum. Blitz is coming from my right, 2 guys, hard toward QB. I take about 2 steps laterally to the right (not back, as I should have. QB takes 2 steps left and forward, and pitches it to a WR that I hadn't seen until this point. The pitch was at least 5 yards back (about 3-4 yards ahead of me, but far to my left now. WR sees the two guys coming in from the right, and quickly makes the wide turn. The CB and LB, following him now going deeper than me then bread-and-butter me. All of a sudden, I'm in the middle of about 8 guys and it hits the fan - I'm creamed by a DL while watching CB, LB, and WR. Luckily, HL sees this develop and has the spot where WR is tackled, and U comes in to help me up.

Wasn't hurt too bad. But learned a lesson.

Was he laughing? I only ask because mine was. And the rest of the crew was not very sympathetic either. You're right, one of those is enough!

Yes... and I bought the beer.

The extra person on the field was the alternate official. Since the game clock in the stadium wasn't working properly, the alternate was keeping the clock on the field. He was out on the field so he could notify the R how much time was left after each play. The R would then announce this over his microphone after he marked the ball ready for play. That way, everyone in the stadium would know how much time was on the clock.

I learned this lesson too, last season. Shotgun formation and the snap was SO bad, it came right for me. Now I know that you can never be too deep, but you can certainly be too close.

I've backed up considerably this season and I find I get a much better view of things with a little extra distance.

[Edited by Rich Fronheiser on Dec 25th, 2005 at 02:52 PM]