Inadvertant 5 yard facemask in the Offense...
 

Anyone ever seen this called? I worked a game this year and the LJ called it I thought it was bizarre...

Not only bizarre but wrong if done in Texas HS football. All FM fouls by offense are 15 yarders regardless of severity.

Most often on the runner trying to stiff arm.

I know that is the NCAA rule, Mike, but why? If there is not twist or turn, why 15 automatically. Any rationale that you know of?

Best logic I have ever heard is that we expect the defenders to be using their hands more than the offensive guys, (especially if you think back to the days when they were not even allowed t block with their hands). So if a defender grasps the FM, we are only hitting him for 5 but since offensive guys should not be up there in the 1st place, and should not be grasping anything in the 2d place, they get no break.

The head linesman of my crew called this foul twice in one game.

We don't have a 5 yarder in Canada - just 15. However, if an offender goes to stiffarm someone, I think it's quite possible for a 5 yarder to occur. You could easily have two opponents running quickly, their balance in question trying to initiate or avoid contact, and with the chaos involved in a tackle and a high stiffarm, an inadvertant FM occurs by team A.

I think if you're going to call a FM foul against the offense, make it big, really big. That's why I think you would shy away from a 5 yarder and stick them with a 15 yarder in Fed ball. The only time I will call a FM foul against A is when there is a twist, grab, and turn of the facemask. Like MJT said, the only time I've called it is on a stiff arm where the above happened.

Now, I just glanced at the rule book and I came across something. By the Federation rule book, can you call a 10 yard illegal use of hands foul in a play where an opponent gets his hands in the face of his opposition?

Yes, you can call a 10-yard illegal use of hands foul. My U came to me and said the offensive lineman put his hands in the face of an opponent and wanted a PF. I asked if he grabbed the facemask. When he said no he "basically stuck his hands in the defender's face" then I said we then should go with illegal use of hands, which we did.

Good call guys! Open hand blocking technique must be inside the frame, which is defined as "at or below the shoulders." The NFL covers it well with their "illegal hands to the face" call.

My initial intention for posing this question was that my first thought was it can't be illegal use of hands because if you read just the definition of illegal use of hands, it doesn't say anything about hands to the face. But then I saw the reference to 2-3-2 and that's where the hands below the shoulders aspect comes in.

I've called both offensive and defensive linemen for hands to the face this past season. I don't think I've ever seen an actual facemask penalty but it isn't hard to imagine it's happened. Either way, unless it's flagrant the illegal use of hands is the more severe penalty.

I seen one called on the punt team while the ball was still in the air. Not only was it wrong since it should be a 15 yarder, but they also improperly enforced it. They enforced it from the spot where the return team called fair catch. They added 5 yards from that spot. Since the foul was during the kick it should have been enforced from the previous spot. This happened in a 2nd round 5A playoff game.