Alamo Bowl
 

Something happened late in this game that I think involved contact with an official. I was distracted by family events at the time and the sound was muted so I didn't exactly see or hear what happened.

I saw the Side judge running backwards and then he fell to the ground. He had an obviously disgusted look on his face and threw his flag while on the ground.

Did someone on the sideline make contact during the play? It happended along the Penn State sideline and JoPa didn't look very happy afterwards.

What was the penalty and how was it enforced? I work NFHS and I don't have any knowledge of NCAA rules.

Thanks.

I'm not 100% sure of who he it, but he was well into the restricted area. I'm not certain if he was affiliated with the team or not, but he did have on a sideline pass. The official was backpeddaling when the contact occured. It appeared by reading his lips he reported unsportsmanlike conduct to the referee but apparently the referee must have talked him out of it and only went with a sideline warning.

Why it wasn't sideline interference, I'll never know.

It does not become sideline interverence until the teams sidelines warnings have been exhausted. 9-1-5-b details the procedure.

The suggestion has been made to treat these contact situations in the restricted area as 9-2-1 fouls which would permit 15 yards on the first offense. The suggestion has merit, especially in the cases where the contact causes the official to be unable to cover critcal game action. Ex: S is back pedalling, runs into an offender in the zone, and falls. Meanwhile the ball is passed to the S' key but the S is unable to rule on catch/no-catch or interference/no interference.

In the Alamobowl situation, the S really had nothing much to do on that play so the argument might be made to go with the sideline warning rule.

I do know that in Texas HS football, the state official's organization wants all collisions in the restricted area penalized as UC immediately.