Hoo hoo! NCAA gets tuff on sidelines
 

http://www.ajc.com/gatech/content/sp...urst_0213.html

This is gonna get fun. The Fed will follow along in what, 3-4 years?:D

REPLY: And they've eliminated the 5-yd face mask foul. Only the 15 yard variety will be called. Incidental minor grabs that don't pull, twist will be ignored.

I was surprised to see that they eliminated the 5-yard facemask penalty. All facemask penalties are now 15 yards.

edit to add: Bob, you beat me to it. I was wondering if officials would take it on their own to ignore the minor stuff.

Apparently the committee felt that the fouls that were normally called "incidental" were so inconsequential that they should not be penalized. They only want the acts that we would judge as personal foul FM's to be flagged.

Based on the actual press release, they've proposed the following:

-- eliminated 5 yard facemask (bad idea in so many ways)
-- instituted 40/25 clock similar to NFL
-- added horse collar rule (oh, yippee)
-- wind the clock on ready, except for last 2 minutes of each half, on OOB (should have added incomplete pass as well)
-- some changes regarding contact with helmet (not specified)
-- some changes to the chop block rule
-- eliminated sideline warning
-- OOB KO to 40 instead of 35, as an option

I think these are only proposals and aren't adopted yet. I'm betting that the facemask rule won't be adopted. It seems a little contradictory to have safety as a POI yet eliminate partially a rule involving safety. Hopefully they'll crap-can the horsecollar nonsense. Its difficult to enforce.

I'm wondering what Texas HS will do if these proposals make it. I'm guessing they'll ignore the 40/25, may retain the current sideline rule, and keep the rest as written.

Why is it rulesmakers in all sports involving a clock, not just football, make allowances for rule changes in the last 2 minutes of a half or game?
Why should the team behind catch a break with clock management in the final two minutes? It is obviously done to make those final 2 minutes more exciting, but it is hardly fair to the team ahead who built the lead on another set of rules for 58 minutes.

I agree. It's kind of like when officials run around like headless chickens to spot the ball during the last two minutes, when all that does is give one team an advantage.

The theory is that if the clock isn't going to stop in the last two minutes, a team with a slight lead can unfairly use the clock to their advantage. The example in football would be that the offense runs backwards out of bounds, knowing that it takes longer to retrieve and spot the ball from there, artificially gaining an advantage. Another example is in summer league basketball with 20 minute running clock halves. The thinking behind stopping it at the end of the half is that one team might take longer to shoot a free or might violate a rule (defense in the lane early for example) intentionally to gain a time advantage.

This is a reversion to what it was approx. 30 years ago, when it was personal foul or nothing.

Similar changes have gone back & forth. First roughing the kicker was introduced, then running into the kicker was added, then running into the kicker was deleted, then it was added again. The face mask provisions don't have as long a history because there haven't been face masks for as long.

Every generation or two the same issues come up. Like passing a stopped school bus. They make such a law, then it causes congestion in built up areas, so they make an exception for them. Then accidents occur, so they eliminate the exception.

Robert

REPLY: Chick...in the NFL, the officials are told to 'accommodate' the offense. If the offense wants to go fast near the end of the half, the officials are told to hurry it up too. But it all evens out since each team is accorded that consideration, and both teams know the drill.

Bob, I am aware of that argument, and if in the NFL both teams are ok with it, then have at it.

But at my particular level (hs), I simply don't like it, and I hope we're never 'told' to accomodate the offense.

There is nothing unfair about legally using the clock to your advantage. The kneel down is used for that reason. And no team with the lead is likely to intentionally run out of bounds under the new rules and trade 40 seconds for 25 seconds.

REPLY: I agree with you. As long as we maintain a fairly brisk pace throughout the game, I'd hate to be told we need to hurry in the last few minutes.

Because coaches write the rules.

The helmet contact was mentioned here:

http://web1.ncaa.org/web_video/newme...ballRules.html

Also defenseless player will be protected from the shoulders up.