Moved to Massachusetts

[BigFarns]

Hi all,

I just moved to the state of Massachusetts and so I'm trying to learn the differences between Fed rules I've gotten used to and NCAA rules used here. Problem is I was still a very new official last place I worked so I don't claim any mastery of Fed rules yet either and now I'm a jumbled mess of Fed, NCAA, *******ized adult leagues and pee-wee leagues.

I just went to my first officials meeting here in Mass and got a pamphlet for the 5 man mechanics they use (very different than I'm used to) and I have had a copy of NCAA rules for a few weeks now and have been reading it every night.

Anyhow, I've got a couple rules that appear to contradict things mentioned in our mechanics pamphlet and I'm wondering if I just don't know the NCAA rule well enough yet, if I'm misinterpreting the rules, if there's a Massachusetts modification to the NCAA rule that I don't know about yet, or what. So here it goes.

1) regular kickoff. mechanics pamphlet says "If the ball breaks the plane of the goalline, it is dead." Now, I thought in NCAA you could advance a kick that you caught in the endzone. Further...the situation I'm more worried about is this. Kick to say the 7 yard line and R muffs it. The ball continues into the endzone. I know that a muff doesn't change the fact that the force of the kick put the ball in the endzone so I'm not afraid of a safety situation, but does R have to go cover the ball or is it automatically a touchback because it broke the plane of the goalline? AR 8-7-2-VI says to me that R must cover it up to get the touchback.

2) probable onside kick situation - the mechanics pamphlet takes a special line to remind officials of R's restraining line but says if R is across that line before the ball is kicked then we are to kill the play. Rule 6-1-2-i is a live ball foul though. Why kill the play?

Anyhow, I'm sure there are some Mass officials on here. If these situations are simply Massachusetts modifications to the NCAA rulebook then that's cool. If you could help me find a list of these modifications then my study would be much easier. If I'm just misreading or misapplying the NCAA rulebook then please correct me.
If I don't get an answer from here then of course I'll bring these questions (and I'm sure a million more) to the group at our next meeting but I thought it'd be fun to try this forum out.

Thanks all. Sorry for the ridiculously long post.

[JasonTX]

Originally Posted by BigFarns

1) regular kickoff. mechanics pamphlet says "If the ball breaks the plane of the goalline, it is dead." Now, I thought in NCAA you could advance a kick that you caught in the endzone. Further...the situation I'm more worried about is this. Kick to say the 7 yard line and R muffs it. The ball continues into the endzone. I know that a muff doesn't change the fact that the force of the kick put the ball in the endzone so I'm not afraid of a safety situation, but does R have to go cover the ball or is it automatically a touchback because it broke the plane of the goalline? AR 8-7-2-VI says to me that R must cover it up to get the touchback.

If the ball is untouched by Team B and touches the ground behind the goalline the ball is dead. If Team B touches the ball either in the field of play or in the end zone then they must "cover" the ball.

2) probable onside kick situation - the mechanics pamphlet takes a special line to remind officials of R's restraining line but says if R is across that line before the ball is kicked then we are to kill the play. Rule 6-1-2-i is a live ball foul though. Why kill the play?

The rule is right. This is a live ball foul. It looks like you need to point this out to whomever created that pamplet.

Anyhow, I'm sure there are some Mass officials on here. If these situations are simply Massachusetts modifications to the NCAA rulebook then that's cool. If you could help me find a list of these modifications then my study would be much easier. If I'm just misreading or misapplying the NCAA rulebook then please correct me.
If I don't get an answer from here then of course I'll bring these questions (and I'm sure a million more) to the group at our next meeting but I thought it'd be fun to try this forum out.

Thanks all. Sorry for the ridiculously long post.

I'm not from Mass, so unless, as you mentioned that these may be modifications, then I'd say your pamplet needs some attention by the author. If you post this on refstripes dot com there are some Mass officials there that can assist you more on the modifications.

[ddhawk]

I am from Mass.

You have a good understanding of NCAA rules regarding kicks into the EZ and B's restraining line.

There is no MIAA modification regarding these rules, we use the straight NCAA book for the rules you mentioned. My guess is that you have a 5 man manual produced by NFHS, there is no official 5-man manual for Massachusetts HS Football, so each commissioner will have their own modifications to the standard 5 man mechanics.

You can find the Mass. modifications on the MIAA website miaa dot net. In the MIAA Handbook.

69.1 Massachusetts high school football shall be played under the NCAA Rules, with
the following modifications:
69.1.1 Each team is entitled to five time-outs per half, three of which are a full
90 seconds and two of which will be 20 seconds. Teams may not go to
the sideline during a 20 second time-out.
69.1.2 A conference with any number of players and coaches may be held
during the one minute intermission between periods.
69.1.3 Goal post uprights which were legal by the 1985 NCAA code continue to
be acceptable.
69.1.4 The 40 yard line shall be the initial kick-off point.
69.1.5 Use of kicking tee will be permitted for extra point and field goal
attempts.
69.1.6 Football helmets of the same color are not required.
69.1.7 It is not required that football jerseys be long enough to reach the top of
the pants and be tucked in.
69.1.8 Allow 2” tee
69.1.9 Clock does not start until touched on free kick.
69.1.10 Clock does not start until after first down ball is snapped.
69.1.11 There will be no instant replay in MIAA contests.

There is more stuff in the football section including the overtime rule (basically NCAA OT from the 10 yard line).

I also have this year's modifications posted on my chapter's website (emaifo dot net) it is right on the front page. These changes will not show up in the Handbook until next year but are in effect immediately and have been communicated to each board's secretary.

With regards to the 5 man manual that was given to you, I'd bring up your concerns at the next meeting to point out to the members that there are things that are incorrect. Perhaps they all know not to use the "rule" parts that are referenced, just the mechanics (positioning, responsibilities, etc.), but forgot to tell you that when they gave you the manual.

I rarely look at this board, I was alerted to this post on refstripes dot com, there are several other Mass. officials that read and post on refstripes in the NCAA Rules section.

[TXMike]

Another fellow on refstripes wants to contact you re the handout you have Big F How about going over to refstripes.com and into the discussion forum (NCAA area) ?