Hasn't happened yet, but.......

[Mike51]

NFHS Some smart coach could use this to his advantage.

4th quarter. Team A up by one point, with 45 seconds remaining. Both teams out of time outs and the ball is on the A 5 yard line. It is fourth down and 7 yards to go and the clock is running. (3rd down was a running play that ended inbounds)
The ball is marked ready for play with 45 seconds remaining, so if the clock gets to 20 delay of game will be called.
As the play clock winds down to less than 5 seconds, the game clock is now under 25 seconds left in qtr.
Now A66, a tackle, commits a false start. This stops the clock and no matter if B accepts or declines, the clock starts on the ready and the clock runs out preserving the win for B.

Now I know that 3-4-6 says that the referee can order the clock started or stopped if a team attempts to consume or conserve time illegally.
My question is, is this a judgment call for the Referee? What if he determines that it was not intentional, should A get the win without having to snap the ball one last time.

Coaches can be clever and getting a player to false start intentionally and make it look unintentional is not very hard.

Any thoughts on this?

[Mike L]

Yes, it's a judgement call. And that's why we get the big bucks. In this particular situation, you'd have a real tough time convincing me that it wasn't intentional. I'd be starting the clock on the snap. Get that punt team out coach.

[Sonofanump]

On the snap.

[Bob M.]

REPLY: Agree. That clock would never start on the ready if I was wearing white. Mike L. said it best: "Get out the punt team, coach."

[bossman72]

My HS coach did (and still does) uses this tactic on naive officials. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Additionally, (non-official's opinion) you should read what "mode" the offense is in (say, inside 4 minutes or so left in the game). If the offense is in "hurry up and score" mode, start the clock according to the rules. If the offense is in "eat up clock" mode, start it on the snap.

[MJT]

Originally Posted by bossman72

My HS coach did (and still does) uses this tactic on naive officials. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

In my opinion, this is a coach with poor morals. He will do it if he can get away with it. Great lesson to teach his players, who unfortunately may feel they should "do whatever they can get away with" in other area of life as they get older.