Excessive Timeouts

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by mcarr

Can someone tell me the penalty for excessive TOs...A is out of TOs but calls a 4th one anyway.

There used to be such a foul in NFL. The referee was to stop play, check his abacus, notice that the team was out of time outs (4 per half at that time, including TOs for injuries of players of that team -- they were charged), award the distance (couldn't be declined IIRC), and start the clock on the RFP ("neutral zone established") if it had been running, otherwise clock status remained as previously. (Maybe it was so in NCAA too at one time.) I don't remember whether it was penalized as delay of game or unsportsmanlike.

There are "excessive time out" fouls, but the situation is different from the above.

Robert

[Bob M.]

REPLY: If a team calls an excess TO--even if the official grants it, there's no penalty to the team for doing so. You just correct everything, and resume play ASAP. There will, however, be a financial penalty for the official who erroneously granted the TO. He will be buying at least the first round of carbonated beverages after the game.