Defered Option

[Brandon Kincer]

If the winning team of the coin toss chooses to defer choice to second half, What happens in the first half as far as who recieves the ball?
Again I know it sounds like a stupid question I just want to be sure im getting this right.

[Mike L]

Brandon,
some of these things you are asking lately are basic things easily found within the rulebook. It would really be to your benefit to read the book over and over again to get this stuff.

But to answer your question, if the winner defers, then the other team gets the choice of options....which are kick or receive or which goal they wish to defend. In most cases you are going to strongly suggest they take receive.

[mikesears]

Keep asking Bradon. Don't let the fact that some of these questions may seem elementary deter you from asking. There are no stupid questions....

Just stupid people


To defer simply means that team opts to make it's choice at the start of the second half. So they can choose to receive/kick or defend a goal to start the second half. The team that did not defer then gets the other option.

And yes, uninformed players sometimes make bad decisions when the other team defers.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by mikesears

There are no stupid questions....

Just stupid people

I thought it went "There are no stupid questions...just stupid people that ask questions." I keed I keed...

And yes, uninformed players sometimes make bad decisions when the other team defers.

One thing you will find, especially at lower levels, is that most good White Hats will not let a captain select the option to "Kick" without making sure he is really sure that is what he wants to do.

[Brandon Kincer]

Originally Posted by Mike L

Brandon,
some of these things you are asking lately are basic things easily found within the rulebook. It would really be to your benefit to read the book over and over again to get this stuff.

But to answer your question, if the winner defers, then the other team gets the choice of options....which are kick or receive or which goal they wish to defend. In most cases you are going to strongly suggest they take receive.

I have read the rule 3-2-1, 2, 3. What I don't understand is If the winning team defers, Does the losing team choose both recieve or kick and which goal to defend or just kick or recieve?

[Welpe]

If the winning team defers, then the losing team has any of those choices. They can choose to kick, receive or defend a goal.

[Jim D.]

Originally Posted by Brandon Kincer

If the winning team of the coin toss chooses to defer choice to second half, What happens in the first half as far as who recieves the ball?
Again I know it sounds like a stupid question I just want to be sure im getting this right.

Brandon,

Do the research and then tell us what you think it should be, and then ask for confirmation or correction. I think you'll learn more than just asking for an answer. The rules and procedures are all in the books.

We appreciate the fact that you want to learn and we are glad to help, but you also need to know how to find the answer yourself.

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by Brandon Kincer

I have read the rule 3-2-1, 2, 3. What I don't understand is If the winning team defers, Does the losing team choose both recieve or kick and which goal to defend or just kick or recieve?

Lets say the visiting team wins the toss and elects to defer their option until the second half.

Then the home team can choose to kick, receive or defend a goal. More than likely they will choose to receive (if they choose kick, the visiting team will receive the first half and more than likely choose to receive the second half, or, the visiting team can chose to defend a goal, the home team can then choose to receive and have the option to receive the second half.)

Keep the questions coming.

[Reffing Rev.]

Anytime the word kick comes out of a captains mouth I immediately follow with two lines:

First: (If its the first half) "You mean you want to receive the second half, so you want to defer the first half right?"

Secondly: "You know if you choose to kick this half then they can choose to receive in the second half and you'll be kicking off both times."

Before I learned that trick, I had a couple of upset coaches both of which were more upset at their sons for not being the smartest captains on the field.

Since I got to varsity level I've never really had a problem. Only once did a captain say kick, but his coach told us in our pregame he was going to kick-off if he won. (They were awful on kick returns. I think they would have been better off after giving up a touchdown taking the option to kickoff again. Their defense gave them better field position than their kick return team did. )

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by Reffing Rev.

Anytime the word kick comes out of a captains mouth I immediately follow with two lines:

First: (If its the first half) "You mean you want to receive the second half, so you want to defer the first half right?"

Secondly: "You know if you choose to kick this half then they can choose to receive in the second half and you'll be kicking off both times."

Before I learned that trick, I had a couple of upset coaches both of which were more upset at their sons for not being the smartest captains on the field.

Since I got to varsity level I've never really had a problem. Only once did a captain say kick, but his coach told us in our pregame he was going to kick-off if he won. (They were awful on kick returns. I think they would have been better off after giving up a touchdown taking the option to kickoff again. Their defense gave them better field position than their kick return team did. )

There is one way to assure you get it right, in the pregame conference with the head coach ask him what options he wants.

[Forksref]

Originally Posted by Mike L

Brandon,
In most cases you are going to strongly suggest they take receive.

I hope you are not speaking as an official when you say you will suggest what they should do.


As an aside, I think that many coaches don't coach their captains very well as to what they should do. If I were the coach, I'd instruct my speaking captain to only choose between defer or receive, unless there are unusual weather conditions.

When I am whitehat, I ask the capt. winning the toss whether he wants to choose now or defer his choice to the 2nd half.

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by Forksref

...
When I am whitehat, I ask the capt. winning the toss whether he wants to choose now or defer his choice to the 2nd half.

The mechanics manual specifies almost exactly those words. If the captain chooses to defer I step out, inidcate the captain of the team winning the toss, announce they have won the toss and elected to defer giving signal 10.

Then turn to the other captain and get the choices, etc.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Forksref

I hope you are not speaking as an official when you say you will suggest what they should do.

Actually, yes I am. I am going to suggest they receive the ball, usually by simply stating to the losing team "you want the ball, right?". If they try to go with kick I'll ask them if they really want to kick both halves. Amazingly, I've never had any coach ever question it from either side. You can go strictly by the book here and possibly buy yourself a shtstorm, or you can practice a little game management. Your choice.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Brandon Kincer

I have read the rule 3-2-1, 2, 3. What I don't understand is If the winning team defers, Does the losing team choose both recieve or kick and which goal to defend or just kick or recieve?

The winner of the toss may choose to defer to the second half or take their options in the first half. The options are to 1)receive, or 2)kick, or 3)chose an end zone to defend. If the winner defers, then the "loser" gets the choice of the options, any one of the three.

[daggo66]

Originally Posted by Ed Hickland

There is one way to assure you get it right, in the pregame conference with the head coach ask him what options he wants.

That is what I do as well, including the direction they want to defend if they lose the toss. If a coach says they want to defer and the captain says "kick", I will ask him if he is sure and remind him that his coach wanted to defer. This is not something you want the captain to screw up because it will only cause you issues later. I do the same thing with penalty enforcement, especially if there is a loss of down and they are looking at me with that deer in the headlights look.