Starting the clock

[nebref]

Offense runs a running play following a time out. During the down, which ends in bounds, A holds. After penalty enforcement (B accepts the penalty) when do you start the clock?

[bossman72]

On the ready. You always start it based on what happens during the penalty down.

[Reffing Rev.]

Just ask yourself, right now why is the clock stopped. If the only reason you can come up with is administrative (penalty enforcement, moving the chains, inadvertant whistle etc) then start it up on the ready. If it is stopped because the last play ended out of bounds or a forward pass was incomplte, or the ball was dead behind a goal line, then start it up on the snap.

In otherwords, if the action that caused the down to end also caused the clock to stop then start it on the snap, if the clock would have kept running had there been no foul, then start it on the ready.

Whether the clock was running or not prior to the last legal snap has no bearing on whether it will be running or stopped prior to the next snap.

On a free kick the clock always starts the same way.

[VALJ]

Redding breaks the reasons to stop the clock into "major" and "minor" clock stoppers. After a "major" clock stop, the clock starts on the snap; after a "minor" stop, the clock starts on the ready. In the 2008 guide (I haven't gotten 2009), the major clock stoppers are:

* End of period
* A charged timeout
* A TV timeout, if the clock is stopped specifically for the time out
* The ball goes out of bounds
* A forward pass (legal or illegal) is incomplete
* Team B is awarded a new series
* Either team is awarded a new series after a legal kick
* A score or touchback occurs
* An attempt to consume time illegally
* A delay-of-game penalty is accepted

If the clock is stopped for any other reason, start the clock on the ready.

There may have been a revision to the list for 2009, though I can't think of anything that changed that would affect those off the top of my head.