Sugar Bowl Safety

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Hooah30

1. Giving yourself up is not a natural instinct... Youth football to the pros... Giving up in that situation is to allow the defenders to collapse you... Ever had that happen? I thought that is why officials carried whistles... If not why not just let every play end with a person on the ground or out of play then spot the ball accordingly?

This has nothing to do with a natural instinct. If you go down and realize the play is over, then you cannot worry about what else will be called. And officials carry whistles to rule they have stopped the play, which is why I said a similar play in the situation where an Arkansas player would have just went down he would not have been ruled he fumbled the ball.

Originally Posted by Hooah30

2. Given that there was no indication that the play became dead, should the back assume he was spotted outside the end zone?

The player should realize where he is on the field and stop trying to get away. Maybe you have not been coaching or officiating in 20 years but I see players all the time go down when they are in certain areas of the field or the game is in a critical moment. Heck 20 years ago our coach told us to do that when he had a lead to not fumble the football.

Originally Posted by Hooah30

The point I am stuck on is officials judgement... That is an easy out but there has to be some basis for that judgement and the answer that as long as the runner is fighting for yards is not the right answer. It simply is not. At some point an official must decide when a player's progress has been halted. If 5 yards of being driven backwards is not enough, pray tell what is? Is it 6, 7, 50 yards?

Well what else do you want? Do you want anytime a player is pushed back to be a dead play. So that would mean that any second effort play would result in a play being over and many first downs or extra yardage plays would not happen. And it is not about going backwards, is about being in control of the ball carrier. It is arguable that he was not in control and he did get away. You do not have to agree and I do not have to agree, but it was clear that one player was not able to bring that player to the ground. And when the ball carrier was grasped he was also fighting to get away. You allow that to happen on some level, whether that applied here or the play was over is always going to be in the judgment of the officials on the game. It is easy to sit here and say what we should do, but I see these plays all the time and the runner gets away. You cannot have it both ways.

Peace