Help! We Lost the Down

[Reffing Rev.]

Embarrassing moment,

XX and 10 B's 20, A is sacked at the B26, BJ has a flag for a live ball personal foul for unecessary roughness against B. Half the distance to the 13, repeat the down. Looking at my down indicator I've got 2nd down, the box has 2 on it. I announce 2nd down and just before I chop it in, HL comes in with a question. Was it live ball or dead ball? We say live ball so he says we should be repeating 1st down. I said, "that was 2nd down, so we're repeating 2nd down." He disagrees, so check with U, he's got 2nd down, BJ has 2nd down and LJ has 1st down. Then of course, the chain crew thought a personal foul on the defense was an automatic first down.

What would you do?

I went with my gut and the majority, 2nd down. A got a first down on the next play and made the decision moot. Just watched the video, and sure enough it should have been 1st down. Most everyone, including the announcer and coaching staff (whose headsets got recorded into the video) assumed it was a dead ball foul, hence the 2nd down, so no one had a disagreement. I just hate being wrong.

[Texas Aggie]

What made you think it was second down?

You just have to slow down and go through the plays. Did you wind the clock on the ready on the first down or did it start on the snap? Start with that question, then go through them all. I think in ANY series, the LEAST the R should recall is how the clock started on the last first down.

[CT1]

Different officials have different ways to prevent this. Personally, I never move my down indicator to the next finger until just before I blow the RFP.

[JugglingReferee]

Up here, we signal every down to the entire crew every play. If there is a difference, the "different" person has to either correct themselves or stop the game. In addition, the WH can stop the game, as can the CC. Additionally, any other on-field official can stop the game if they feel that the down is wrong.

I switch my downs indicator once the R has given the official signal.

It's usually a good idea to remember the plays that occurred in the series that you're in. All you need to remember are play general descriptions, such as "sweep to the right" or "incomplete pass to the left" or "run up the middle".

[Ia-Ref]

Checkwith the stats people.

[bcl1127]

Originally Posted by Ia-Ref

Checkwith the stats people.

Bad idea, they are just as prone to errors...Take your time, talk it out as a crew, and then hash it out and all come to an agreement. Getting it right is more important than getting it done quickly.