Tripping

[zm1283]

I don't see tripping called very often, probably because it doesn't happen all that much, but we had it called against us recently and I am confused after watching the film.

The opposing team ran a running play and one of our linebackers got knocked on his butt by one of their linemen. As he hit the ground, his legs kind of flew up in the air, and one of their other linemen jumped over him as he was chasing the play. Our linebacker was flagged for tripping. On the film, it was clearly not intentional and the lineman just jumped over him because he was laying on the ground. (There was little or no contact) I'm assuming the officials thought it was intentional, hence the reason for the flag.

Does the person actually have to be tripped, or can it be called because the officials believe the offender was attempting to trip someone? I'm assuming the latter since the trip didn't actually happen.