Oregon 2-pt play?

[bisonlj]

Originally Posted by SC Ump

For NFHS, this exception to the numbering requirements as noted in 7-2-5(b) might be the only time a snapper would not be allowed to be an eligable receiver:

1. On first, second or third down, when A sets or shifts into a scrimmage-kick formation as in 2-14-2a, the snapper may be a player numbered 1 to 49 or 80 to 99. If Team A has the snapper in the game under this exception, Team A shall have at least four players wearing numbers 50-79 on its line of scrimmage. The snapper in the game under this exception must be between the ends and is an ineligible forwardpass receiver during that down unless the pass is touched by B (7-5-6b).

I think this rule change is what confuses people into thinking the snapper can never be eligible. We had a lot of discussion in our area about it this year and people now think the exception rule needs to be clarified. It hasn't changed in the 12 years I've been officiating but adding this new 1st-3rd down sitaution has confused what people clearly understood previously.

[stratref]

I think I know where some of this confusion comes from. It is the difference between eligible receiver and being able to legally receive a forward hand-off.
Please forgive me if I am slightly misquoting the rule, I have finished my football season and am already studying my baseball rules. But the rules for receiving a forward pass and a forward hand-off (without turning around and being at least a yard behind the line of scrimmage) are identical except that the snapper and those adjacent to the snapper on the line of scrimmage must do the "turn around thing".

Jasper

[HLin NC]

No, some people just think the snapper is ineligible. I don't think they are confusing it with the "fumblerooski" or forward handoff.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

No, some people just think the snapper is ineligible. I don't think they are confusing it with the "fumblerooski" or forward handoff.

What confuses people is any play they haven't seen, or haven't seen in a long time. People hardly ever see such a hyperunbalanced line that an end is the snapper, so some come to think such unseen things are illegal. A coach at Huey's a few days ago posted that he thought in NCAA there had to be at least one line player on each side of the snapper. Maybe he got that from some version of 7- or 8-a-side touch football.

I used to hear such things as, "They used to drop kick until they made it illegal." Indeed Fed in recent times has used the rarity of a play as a reason for banning it. When they outlawed the return kick, the reason given was not safetly but that the officials would err on such a rare play. Wasn't that also the reason given for limiting forward passes to 1 per down (even though that makes it harder to administer now)? Funny, but they didn't seem to think that an important consider'n when they took that restriction off, but thinking was apparently different then. Maybe they thought it would be used more often, the way NCAA thought when they instituted the 2-pt. try that it would become the norm. That's why they moved the spot of the try from the 2 to the 3 yard line. By the time AFL got going, they had a couple of years of NCAA's experience and realized they needed no such discouragement, so they kept the spot of the try at the 2. Still most teams ostensibly kicking snapped from the 3 yard line, just to use the 10 yard stripe as a convenient marker to place the ball for the kick.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by stratref

I think I know where some of this confusion comes from. It is the difference between eligible receiver and being able to legally receive a forward hand-off.

Please forgive me if I am slightly misquoting the rule, I have finished my football season and am already studying my baseball rules. But the rules for receiving a forward pass and a forward hand-off (without turning around and being at least a yard behind the line of scrimmage) are identical except that the snapper and those adjacent to the snapper on the line of scrimmage must do the "turn around thing".

A provision on that subject distinguishing players in just those positions exists in some code (forgot whether Canadian or NFL), but not Fed or NCAA.