Unsportsmanlike Conduct
 

Disclaimer: I am a softball umpire and football spectator.

Situation: 1 pt game with less than 10 minutes left. Game so far has been hard fought and clean. Swing pass is broken for 60 yds and an apparent TD. No defender within 10 tds as receiver crosses the 5, he raises his finger about shoulder level and points to the sky. Flag is dropped on the 3, TD doesn't count and 15 yds are assessed against the offense. By the way, this is a playoff game with lots of emotion.

Observation: To me, it looked like an OOO that wanted to be seen. I have always been taught that any official is there to make sure the game is fair to both sides, not to be seen. This seemed like a "Look at me, I read the new rule and want to show my knowledge"

Enlighten me and teach me.

Rule set? NCAA and NFHS are different here.

That would be this game I'm guessing.

Edna falls short against Blanco, 21-20 | Advosports

The game was in Texas so NCAA rules. 1st and 10 from the A-18.

Maybe the officials were OOO, maybe not. Since I wasn't there I'll give my fellow officials, the ones picked to work a playoff game, the benefit of the doubt. Same as I would the officials in a sport I don't work or even a game I'm not working.

Unsportsmanlike conduct is always going to be a call with a high degree of judgment involved and anytime a player puts his fate in the hands of an official, it is hard to say what will happen.

Like it or not, this rule was changed in the NCAA for a reason.

Edna still had chances to win the game including a field goal that they missed.

Edit: I've always balked at the idea that the officials should not be seen. I'm sorry but that's just not true and quite often if an official makes a tough but necessary call in a close game, everybody is going to see him. That doesn't mean the call wasn't correct or that the game was not well officiated.

The NCAA (and Texas UIL) want this called. And as written (intentionally, I might add, as it was changed TO this), this is penalized as any other live ball foul.

I wasn't there; however, on paper this sounds like a good call.

I had a very similar play in a first round playoff game 3 years ago...bidness is bidness.

The coaches and players all know the rules. If they don't want to get penalized they shouldn't break the rules.

Same thing I tell my wife when she is speeding.

Nobody wants to throw that flag, but WE werent' the ones breaking the rules.

Pointing to the sky is illegal?

:)

Exactly.

If you don't want the official to throw the flag for UNS in this situation, don't put yourself in a position where the official has to make a decision about if an action is UNS or not.

I haven't looked at the film... I'll defer that judgement to the official that was there.

Drawing attention to yourself is. Now, if he'd pointed to his teammates that blocked well enough for him to get to the EZ .............

Don't forget, BJ: Players can go to their sidelines & celebrate all they want -- back flips, handsprings, Icky shuffle, whatever.

The fact that he is out ahead of everyone and about to score has drawn attention to himself so maybe he should slow down and let the defense catch up to him! Everyone is looking at him anyways, a point in the air means little to anyone else and if anything draws attention to God, Budda or Allah. How is that USC

The same official saw the exact same act by player on other team in 1st half and did not flag. If he wanted a look at me moment, why would he not flag then? He did flag it later in the game (3d quarter, not 4th as you indicated). I have seen the videos and they are not an act that most Chapters in Texas would want to see thier rmembers flag. I also doubt you will ever see this exact act flagged in a NCAA game. This fellow did flag it and will have to live with that. If he decides he made a mistake then it will likely not be the first one he has self-admitted to. If he (or anyone else) thinks it cost the game, then he (and they) are sadly mistaken.

Which finger did he point up with?

If a coach runs out on your field, kicks dirt on your shoes, calls you a mother___, and spits in your face, what are you going to do?

Would that action cause you to "be seen?"

Canadian Ruling
 

CANADIAN RULING:

Not a chance in hell that I'm flagging this.

May sound good, but does it look good?

Uns Conduct 2 - YouTube


First half other team (no flag):

Uns Conduct ? - YouTube

Wristcoach on belt? Is that legal?

Not in a FED game, but this wasn't FED ball.

I think the difference between the two was where the action started and what the BJ could see. the one that was flagged the hand goes way up at the 7 yard line, no one could miss it. The one that was not flagged, the player raised his arm at the two and did not get it that high until just before the endzone, so maybe the BJ could not see it.

In my opinion, I would not flag this in HS under Federation rules. It seems like the NCAA bad a big deal about this exact type of thing, so maybe these officials are instructed to have zero tolerance of raising the hand before the goal line (I have no clue) but I think if you flag one, you better darn well be sure that you get all of them in the game.

If you are looking to why one was flagged and the other was not, maybe my original comments make some sense, maybe not. I doubt the official was "picking on" just one team.

Not under the Federation Rules, but not sure about NCAA.

That is why I asked, not sure of the ncaa rule? Thanks.

If you really want to parse both plays, they both ran for exactly 3 steps with their hand raised before they reached the endzone. I thought the one that wasn't flagged was the "worse" of the two as the runner looked back at a closing defender before he put his hand in the air. That said, I wouldn't have flagged either action.

Question from a Coach...on the second play, is the block by the motioning wingback a legal block under Texas (NCAA) rules? Under NF rules, it would not be a legal block?

It's not legal under either rule set. Under NCAA, that back is restricted to blocking below the waist toward his adjacent sideline. The block was towards the far sideline.

And in NFHS rules, this is an easy BBW call.

That's what I thought...it seems like a really, really obvious call to me sitting in my office chair. Not sure why a crew would let something that blatant go and then flag the finger point later.

This is a game in Texas so NCAA rules. This block was legal last year but not this year so it was missed either because it wasn't seen or it was erroneously judged as being legal.

It stuns me that they allow blocking below the waist in the open field AT ALL at the high school level. (And I'm sure that TX officials are wondering why we don't allow it in 48 states.)

Looking at both of the above videos it seems both plays are similar enough that they both either should have been flagged, or neither should have been flagged, but that decision is totally limited to the covering official. Without knowing a whole lot more about this game, and how it had been played up to each of those calls an extra opinion is worthless.

There is no way of knowing whether there had been previous problems with silly displays, and teams, or specific players, may have been warned about such actions. The bar moves a lot lower when someone has been previously cautioned, and decides to test the warter anyway.

It could be a product of my Fed upbringing but I like the Fed rule better when it comes to blocking below the waist. Mike will now probably tell me to get my butt back to California. :)

Get your butt back to California! :D

Nah ... we'll keep ya.