had a situation come up last night:
3rd down Team A with the ball, Quarterback A is thrown for a big loss of 18 yards. then team B is hit with unsportsmanlike conduct . so the officials move the ball up 15 yards but it still third down. i think it should have been 4th down because it was adead ball foul, on the next play quarteback A is heavliy pressued again and throws an int. It should have been 4th down Correct??

[This message has been edited by Smoke (edited September 09, 2000).]

Smoke,

You're right. All unsportsmanlike fouls are enforced as deadball fouls. The down counts and the penalty is stepped off from the succeeding spot and it is now 4th down.

Its a damn shame stuff like this comes up. Its one thing to enforce the penalty from the wrong spot, but there is no excuse to screw up on what the next down should be.
Crew members have to speak up on things like this. The Ref isn't any better than the rest of the crew despite what many of them think.