Kick off rule change
 

I think the rule change makes it harder to officiate. Do you guys think so?

After experimentation in Minnesota and Iowa, the committee revised Rule 9-3-8 to prohibit members of the kicking team from initiating contact (blocking) against members of the receiving team until the ball has broken the plane of the receiving team’s restraining line, or until the kicking team is eligible to recover the free kick.

It is difficult to officiate with 7 officials, let alone 3-5. It's going to be one of those rules where only the most obvious violations are caught.

We've experimented with it in MN for awhile... I don't recall actually flagging it though.

In practice, it's only an issue on onside kicks, and in those situations you're gonna have 4 of the 5 officials on the kick lines anyway. Mechanically, we've said that the officials on the far side are responsible for watching for these blocks, while the near officials are responsible for first touching, recovery, and possible KCI.

In a 3-official game... yeah, it's going to be basically impossible. But that's the price you pay for only having three officials on the field.

On a semi-related note, I wonder how soon FED is going to adopt the NCAA's new "KCI is still possible on a kick straight into the ground" rule? My guess is next year.

I hadn't heard of that one. Did NCAA redefine "catch" as applied to kicks, or just make an additional provision for kicks that have bounced only once, and only in the vicinity of their origins?

The latter.

I don't have the exact wording in front of me, but it is something to the effect of "a kick that goes directly off the tee, into the ground, and into the air in the manner of a ball kicked directly into the air" could still have a KCI infraction. After the ball hits the ground a second time, there can be no KCI.

Basically, they're going to make plays like this one illegal. In fact, in NCAA this one would have two fouls on the play... one for KCI, and one for blocking before the ball goes 10 yards. In FED, this is currently not KCI.

The situation is so close materially to that of a catch, probably the only reason there wasn't such a rule for a long time was because it took a very long time before the skill of doing that with a place kick was developed. There had to be enough kickers who succeeded, first on artificial surfaces and later on ground, to convince others that it was worthwhile enough to practice. I don't think it could've been done with the toe easily enough for it to spread either, or you might've seen such a rule 80 years ago.

This year -- any ball kicked directly into the ground, the smart NCAA coaches will have everyone signaling a fair catch.

I strongly disagree that you'd have KCI on this play - there are no receiving players anywhere near the ball where it lands. You're not going to call KCI on a normal kick if a kicking team member blocks a receiving team member that is 5-7 yards from where the ball is coming down - you would not have that here either. You would obviously have blocking before the ball goes 10 yards though.

You don't think #3 was putting himself in a position to catch the kick when he got blocked by the two K players? Yeah, he ended up several yards away... because the K players hit him.

I like the first part, but I believe by allowing KCI and all that implies after the first bounce, they've effectively ended the chances of successful on-sides kicks in situations where the receiving team is expecting it. Teams will have to go back to the hugely unsuccessful skid-the-ball along the ground method.