Spotting the Ball

[Rich]

Originally Posted by jimpiano

What is the preferred mechanic for spotting the ball?

In the Alabama/ MissState game a third down play had a receiver tackled near the yard to gain. The Head Linesman marks a spot with his foot and when given the ball places the back end at his foot which extends the length of the ball toward the first down line. He then turns around to look at the chains and rules first down.

The chains were on the Alabama side of the field so the Rebels are crying
" Homer"!

Video of the play is on YOU TUBE.
Ref moving spot of the ball for alabama first down - YouTube
So how are officials taught to spot the ball?
Does the foot represent the front of the ball or the back of the ball?
Or is that decision an individual choice?

Just curious.

It doesn't matter. It's *his* spot and *he's* putting the ball down. The foot is only relevant if someone else is spotting the ball off him.

[MD Longhorn]

The mechanic was ugly, and no, I've never seen anyone put out a foot and then put the ball ahead of it. I'd say it's about 75% foot at the front of the ball and 25% ball between the two feet... but as Rich says, he's got the spot and he's putting the ball down himself, not signalling to anyone else. It looked bad, and I'm with Jeff that it looked worse that he peaked back before (apparently) giving an extra 2 feet or so... And more of concern is that he stopped the clock immediately, like he knew it was a first down (normally, that's not HL's job on a play to his side), and then corrected it when he realized he erred in stopping the clock for what he was spotting as a non-first-down.

That said - I think the spot was RIGHT. It was just ugly.