A rise in offensive shifts designed to make the defense encroach.

[BigBaldGuy]

I have already flagged this in 3 or our varsity games this season. Last game the coach told me they haven't been flagged for that in 5 years. I calmly responded, "Coach, I am not going to apologize for knowing the rules!" "Coach, it is rule 7-1-7 A & B if you want to look it up."

[bigjohn]

We had a game where when the opposing team got ready to PAT the slapped their thighs. The white hat comes over to our head coach and says, "Coach, if you guys jump I am going to flag them for false start when they do that."

I just looked at him a said, "You don't really understand that ruling at all, do you?"

I told him where to find it and told them it was FS whether we jumped or not. He said you are right but I am not going to call it unless the defense jumps.

After the game we talked and he agreed 100% that I was right but it didn't change the way he called it that night or how he will call it in the future.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by bigjohn

We had a game where when the opposing team got ready to PAT the slapped their thighs. The white hat comes over to our head coach and says, "Coach, if you guys jump I am going to flag them for false start when they do that."

I just looked at him a said, "You don't really understand that ruling at all, do you?"

I told him where to find it and told them it was FS whether we jumped or not. He said you are right but I am not going to call it unless the defense jumps.

After the game we talked and he agreed 100% that I was right but it didn't change the way he called it that night or how he will call it in the future.

Officials that don't know the rules bug me somewhat, although at least they can be shown the rule and retrained, and they generally are trying to do what they think is right, even if they don't know what that is.

But officials that KNOW the rules and choose to intentionally rule differently bug the everloving crap out of me.

[Robert Goodman]

NFL started with the same language as NCAA on this, but NFL has an approved ruling that says in some cases a ruling of false start does depend on whether the opposing team is drawn offside.

If an official is unsure whether a movement by team A tended to cause team B to encroach, why couldn't the official take the fact of encroachment as evidence to help determine that?