Mercy Rule

[bigjohn]

Ohio says no running clock so would you as an official invoke the emergency rule if one team is just getting the hell beat out of them???

Personally I would like to see a 'run rule' in football, up 40 points in second half, GAME OVER.

Just too much bad happens in most blowouts and it ends up being a JV game anyways.

http://www.ahsaa.org/public/docs/Foo...rcy%20Rule.pdf


Note: The use of this rule does not preclude the use of NFHS Rule 3-1-3, which
reads: “A period or periods may be shortened in any emergency by agreement of
the opposing coaches and referee. By mutual agreement of the opposing coaches
and the referee, any remaining periods may be shortened at any time or the game
terminated.”

[HLin NC]

Both HC would need to agree to a running clock which is what we have to do in NC as we have no "mercy rule". The problem is we are told not to broach the subject with the losing coach but wait for him to ask for it. Some never ask- either to "teach their kids" or they simply just don't think to do it.

Short of that, a crew can wait for the referee to come to the dead ball spot to analyze if the LTG has been reached before stopping the clock and forward progress in bounds becomes much more prevalent.

I wish we would impose a set rule here but there has been no movement that I've heard of.

[CT1]

No running clock here either. I have had the losing coach ask to shorten the time in the remaining periods, which is usually (but not always) agreed to by the winning coach.

I always remind my crew to work as hard in blowouts as in a tie game, since things can get out of hand quickly. And, my ECO will be watching only me for start/stop on 1st downs, as I'll give the signals back-to-back.

Since both teams will likely be running the ball, we can get these over with in reasonably quick order.

[bigjohn]

My question is this, is getting blown out an emergency? What kind of emergency was this rule written to cover? Maybe darkness on a field with no lights???

I can't think of any other EMERGENCY that might warrant shortening a game and not just ending it abruptly or postponing it.

[JasonLJ]

We have the mercy rule in PA and it's a great rule. I had a game week 2 that ended up 84-12. We had running clock in second half and both coaches agreed to cut the 4th quarter to 6 mins.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by bigjohn

My question is this, is getting blown out an emergency? What kind of emergency was this rule written to cover? Maybe darkness on a field with no lights???

I can't think of any other EMERGENCY that might warrant shortening a game and not just ending it abruptly or postponing it.

Shortening a game and ending it abruptly are the same thing.

[bigjohn]

I meant shortening the quarters.

[Forksref]

In ND: +30 in the second half. Continues to run during OOB, incomplete pass, try and first downs (just added this year). It works pretty well and everyone seems to agree it is worthwhile.

[Forksref]

Originally Posted by bigjohn

Personally I would like to see a 'run rule' in football, up 40 points in second half, GAME OVER.

I think the running clock is a better option. I've seen both teams play their subs and they get playing time. I don't think playing time should be taken away from the kids. We had a team in NW Minnesota which won something like 60 straight games. In the second half they were playing their subs and that is how they got experience for their younger kids. If the game was over, those kids wouldn't get to play. If they practice all week long, they should get a chance to play a game.