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Quote:

Originally Posted by bigjohn (Post 859480)

9.9.1 SITUATION A: A is trailing by five points and has no time-outs left when
the play ends on B’s 3. The referee does not feel there is any illegal delay in unpiling and that time will definitely expire before the ball is ready and A gets in
position to snap. Quarterback A1 reaches into the pile of players and grabs the
ball. He then throws the ball to midfield. RULING: Even if the referee imposes a
15-yard penalty for an unsportsmanlike act, A has accomplished its goal – the
clock is stopped and it can get in position and be ready to run a play even though
the clock will start on the ready-for-play signal. This situation illustrates when it
is appropriate for the referee to invoke the unfair-act rule and handle the situation
in any way that he feels is equitable. In this specific situation the referee should
wind the clock and end the game without giving A an opportunity to put the ball
in play. COMMENT: The rule also gives the referee authority to take appropriate
action whenever someone not subject to the rules hinders play. (3-4-6)

I'm the first one to criticize if I think you post something silly. Let me be the first to say I think this is a great case play citation that can easily be applied here.

Of course the crew will need an escort to the car, but that's another story...

B is under no obligation to unpile any faster than they normally would, and it is up to the officials, not A's QB, to determine if B is delaying the game. 3.3 seconds doesnt sound like too much time given a running play at the 1ydline, when there was obviously penetration by B. Down and distance were not given, so not sure they even had another play, but if they were playing for the tie, I think they would have planned the kick as the last timed down. If playing for the win, I think the clock running out is what they expected to happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchamp (Post 859454)

...wind and be ready to run.

As in RUN FOR YOUR LIFE?

First off, B wasn't delaying any, the QB for A was just trying to get his ball carrier off the turf so they could spike the ball. But, when he dwarf tossed the B player and I will say it wasn't to be unsporting in my mind, I think adrenaline kicked in. I called the PF for doing this because you just can't dwarf toss a player out of the way. If it was in the middle of the field with 5 minutes to go and there isn't an official on here that would let that go. I backed them up, set the ball and wound the clock in a normal fashion. They did get the ball spiked, but missed the FG. A's coach was pissed because he felt his team was penalized also. I followed the book and I don't think you can overlook a dead ball PF that is out in front of the whole stadium.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wyo-referee (Post 859597)

Well then it sounds like you did the right thing.

In this specific situation the referee should
wind the clock and end the game without giving A an opportunity to put the ball
in play

If A runs runs the ball with less than ten seconds and no timeouts, you can not give them a chance to stop the clock because of a foul, no matter what it is.

I don't blame Bs coach, had A made the FG and then won in OT I would have been writing to the state!

Quote:

I would have been writing to the state

Bigjohn, trust me, either side would be writing to the state in this scenario. In fact it would be more likely to be a phone call to the SoO's mobile.

I still say you don't call anything on A to stop the clock in that situation, now if B fouls, you call it and stop the clock.

I work basketball as well as football and there's a case play that involves a team (B) trying to stop a team (A) from inbounding after a made goal when there's less than 5 seconds left on the clock, the clock is running, and B is out of timeouts. The officials are to ignore the violation/TF and keep the clock running.

Personally, I'd like to think I'd have enough clock awareness to step in between the players and let the clock expire without running another play. I'd pass on the foul and let the clock run.

There is a difference between this happening in the middle of the second quarter and with 6.7 seconds left in the game when A has no time outs remaining.

My only concern with this method is this -- what if A is able to get to the line and spike it with time still on the clock EVEN WITH the clock still running? Now A is 15 yards closer than they should be and it's impossible to put the genie back into the bottle. I think it's one of these situations where we have to be sure that A can't get off another play. If we're not, we need to kill it, enforce the foul, and then decide if we're going to allow A to run another play. I'd be tempted to spot the football and wind the clock quickly in this situation.