No auto 1st down for DPI burns a team

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Rich

That's a deficiency on the part of those officials. Those same officials probably do not know NFHS rules terribly well, either.

I, like you, have to go back and forth from Friday to Saturday. It's a lot of work and you have to know the rules and interpretations cold (or as close as you can). But that's part of the gig.

If those officials needed to work NCAA only, there'd only be one set of rules to deal with and you'd eliminate complaints about keeping the rules straight.



Bad example, IMO. My crew does this every week. Too many 7 pound footballs. Too many footballs inflated specifically to be "kicking balls."

We bring a gauge and a pump and every football presented to us is checked and fixed, if necessary. It only takes a few minutes. Not a single coach has complained about us doing this in the 4 or so years we've done it.

All of that might be true. But I am not understanding why would this be better for the kids? After all this is what the rules are ultimately made for. The NCAA has resources and can school their officials on things that come up. Many states cannot or do not have the opportunity to update rules or philosophy to the officials or coaches in a similar manner. Even if the states went to those rules, you still would have growing pains and instead of one or two rules changes, you would have a couple of hundred off the bat that all officials would have to be aware of. Just the play clock situation would be a nightmare as most schools I doubt have a play clock anywhere near a field.

And for the record I have never brought a gauge to a high school field. We usually use one football anyway and there is no need to go there. To each his own.

Peace

[Rich]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

All of that might be true. But I am not understanding why would this be better for the kids? After all this is what the rules are ultimately made for. The NCAA has resources and can school their officials on things that come up. Many states cannot or do not have the opportunity to update rules or philosophy to the officials or coaches in a similar manner. Even if the states went to those rules, you still would have growing pains and instead of one or two rules changes, you would have a couple of hundred off the bat that all officials would have to be aware of. Just the play clock situation would be a nightmare as most schools I doubt have a play clock anywhere near a field.

And for the record I have never brought a gauge to a high school field. We usually use one football anyway and there is no need to go there. To each his own.

Peace

It was in Illinois, in a suburban (Chicago) conference, where I saw the most egregious attempt by a punter and his coach to introduce an over-inflated, old, wornout football specifically as his "kicking ball." When our ball checker disallowed the football as not meeting proper specs, the kid and his coach went crazy -- they used this special ball the kid's entire career! Apparently on fourth down, officials were letting the team change footballs so this kid could punt "his" ball. I'm not sure I believed them, but they were putting on a huge act if they were acting.

I thought I was transported back in time.

We only use the gauge and pump for varsity contests, and every team is asked to check in at least 2 footballs (if not 3). If a long pass is thrown out of bounds or even incomplete to the BJ, I want another football ready to bring in from the wing so we can get it spotted -- the other ball then goes out to the ball boy.

That said, all the teams use the same footballs anyway, so I do not understand why we need to have balls from each team. I'll never get that. It would be like baseball teams being allowed to check in their own baseballs...

[HLin NC]

I tossed a "kicking ball" out a couple of times in a game so I warned the coach that if a ball boy handed it to me again, we were going to have a problem. He pulled out a knife from his pocket and stabbed the ball and asked me if that fixed my problem. "Why yes it does"

Biggest problem I've noticed lately is the kicker bringing "his" ball out with him. The wings have already gotten a game ball to the BJ just after the coin toss or halftime ends but they still wander out there with a ball of their own. They look so perplexed when the BJ tosses it back to their sideline.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

I tossed a "kicking ball" out a couple of times in a game so I warned the coach that if a ball boy handed it to me again, we were going to have a problem. He pulled out a knife from his pocket and stabbed the ball and asked me if that fixed my problem. "Why yes it does"

Biggest problem I've noticed lately is the kicker bringing "his" ball out with him. The wings have already gotten a game ball to the BJ just after the coin toss or halftime ends but they still wander out there with a ball of their own. They look so perplexed when the BJ tosses it back to their sideline.

I think you have a separate problem - team personnel with a knife handy?

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

I think you have a separate problem - team personnel with a knife handy?

Not everywhere is like inner city Houston.