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A Long, Hurry-Up Night and the clueless coaches.
The home team was running a no-huddle "hurry-up" offense with lots of passes, and lots of bad snaps: visiting team a lot of sweeps out of bounds. At halftime it was 20-14 and Final score 70-34. Game took right at 3 hours.
The chain crew was slower than anyone else on the field, so much so the home coach was complaining the ball wasn't being marked ready so they could run, and the defense was getting to sub. I told him, I can't declare the ball ready to play when the sticks are still 10 yards away from where they need to be.
Home team had wanted just a 10 minute halftime- but team B thought the rules "required" a 12 minute halftime, and so they agreed on 12. Then Home team has no one on the field after 12 minutes. When they make it back on the field 90 seconds too late, I informed the coach they would have a 15 yard penalty, and he said, "Didn't we get 12 minutes."
Every kickoff for the home team all night was a squibber they tried to hit an up guy and recover a muffed kick. After a safety, home team kicks off and they place-kick the same they always have, and they very nearly recover it at K's 40. Visiting coach comes unglued. First he says, "Don't they have to punt after a safety?" I respond, "No coach, it is a free kick just like any other free kick except that they could also punt." He then says, "Well if its a free-kick don't they have to kick it deep, you can't on-side kick after a safety!" (Seriously)
With their no huddle offense the home team lines up with a receiver right at the tick-mark on their side of the field. After seeing the defense, team A substitutes swapping out that receiver for another who comes inside the tick, sets, and team A even lets 5 or 6 more seconds come off the play-clock before they snap and throw a first down pass to that receiver. Closest VC came to a legitimate gripe all night, "You can't do that! They can't sub after they break the huddle!" Coach, they never huddled, and they weren't trying to deceive anybody, They subbed one receiver for another with no hurry, and got him inside the tick.
Home team QB rolls out on a run-pass option and ends up shovel passing, then a defensive player wraps up the QB and drives him 2 steps before throwing him to the ground, I call it roughing the passer for 2 acts. VC, "You can't call roughing the passer on an option play."
Visiting center cut the nose guard on every play, immediately at the snap. About halfway through the 2nd quarter, HC calls me over during a timeout to tell me his nose guard is getting clipped. They were running a lot of defensive stunts and the center was getting hit in the back of the legs, often. I tell him the block is immediate and in the zone, and therefore legal. "My nose guard is going to tear an ACL if you keep letting them block him in the back of the knee." I patiently tried to explain the free blocking zone and he said, "I've never heard of that, and I was a linemen in college."
Visiting team usually goes into their stance on set and then hikes on hut1 or hut 2. About 2 minutes left on a 3rd and 3, they stay in the 2 point stance on set and then go down on hut 1, drawing the entire defensive line across. We talked about it in pregame, coach asked us about it, I said, if they come set the same on every play, it doesn't matter what the QB says, but if they come set moving differently, forward, jumpy, or anything that simulates action at the snap, or otherwise is obviously trying to get B to encroach, it is going to be a false start. Both wings have flags down, the wing on his side gives me the preliminary encroachment sign, but the opposite wing comes in with a false start, the tight end on his side by his description, lurched forward as he came down. I announced the false start, and HC wants an expanation, "We told you we would do it, and you said it would be legal." One of the assistant coaches then said, "You know this guy makes up his own rules every week." That turned his false start into a 20 yard penalty, and a stern warning to the head coach to coral his assistants.
Seriously, there were about 25 coaches between the two teams, and I think about a grand total of 1.8 people knew the rules we were actually using for this game.
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Sat Sep 20, 2014, 05:24pm
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