FBRULES

Be careful of rules information on BGP. Often in these threads especially when it comes to blocking below the waist the information is very inaccurate.

You all need to learn the difference between a block below the waist and a chop block. I think there are all sorts of threads on it. An IBW could be called on the defense when they block an offensive player who was not on the line at the snap (sort of clogging a hole) and a chop block occurs when one player blocks another high and his teammate then blocks him delayed at the knee or below.

Ram leaves out one very important point. The one who does the blocking must not only be in the zone but on his line of scrimmage and he must block someone who was also in the zone and on the line of scrimmage at the snap. That eliminates running backs from blocking below the waist because, even though in the zone perhaps, they are not on the line. The only way a "linebacker" could block below the waist legal or be blocked below the waist legally would be if he was within one yard of the line of scrimmage at the snap.

I hope you don't officiate. You are not even close. Illegal touching is never 15 and it's never a loss of down. Furthermore, the snapper can recover a muffed snap without penalty as long as the snap was a quick movement backwards and left his hands. It's certainly not a penalty. Throwinglong has the correct answers as offside has pointed out. In all three the ball belongs to the team that recovers it. In the first two, the offense has recovered the ball beyond the line to gain and, thus, has earned a new series of downs. In the third scenario, the offense recovers the ball, but the team is short of the line to gain. Therefore, the defense is awarded a new series at that spot. When it comes to fumbles and recoveries and spots, high school rules are very simple. It's college and pro rules that add all sorts of who can advance and where and who can recover on what down, etc. Don't get confused with all that stuff.

If players and coaches would stay back where they are supposed to be, this would not be a problem. If officials would have some courage to enforce the rule, they would be able to work a better game, see more, have less distractions, and keep the game safer.

Most officials would like 7:30 p.m. We have a 1.5 hour pregame and a lot of guys cannot leave work until 5 p.m. and then have to fight Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky traffic to get at a game site by 5:30. It's nearly impossible. It's creating problems for us, cutting into game discussion time, and creating a hurried rushed atmosphere.

Think of it this way---the holder is getting a pass to be down with the ball to allow it to be kicked. Anything that happens other than that, the play is over. This includes everything that's mentioned above, plus if another offensive player was to go up and take the ball from the holder while the holder is down--the play would be over.

He can report all he wants, but if he goes downfield and the pass crosses the line, it's a foul. Must be eligible by number and position, no exceptions.

The play that Rebel shows is also ILLEGAL. That is, notice the snap is not a direct backward motion where the ball leaves the snappers hands. He picks the ball up, comes up himself, and hands the ball to the back. That's a snap infraction and the play should have never been allowed to go from there. It's a dead ball foul. ... Also, if the play does go off, communicating with the sideline in a non-football manner (i.e. something to do with equipment, bad ball, where's the tee, etc) are all illegal plays and carry 15 yard penalties. That could not have happened in this case because the play should have been blown dead from the start. Very poor officiating.

All states don't use it. Overtime, like a few other rules such as establishing a running clock, are left to the states to decide. There is a suggested overtime from the federation and Kentucky uses it. Ohio, for example, does not.

Changed my mind. Now realize why most of the year I keep quiet. Officiating rule one which I broke is "you cannot argue with silence."

I think they are taking applications for folks to become officials and sounds like some of you are perfect candidates since you are well aware of most everything.

One thing is for sure, they will play the games.

Here's a can of worms....do you boo officials?

And my alma mater.

The comment about officiating where you reside is baloney. All of us are from somewhere. If you have a conflict with a particular school; that is, recent graduate, direct relative works there, plays there, etc., then you should scratch the school. But, I live in a city where I have nothing to do with the school, know hardly anyone there except the head football coach, and went to school on the other side of Northern Kentucky. What he writes is naive and insulting. That is, because someone is from a particular geography than there is the appearance of home cooking. Maybe the fact is that we are all perceived as bad (I mean it's hard to please em all) and people have to look for the deep, dark, secret meaning when the truth is they just didn't like the call (right or wrong). A few times in playoff games when we are the only five from out of town, someone will say, "Well, they must have found these guys here." That's a sly way of just saying they don't like the calls. Fair enough. Actually, I worked my first varsity football game when I was hanging out at the food court at K-Mart and some dude came up and asked me if I wanted to work a football game, so he gave me a hat, whistle, and flag and said come on the game starts at 7:30. FBRULES

I like the rule about enforcing a foul on a touchdown play against the defense on the kickoff. That means that we can put a good enforcement on a cheap shot. But, I think it really only needs to be for personal fouls and safety things. As it is now, a team scores a touchdown and someone calls pass interference or some other defensive penalty, the offense is going to get that on the kickoff.

Legal doesn't always mean ethical. And, I think there's always need for some good judgment (just like in officiating) in these kind of matters. It's not good judgment to print these names, as was done in the Ohio job, purely because it causes other people harm and, frankly, not very professional. Sure, it might be legal (at least in Ohio) and there might not be anything one can do about it, but it does cause a lot of harm to a good number of good people. Do we really want information so badly that our desire to have it is worth messing with people and their vocations?

I'm not sure of the magic number, but we are starting to pick up some registrations....So, let anyone who might be interested know.

Who said anything about teaching "obscure knowledge of the rules."? The implication of your post is that the class could be a waste of time. Isn't it nice how more often than not when someone has some kind of idea to try there's always someone with a shotgun to shoot it down?

I wish I could. You all need to get registered and get some friends, too, so we have enough to make the class go. PM if you have any questions about it.

There will be two books that will be purchased in house---the rules book and another book which helps to explain them. Total cost for the books will be about seven bucks.

I'm just kidding about the technical part since I'm the instructor. If anyone has any questions about the course, feel free to send me a message. Thanks, FBRULES

I don't know. I think that guy is sort of technical.

It's a yearly tradition to bring that play up again.