Charles
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Officially Speaking: Forced Out?
Charles via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
While most, if not all of you, were watching Ohio State beat Minnesota last Saturday, an equally important game in the Big Ten race was taking place in Lincoln where Nebraska shocked everyone by beating Michigan State. Most of you have probably seen the controversial game winning touchdown pass in the closing seconds; if not, check it out below.
There is no doubt that Nebraska’s number 87 caught the pass and ended up in the endzone but the controversy concerns the fact that he stepped out of bounds prior to catching the ball. The officials on the field ruled that the receiver had been forced out of bounds by the defender and was thus allowed to return inbounds and catch the ball, resulting in a touchdown. Following the game, the Big Ten released a statement saying that the on-field officials and those in the replay booth properly handled the play. Our group of officials here at tBBC take a look at the play and offer their own opinions.
WVa: Trying to look at this from the perspective of an official which I have at times during my career, I can see where the official nearest the player felt he was helped out of bounds by the defender.
The trouble with the perception of fans and the rest of this on the play is we get the TV view and compound that problem with the fact it’s not reviewable during the game? Chaos.
I fundamentally believe the official did the right thing by throwing his hat to let his partners know the receiver went out of bounds and that began the discussion.
It’s here where the conference bosses had to take the stand they got it right on the field and the replay crew. In a manner of speaking, they weren’t going to do what the crew did to Duke. Trust the crews enough to keep some things from being overturned. I may be wrong but I think this was handled well. Not perfect but well.
Charles: I completely agree with WVa that the problem with plays like this is that those of us watching at home get the advantage of the bird’s eye view from the television camera as well as numerous replays while the officials on the field only get one look, often from a not ideal angle, and in real time while there are numerous other things going on. Proper mechanics and positioning work to minimize these disadvantages but they can only do so much. I will start by saying that I agree with the Big Ten that the proper mechanics were followed on this play. The calling official was in the right position, he threw his hat to indicate the receiver had stepped out, and he turned to his partners for more information following the play and before making the call. This was the way you would want any official to handle the play.
Now let’s take a look at what happened and the rules involved. The first rule that applies concerns the eligibility to touch a legal forward pass.
Rule 7-3-3-d: An eligible player loses his eligibility when he goes out of bounds.
This is expanded on in the next rule which states
Rule 7-3-4: No eligible offensive receiver who goes out of bounds and returns in bounds during a down shall touch a legal forward pass while in the field of play or end zones or while airborne until it has been touched by an opponent or official (A.R. 7-3-4-I, II and IV). [Exception: This does not apply to an originally eligible offensive player who immediately returns inbounds after going out of bounds due to contact by an opponent (A.R.7-3-4-III)]. If he touches the pass before returning in bounds, it is an incomplete pass (Rule 7-3-7) and not a foul for illegal touching.
This rule not only covers the ineligibility of a receiver who steps out of bounds but provides the exception as to when that receiver can be the first to touch the ball.
Looking at the play, the Nebraska receiver clearly steps out of bounds and is the first to touch the ball. Thus, unless the exception applies, this play should be ruled incomplete. The exception applies if the receiver goes out of bounds due to contact. Determining if there is contact on this play is hard as there is no one camera shot that follows the players all the way down the sideline. There does appear to be a little contact but it isn’t clear how much occurred before the receiver goes out of bounds or if it was initiated by the receiver; who initiates the contact should matter as the rule states “due to contact by an opponent” as opposed to ‘with an opponent’.
If the receiver went out of bounds due to contact by the opponent then this was absolutely called correctly. Based on the video that I’ve seen, I cannot conclusively say one way or another as there is no really good camera angle showing the receiver and defender all the way down the field. Thus, I will go with the calling officials judgement as he could watch the entire play.
I want to give the calling official a lot of credit for working hard on this play. Mechanics state that he needs to be on the goal line in order to rule on a touchdown and many officials would position themselves on the sideline at the goal line. This official was on the goal line but well back from the sideline which is great positioning as it minimizes the chance that his view of the play is obstructed by the receiver and defender and thus giving him the best angle to rule on the play.
The post Officially Speaking: Forced Out? appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
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Charles via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
While most, if not all of you, were watching Ohio State beat Minnesota last Saturday, an equally important game in the Big Ten race was taking place in Lincoln where Nebraska shocked everyone by beating Michigan State. Most of you have probably seen the controversial game winning touchdown pass in the closing seconds; if not, check it out below.
There is no doubt that Nebraska’s number 87 caught the pass and ended up in the endzone but the controversy concerns the fact that he stepped out of bounds prior to catching the ball. The officials on the field ruled that the receiver had been forced out of bounds by the defender and was thus allowed to return inbounds and catch the ball, resulting in a touchdown. Following the game, the Big Ten released a statement saying that the on-field officials and those in the replay booth properly handled the play. Our group of officials here at tBBC take a look at the play and offer their own opinions.
WVa: Trying to look at this from the perspective of an official which I have at times during my career, I can see where the official nearest the player felt he was helped out of bounds by the defender.
The trouble with the perception of fans and the rest of this on the play is we get the TV view and compound that problem with the fact it’s not reviewable during the game? Chaos.
I fundamentally believe the official did the right thing by throwing his hat to let his partners know the receiver went out of bounds and that began the discussion.
It’s here where the conference bosses had to take the stand they got it right on the field and the replay crew. In a manner of speaking, they weren’t going to do what the crew did to Duke. Trust the crews enough to keep some things from being overturned. I may be wrong but I think this was handled well. Not perfect but well.
Charles: I completely agree with WVa that the problem with plays like this is that those of us watching at home get the advantage of the bird’s eye view from the television camera as well as numerous replays while the officials on the field only get one look, often from a not ideal angle, and in real time while there are numerous other things going on. Proper mechanics and positioning work to minimize these disadvantages but they can only do so much. I will start by saying that I agree with the Big Ten that the proper mechanics were followed on this play. The calling official was in the right position, he threw his hat to indicate the receiver had stepped out, and he turned to his partners for more information following the play and before making the call. This was the way you would want any official to handle the play.
Now let’s take a look at what happened and the rules involved. The first rule that applies concerns the eligibility to touch a legal forward pass.
Rule 7-3-3-d: An eligible player loses his eligibility when he goes out of bounds.
This is expanded on in the next rule which states
Rule 7-3-4: No eligible offensive receiver who goes out of bounds and returns in bounds during a down shall touch a legal forward pass while in the field of play or end zones or while airborne until it has been touched by an opponent or official (A.R. 7-3-4-I, II and IV). [Exception: This does not apply to an originally eligible offensive player who immediately returns inbounds after going out of bounds due to contact by an opponent (A.R.7-3-4-III)]. If he touches the pass before returning in bounds, it is an incomplete pass (Rule 7-3-7) and not a foul for illegal touching.
This rule not only covers the ineligibility of a receiver who steps out of bounds but provides the exception as to when that receiver can be the first to touch the ball.
Looking at the play, the Nebraska receiver clearly steps out of bounds and is the first to touch the ball. Thus, unless the exception applies, this play should be ruled incomplete. The exception applies if the receiver goes out of bounds due to contact. Determining if there is contact on this play is hard as there is no one camera shot that follows the players all the way down the sideline. There does appear to be a little contact but it isn’t clear how much occurred before the receiver goes out of bounds or if it was initiated by the receiver; who initiates the contact should matter as the rule states “due to contact by an opponent” as opposed to ‘with an opponent’.
If the receiver went out of bounds due to contact by the opponent then this was absolutely called correctly. Based on the video that I’ve seen, I cannot conclusively say one way or another as there is no really good camera angle showing the receiver and defender all the way down the field. Thus, I will go with the calling officials judgement as he could watch the entire play.
I want to give the calling official a lot of credit for working hard on this play. Mechanics state that he needs to be on the goal line in order to rule on a touchdown and many officials would position themselves on the sideline at the goal line. This official was on the goal line but well back from the sideline which is great positioning as it minimizes the chance that his view of the play is obstructed by the receiver and defender and thus giving him the best angle to rule on the play.
The post Officially Speaking: Forced Out? appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...