Charles
Guest
Officially Speaking: The Nuclear Option
Charles via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
While a lot of football fans consider themselves very knowledgeable about the game and the rules, few have ever really looked at the rule book much less actually read it; a surprising number of coaches and players have also never really read the rule book. This is pretty easy to understand, the rules are long and not exactly a run read for most people; the 2016-2017 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations comes in at 218 pages. Thus, it is no surprise that there are a lot of things in the rule book that most fans don’t know about and in many cases they probably don’t care. I suspect the average fan isn’t too concerned about what colors the uprights are allowed to be (the answer is white or yellow) or the allowed size of hand towels worn by players (they cannot be smaller than 4” by 12” and cannot be larger than 6” by 12”) and I suspect that only Ohio State fans are all that concerned that players must either tuck in their jersey or have it even with the waistline of their pants. However there are some obscure rules that can potentially have a huge impact on the game and in this column I look at perhaps the least known and most powerful rule in the book, rule 9-2-3 which covers unfair acts and is considered to be the officials’ “nuclear option”.
Rule 9-2-3 defines unfair acts as:
This doesn’t seem like too big of a deal as all of these things need to be able to be addressed. Part a is an obvious issue that has to be addressed to have a game, part b where is a team is deliberately committing penalties near the goal line would most likely be an attempt to just run out the clock in an illegal way, and part c deals with the fact that things could occur in the game that are not addressed by the rules but which are unfair and should not be allowed to stand. What will surprise most fans is the penalty for these unfair acts which by rule is:
PENALTY—The referee may take any action he considers equitable, which includes directing that the down be repeated, including assessing a 15-yard penalty, awarding a score, or suspending or forfeiting the game.
Yes, the referee has the authority to issue whatever penalty action he or she feels is necessary and just based on the unfair act committed and this can include awarding a team a score or ending the game. Essentially 9-2-3 gives the referee, and really his crew, the ability to do whatever they need to do to address certain situations.
I’m guessing for many of you reading this, your first reaction was either “why would an official need that power?” or “why on Earth does this rule exist?” Well, both of those questions can be answered simultaneously and to do so we go back to the 1954 Cotton Bowl between Alabama and Rice. Rice running back Dicky Meagle broke loose for a run down the sideline that looked like a very probable touchdown, though one Alabama player may have had an angle on him, but before he could score. Tommy Lewis came off of the Crimson Tide bench and tackled him. While the officials could have just flagged Lewis for illegal participation, his action still prevented what would have most likely been a touchdown and giving Rice yardage would mean that Alabama still benefited greatly from cheating. The officials decided to award Rice the touchdown even though the unfair acts rule did not exist at the time. This generated a lot of uproar at the time but the NCAA agreed with the crew’s decision, praising them for it and writing the unfair acts rule for the next season. You can see the play below:
It isn’t too hard to imagine something similar happening today where a player is running all alone down the sideline on the way to a guaranteed touchdown when a player comes off the bench and tackles him in an emotional moment. Perhaps instead of tackling the guy, a player or coach just stands too close to the field on the sideline and extends a leg to trip the player. Or maybe while the player is running all alone toward the endzone a fan in the stands blows a whistle, causing the player to stop and eventually get tackled. The officials could just throw a flag and mark of yardage for illegal participation or unsportsmanlike conduct but that still takes away a guaranteed score, thus benefiting the team that committed the penalty; this could be a huge benefit if the situation happens late in a game with time running out. Rule 9-2-3 gives the referee the power to deal with this in a just way that doesn’t punish the victimized team.
There are probably some readers worried about a referee possibly abusing this power but there is almost no chance of that happening. Any referee that invoked this rule would receive a ton of attention and scrutiny, not just from the public and the media but up the entire officiating chain of command. If their decision and the punishment they handed down wasn’t 100% correct, their career would be severely damaged or likely over.
The post Officially Speaking: The Nuclear Option appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...
Charles via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
While a lot of football fans consider themselves very knowledgeable about the game and the rules, few have ever really looked at the rule book much less actually read it; a surprising number of coaches and players have also never really read the rule book. This is pretty easy to understand, the rules are long and not exactly a run read for most people; the 2016-2017 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations comes in at 218 pages. Thus, it is no surprise that there are a lot of things in the rule book that most fans don’t know about and in many cases they probably don’t care. I suspect the average fan isn’t too concerned about what colors the uprights are allowed to be (the answer is white or yellow) or the allowed size of hand towels worn by players (they cannot be smaller than 4” by 12” and cannot be larger than 6” by 12”) and I suspect that only Ohio State fans are all that concerned that players must either tuck in their jersey or have it even with the waistline of their pants. However there are some obscure rules that can potentially have a huge impact on the game and in this column I look at perhaps the least known and most powerful rule in the book, rule 9-2-3 which covers unfair acts and is considered to be the officials’ “nuclear option”.
Rule 9-2-3 defines unfair acts as:
A team refuses to play within two minutes after ordered to do so by the referee.
A team repeatedly commits fouls for which penalties can be enforced only by halving the distance to its goal line.
An obviously unfair act not specifically covered by the rules occurs during the game.
This doesn’t seem like too big of a deal as all of these things need to be able to be addressed. Part a is an obvious issue that has to be addressed to have a game, part b where is a team is deliberately committing penalties near the goal line would most likely be an attempt to just run out the clock in an illegal way, and part c deals with the fact that things could occur in the game that are not addressed by the rules but which are unfair and should not be allowed to stand. What will surprise most fans is the penalty for these unfair acts which by rule is:
PENALTY—The referee may take any action he considers equitable, which includes directing that the down be repeated, including assessing a 15-yard penalty, awarding a score, or suspending or forfeiting the game.
Yes, the referee has the authority to issue whatever penalty action he or she feels is necessary and just based on the unfair act committed and this can include awarding a team a score or ending the game. Essentially 9-2-3 gives the referee, and really his crew, the ability to do whatever they need to do to address certain situations.
I’m guessing for many of you reading this, your first reaction was either “why would an official need that power?” or “why on Earth does this rule exist?” Well, both of those questions can be answered simultaneously and to do so we go back to the 1954 Cotton Bowl between Alabama and Rice. Rice running back Dicky Meagle broke loose for a run down the sideline that looked like a very probable touchdown, though one Alabama player may have had an angle on him, but before he could score. Tommy Lewis came off of the Crimson Tide bench and tackled him. While the officials could have just flagged Lewis for illegal participation, his action still prevented what would have most likely been a touchdown and giving Rice yardage would mean that Alabama still benefited greatly from cheating. The officials decided to award Rice the touchdown even though the unfair acts rule did not exist at the time. This generated a lot of uproar at the time but the NCAA agreed with the crew’s decision, praising them for it and writing the unfair acts rule for the next season. You can see the play below:
It isn’t too hard to imagine something similar happening today where a player is running all alone down the sideline on the way to a guaranteed touchdown when a player comes off the bench and tackles him in an emotional moment. Perhaps instead of tackling the guy, a player or coach just stands too close to the field on the sideline and extends a leg to trip the player. Or maybe while the player is running all alone toward the endzone a fan in the stands blows a whistle, causing the player to stop and eventually get tackled. The officials could just throw a flag and mark of yardage for illegal participation or unsportsmanlike conduct but that still takes away a guaranteed score, thus benefiting the team that committed the penalty; this could be a huge benefit if the situation happens late in a game with time running out. Rule 9-2-3 gives the referee the power to deal with this in a just way that doesn’t punish the victimized team.
There are probably some readers worried about a referee possibly abusing this power but there is almost no chance of that happening. Any referee that invoked this rule would receive a ton of attention and scrutiny, not just from the public and the media but up the entire officiating chain of command. If their decision and the punishment they handed down wasn’t 100% correct, their career would be severely damaged or likely over.
The post Officially Speaking: The Nuclear Option appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...