Refs: Is this play legal???

[DiamondDude]

I don't think so, but please go to the Group A Region B football board and view "Cool trick play" pulled by some middle school team somewhere. There is a YouTube video of it and it involves what appears to me to be an illegal snap.
You make the call! Apparently the TD stood.

 

[OMHDC]

LOL, you and I must have been watching the same early morning program!
GO SALEM
GO MULES

 

[White hat]

OMHDC knows the answer and I thought he was going to chime in. I see another thread so maybe he did.

NO, IT'S NOT LEGAL.

 

[Fadamor]

The play's been getting a lot of discussion-time on the ref boards... most of the discussion regarding why it wasn't flagged. That kind of deception (making the defense think the snap isn't imminent) is illegal at both the NFHS and NCAA levels (the video is from Corpus Christie, TX - and Texas uses NCAA rules even at the high school levels). The team should have been charged with a dead-ball USC and the play whistled dead as soon as he took that snap and started "counting" steps. The only thing we can figure is that the middle school level in Texas uses different rules than the NCAA and the NFHS.

If anyone here in Virginia tries it, they'll get flagged just like they would if they tried the "wrong ball" or "where's the tee" ruses.

 

[gymrat10]

The "wrong ball" should have been flagged, but the tee play was brilliant (if it's the same one I remember) and so was the shoe tying delay by the kicker.

 

[Fadamor]

Anything involving words designed to imply the snap wasn't about to happen is a dead-ball unsportsmanlike conduct on the player doing the talking.

By the way, the general concensus on the ref boards is that the snap was acceptable - especially considering this was middle schoolers. Even at the higher levels you could call it an illegal snap only if you got real nit-picky (and then you better be just as nit-picky the rest of the game with the regular snaps).

 

[FBRef]

I don't see anyone saying the snap was legal, including you on the NFHS site.

The snap is illegal.

 

[Fadamor]

Only reason I argued for snap infraction was I didn't want to let them have a score. Turns out the casebook play says slap an "Unfair Acts" penalty on it (previous spot enforcement) and stop the play in its tracks after the snap so a score would never get a chance to happen.