Well here we go again!

[OMHDC]

The latest "trick play" that has recieved over 2 million hits on youtube and was featured on national TV this morning IMO has got to be illegal in VA. It happened in Texas. Maybe that's the reason it was allowed.
After an encroachment penalty is marked off against the D and the ready to play signal is given, the O team lines up, the coach starts screaming to his QB that it should have been a 10 yard penalty and tells his QB to mark off 5 more yards. The center then hands the QB the ball over his left shoulder. The QB then steps off 5 yards while the officials and the opposing team watches. He then takes off and scores. The score was allowed.
I gotta think this is illegal. Similar to the "something's wrong with the ball play" from a couple of years ago. Am I right. Should have been a 15 yard unsportsman like penalty.

GO SALEM
GO MULES

 

[White hat]

It's not up to the teams to mark off fouls. This should never have been allowed to happen. It's unsportsmanlike conduct charged to the coach.

I son't have my Case Book where it specifically outlaws this nonsense, but I bet Fadamor can quote it.

 

[gymrat10]

and I'll bet his quote will include the word "travesty"

 

[FBRef]

No, not a travesty. It's considered an "unfair act."

And yes, it's illegal.

 

[Fadamor]

FBRef is correct. This falls under "Unfair Acts" because it is a deception using verbiage designed to make the defense believe the snap is not imminent. It gets included with the "wrong ball" and "where's the tee?" deceptions as a dead-ball Unsportsmanlike Conduct prior to the snap. If the coach participates in the ruse then the flag will be on him as he obviously authorized the play.

Had this play been run in Virginia, it would have been blown dead at the snap and 15 yards marked off. There would have never been a touchdown.

 

[White hat]

Unfortunately, that's not always the case, especailly in youth and junior high games. I've heard of it happening. Hope it doesn't happen again.

 

[Fadamor]

Sadly, because of all the coverage this case got I'm sure we'll see some rec league or middle school team try it soon. They'll point to the Texas play as an example.

The crazy thing is: according to a rules official in Texas there were at least two other reasons to stop the play without taking the Unfair Acts rule into play and one reason to disallow any score from the play:

1.) False start by the left guard, moving his hand. Dead ball foul.
2.) Illegal snap, the snapper stopped the motion of the ball and the lineman took it from him. Dead ball foul. (Snap must be a continuous backward motion)
3.) Ball was snapped to a lineman. Live ball foul. (The quarterback was up on the line but did NOT have his hands in a position to receive the snap from under the snapper). This makes him a lineman, not the one back allowed to be that close to the line.

You could also throw in there illegal motion because the QB stepped forward (towards the opponent's goal line) and wasn't set for a second before the snap.

 

[White hat]

I actually think this play is far worse, far more unsportsmanlike than the "wrong ball" play. The reason is we have an adult who is lying to the kids. The kids on the other team hear him hollaring about a penalty that should be 10 yards. Middle school kids are not going to know it's a trick. They take the adult at his word. The correct play for them would be to hit the ball carrier, but with the coach yelling that, what middle school kid is going to do that?

There's a 9-letter word for a coach like that, the 1st 5 are h o r s e, and the last 4 rhyme with fit.

 

[Fadamor]

I couldn't hear what the coach was saying in the video, but if he DID direct the QB to move the ball then I agree he should get the Unfair Acts penalty. Unfair Acts is a "special" penalty because it is left up to the referee to determine what the penalty should be.

9-9-1 states that:

PENALTY: Unfair Act - the referee enforces any penalty he considers equitable, including the award of a score. (Unsportsmanlike Conduct signal)

The fundamentals restrict yardage penalties to 5, 10 or 15 yards; but the referee COULD assess 15 yards AND eject the coach under this rule even if it was the coach's first offense.
This post was edited on 11/14 2:03 PM by Fadamor

 

[FBRef]

He was yelling to his QB that the last penalty should have been a 10 yard penalty, not 5, so walk off 5 more yards. That's why you see the QB "walk off" 5 yards, then take off runnung.