Another Rules question

[Chap_24]

Had a couple of situations Friday that I did not agree with the officials and I am not sure on the rule.

Situation 1

The clock was running and the offense had a false start. The penalty was marked off and after the ball was spotted the clock was started again with a fresh 25 seconds. I disagree that the clock should be started in this situation for this reason. Let's say you have the ball on the opponents 5 yard line with a 1 point lead and 5:30 left on the clock. If this is the rule then you don't have to ever snap the ball again because you could false start every down and waste 24 seconds a play and back up all the way to your own 5 and have wasted the entire clock.

Situation 2

There was about 1:45 left in a 6 point game and the offensive team had the lead trying to run out the clock and every other play they would need to switch footballs. This conveniently ran about 10 seconds off the clock each time they threw in a new ball. They did it 3 or 4 times which was crucial in such a close game. The team that was down got a stop with about 30 seconds left when it should have been probably closer to a minute. So my question is can you switch footballs as many times as you would like and should the clock run in this situation?

 

[ZeroRisk]

Address this already in the "Ask a Ref" area, but I'll add something here.

Whether or not the referee feels that the team is using the penalty to abuse the clock rules is a judgment call and one that you should communicate to the wing official on your sideline the moment that you think it is an issue.

 

[Chap_24]

We did say something about changing the football but he had no answer. Actually wouldn't explain much of anything the whole night.

 

[ZeroRisk]

We don't switch the football out unless there is a reason. Teams don't have the right to sub in a "kicking ball" when they want and can't automatically request a change of footballs.

If we're having to change the ball out regularly because of rain or other conditions, we try to keep the interval at which we are changing the ball consistent from the first drive of the game to the last, similar to the same way that we try to maintain a steady tempo of setting the ball and blowing the ready.

I'm sorry to hear that the officials were communicating with you properly, it's definitely not the way things should go.

 

[smokeyjoe53]

We don't switch the football out unless there is a reason. Teams don't have the right to sub in a "kicking ball" when they want and can't automatically request a change of footballs.

If we're having to change the ball out regularly because of rain or other conditions, we try to keep the interval at which we are changing the ball consistent from the first drive of the game to the last, similar to the same way that we try to maintain a steady tempo of setting the ball and blowing the ready.

I'm sorry to hear that the officials were communicating with you properly, it's definitely not the way things should go.

Freudian slip?

 

[ZeroRisk]

...

Okay, that's funny.