Cut-Block on Extra Point

[coach_jshelton]

I was informed by an officiating crew that a cut-block was legal on a PAT attempt as long as the kicking team is in a tight formation. The opponent was in a standard balanced three man front, a blocking back lined up as a right wing, and a holder & kicker. At the snap the blocking back came across the formation and laid a perfect cut-block at the knees of my rusher who was rushing from my teams right end. The cut block was made 2 yards behind the LOS. Two questions:

1) Was the referee's explanation correct?

2) Can a kicking team cut-block when lined up in an obvious kicking formation (holder on one knee, kicker in a position to attempt a kick) when the kicking team knows that they will be snapping directly to the kicker and attempting a pass?

 

[coach holloway]

Coach:

Rule 9-1-6

It is not legal to block below the waist on any kicks

 

[High Plains Drifter]

That is those Angelo officials for ya!

 

[kbjoe1]

we never get a game called worth a dang using them.. they are bad on both sides though so we dont usually gripe

 

[coach_jshelton]

They were NOT San Angelo Chapter officials. haha

I knew the rule, but I wasn't going to win the argument. Really just curious for future reference when the kicking team goes into a pass mode out of the alignment.

 

[ZeroRisk]

A little late to the party here, but a little clarification is needed.

Just because the team is lined up in a PAT formation does not preclude them from blocking below the waist on that play. It is true that blocking below the waist is always illegal on a kicking play, but a kick MUST take place. In your situation, lining up for a kick and then running a "fire" pass out of it, they can block below the waist if they meet the exceptions allowed for on any other scrimmage down.

 

[Tex90]

I've had that called many times. A lot of officials (if unexperienced) let it go so often that the rule gets overlooked but yes it is. Its considered a Special Teams play so you cannot block below the waist.

 

[fencewire]

9.1.6 actually now says that there is no blocking below the waist at all... Except in certain cases, one of those being scrimmage downs that don't include a kick, and before a change of possession. There are also some tweaks to that rule this year.

 

[kbjoe1]

where can i read this rule 916?

 

[fencewire]

Here is the full rulebook in PDF format, there were some changes to 9.1.6 after the publication of this book last year, and they have tweaked it again prior to this upcoming season. I will post that also...

http://www.ncaapublications.com/product ... s/FR12.pdf

 

[fencewire]

Rule 9-1-6 (FR-84)
ARTICLE 6. There shall be no blocking below the waist (other than against the ball carrier) except as allowed below. (Rule 2-3-2 and A.R. 9-1-6-I-VII)

a. Scrimmage Downs
1. Before a change of team possession a Team A player who is beyond the neutral zone may not block below the waist toward his own goal line. When in question, the block is directed toward his goal line.
2. Before a change of team possession the following players of Team A are restricted with regard to blocking below the waist:
a. A lineman more than seven yards from the middle lineman of the offensive formation at the snap.
b. A back aligned at the snap with the frame of his body completely outside the tackle box or completely outside the frame of the body of the second lineman from the snapper in either direction toward a sideline.
c. A back who is in motion at the snap and was outside the area in b (above) any time after the ball was ready for play and before the snap.
3. A restricted player may not block below the waist against any opponent who is inside the area in paragraph 2-b. Outside this area a restricted player may not block below the waist in a direction away from his adjacent sideline. He may legally block below the waist along the north-south line (Rule 2-12-9) or toward his adjacent sideline, but not toward his own goal line when he is beyond the neutral zone (see a-1 above).
4. All other players of Team A are unrestricted and may legally block below the waist, other than in a-1 above. In particular, a player is unrestricted if he is in motion at the snap and is never outside the area in paragraph 2-b after the ball is ready for play and before the snap.
5. Before a change of team possession players of Team B may block below the waist only within the area defined by lines parallel to the goal line five yards beyond and behind the neutral zone extended to the sidelines. Blocking below the waist by players of Team B outside this zone is illegal.
6. A Team B player may not block below the waist against an opponent who is in position to receive a backward pass.
7. Players of Team B may not block below the waist against an eligible Team A pass receiver beyond the neutral zone unless attempting to get to the ball or ball carrier. This prohibition ends when a legal forward pass is no longer possible by rule.

b. Kicks
During a down in which there is a free kick or scrimmage kick, blocking below the waist by any player is illegal except against a ball carrier.

c. Change of possession
After any change of team possession, blocking below the waist by any player is illegal except against a ball carrier.

 

[kbjoe1]

this seems to get skewd with the line ups and players with six man ... does any one want to explain it in terms of our players only?

 

[fencewire]

I'll give it a stab, there really isn't anything here that is different in the 6-man game vs 11-man, the UIL exceptions don't get down to this type of minuta, in redesigning the tackle box, etc. It pretty much ports over verbatim.

 

[kbjoe1]

ok in formation simmilar to this o o o.
o 0.
o

 

[fencewire]

ok in formation simmilar to this o o o.
o 0.
o

the bbs system for this forum is pretty horrid for any sort of diagramming, i am gonna try and attach a picture of what I think you are talking about.

 

[kbjoe1]

sorry you are right... now split the rt end and put the back in the slot next to the end. who can block belowthe waist running rt or left with the qb leading the back?

 

[fencewire]

Ok, let's make sure we are on the same page first...

 

[kbjoe1]

yes sir

 

[fencewire]

It is probably easiest to break it down one by one so we keep everything straight throughout the rule.

1. Before a change of team possession a Team A player who is beyond the neutral zone may not block below the waist toward his own goal line. When in question, the block is directed toward his goal line.

***This is new for this year and has not been accepted by UIL at this time, I think it would be unlikely that they would add an exception for this one part of this rule so most likely it will be in effect this season***
So any player, even if they are eligible to block below the waist otherwise, if they are past the neutral zone, cannot block below the waist back towards their goalline which would be back towards the original line of scrimmage.

2. Before a change of team possession the following players of Team A are restricted with regard to blocking below the waist:
a. A lineman more than seven yards from the middle lineman of the offensive formation at the snap.
b. A back aligned at the snap with the frame of his body completely outside the tackle box or completely outside the frame of the body of the second lineman from the snapper in either direction toward a sideline.
c. A back who is in motion at the snap and was outside the area in b (above) any time after the ball was ready for play and before the snap.

So with this section, part a, any lineman who at the snap is more than 7 yards (this is just an approximation and is meant to include the TE, so he does not have restrictions, in a normal 11 man formation with normal line splits) has restrictions as to how they can block below the waist. So this would only get the RE in our formation.

With section b, any back who is outside the tackle box (a rectangular area 5 yards on each side of the snapper extending to team A's (offense) goalline, this box disappears as soon as the ball leaves the area), so in our formation it would be the Split End.

And C, if a back is at motion at the snap and was outside the tackle box anytime after the Referee makes the ball ready for play and at the snap he would be restricted as well. So, if the ball is made ready and if the SE went in motion and even if he was in a position at the snap where he would not be restricted, he would be due to this.

3. A restricted player may not block below the waist against any opponent who is inside the area in paragraph 2-b. Outside this area a restricted player may not block below the waist in a direction away from his adjacent sideline. He may legally block below the waist along the north-south line (Rule 2-12-9) or toward his adjacent sideline, but not toward his own goal line when he is beyond the neutral zone (see a-1 above).

This part discusses how and who the restricted players by definition in 2, can block below the waist. So if you are restricted, you cannot block below the waist against anyone in the tackle box. If you are restricted, by rule, and you want to block below the waist, you can only do so on a N/S line or towards your adjacent sideline and not back towards your goal line.

4. All other players of Team A are unrestricted and may legally block below the waist, other than in a-1 above. In particular, a player is unrestricted if he is in motion at the snap and is never outside the area in paragraph 2-b after the ball is ready for play and before the snap.

This is pretty straightforward, if you aren't restricted by definition in 2 above, you can block below the waist in any direction, as long as it is not towards your own goal line.

So in your formation, the only players who would have restrictions, regardless of which way the play went, as far as blocking below the waist would be the RE and the SE, and they could block below the waist as long as it was on a N/S line or towards their adjacent sideline at the snap.

Now keeping who was where at the snap is hard enough in 11-man, add the back and forth, reversing of fields in 6-man and you can quickly see how that might be even more difficult to keep exact track of who was where. ESPECIALLY if you are in a jr-high/jv game where you might have only two or three officials.