TEST YOURSELF Is the Price Right?

In each of the following you are given a situation and at least two possible answers. You are to decide which answer or answers are correct for NFHS and NCAA rules, which might vary. Note: In kicking situations, K is the kicking team, R the receiving team. Solutions: p. 85 a.It’s team K’s ball at its own 25 yardline. b. It’s team K’s ball at its own 21 yardline. c.It’s team R’s ball at team K’s 25 yardline. d.It’s team R’s ball at team K’s 21 yardline. a.B1 must leave the game until the item is removed. b. B1 is ejected. c.Team B’s coach is penalized 15 yards. d.No problem if the item is properly taped. a.Pass interference on B2; he clearly was playing the man, not the ball. b. Pass interference only if the official decides the ball was catchable after striking B2. c.There is no foul on the play; it’s an incomplete pass. a.No problem as long as A1’s movement doesn’t simulate the start of a snap. b. No problem only because A1 is in shotgun formation. c. If A1 is still rocking when the ball is snapped, it’s illegal motion. d.False start; the officials should prevent the snap and penalize team A.

1. Fourth and 10 from team K’s 20 yardline. K1’s punt is off the side of his foot. The kick flies feebly to team K’s 21 yardline and strikes R2 on the shoulder. The ball rolls to team K’s 25 yardline, where K3 recovers it.

2. Between plays, the umpire notices that linebacker B1 is wearing something metallic on his wrist. Upon inspection, the umpire sees that it’s a medical alert bracelet.

3. First and 10 for team A from its own 20 yardline. Wide receiver A1 makes a great move and gets by defender B2. A1 has a five-yard lead on B2 when A3’s underthrown pass strikes B2 in the back. The pass is incomplete. When struck with the ball, B2 was facing A1 and not paying attention to the location of the ball.

4. A1 is the quarterback in shotgun formation. In the process of calling signals, A1 places one foot in front of the other and slowly rocks back and forth.

Timeouts are valuable commodities, so when a player’s helmet comes completely off during play, an NCAA team has to weigh which is more important: a timeout or the player’s participation in the next play.

Only NCAA rules (3-3-9a) give a team the option of using a timeout to keep a player in the game whose helmet has come off, as seen in the PlayPic. If a request for a charged team timeout is granted, both teams may conduct the usual conferences. NFHS rules (3-5-10d) do not allow a player to “buy his way back” into the game with a timeout; the player must sit out unless halftime or an overtime intermission occurs.

Other points to remember about displaced helmets:

•The helmet must come completely off in order for the rule to be invoked. If the helmet came off due to a foul such as grasping the facemask, the player does not need to leave the game (NFHS 4-2-2k; NCAA 3-3-9a).

•The ball is dead immediately if the player whose helmet comes off is the runner (NFHS 4-2-2k; NCAA 4-13q).

•If the player whose helmet comes off participates in the play beyond continuing action, he is guilty of illegal participation (NFHS 9-6-4g) or a personal foul (NCAA 9-1-17).

•If the player whose helmet comes off ceases participation but is contacted by an opponent, it is a personal foul by the opponent (NFHS 9-4-3l; NCAA 9-1-12).

•The play clock will be set at 25 seconds if the player is on offense and 40 seconds if the player is on defense (NFHS 3-6-1a-1(e) Exc. 2; NCAA 3-24c-13). If there is less than one minute in the half the opponent has the option of a 10-second runoff, unless the helmet comes off as the direct result of a foul by the opponent (3-3-9a-1) *