The NCAA rules committee met and has proposed a few changes. This one may have the biggest immediate impact:
The ineligible downfield rule was shifted from three yards to one yard past the line of scrimmage. National officiating coordinator Rogers Redding said defenses were beginning to read run more frequently because offensive linemen were 3 yards downfield and then the quarterback would pass. “It’s going to be easier to officiate,” he said.
Yeah, well, nice for you, Rogers, but it’s going to be harder for coaches like Malzahn to run those packaged plays with the pass/run option built in that Marshall used to such devastating effect.
And as for ease of officiating, I seem to remember an SEC crew blowing a fake punt by Georgia last season with a bad ineligible downfield call. Instead of making things easier on your guys, how ’bout focusing on making things more accurate?
Get The Picture 
Get rid of the rule where you can go downfield and block as long as the ball is thrown behind the line and call offensive pass interference , and we bring some balance back to the game.
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That’s so crazy it just might work.
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It’s not so crazy, Farmer. It’s the NFL rule.
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A good example of using that to an advantage: a short pass/long TD to Chris Conley in the 2013 bowl game against Nebraska. There was a big ugly 15 yards downfield wiping out a defensive back.
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Absolutely, take advantage of the rule because it’s there. This play is the reason why not many teams run the classic student body right or left. When the rules allow you to seal the corner, you do it.
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I’m with Blutarsky on this one, if you cain’t tell if a lineman is downfield now, how you gonna tell with the new rule. You can’t legislate competence.
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I’d argue that restricting the movement of linemen to just one yard instead of three is going to make it a lot MORE difficult to officiate and lead to a lot more bad calls like the one that hosed Georgia. We need better officials and officiating, not better rules. Stop trying to put a lid on offensive innovation.
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It’s not about stifling offensive innovation. It’s about bringing the rules back into balance. The rules and their enforcement are tilted against the defense now.
You’re right. With the money floating around, you would think the Power 5 (+ND) could come up with something better than we have now.
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I would disagree. I think it will be easier because a yard is more than one step past the LOS. The gray area in the USC game was he was past the line but not 3 yards past the line. the ref may have lost track as to exactly where the line was. if it’s only 1 yard, I think that will make it easier to officiate. It will make it harder for those teams like Auby to run their offense though.
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+1
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“We need better officials”
Why would anyone want to do it in the first place? I got so sick of the whining and bitching I gave it up years ago.
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I agree with the others in that you can’t legislate competence, something we sorely need.
Also, why don’t we have 4 cameras (2 high, 2 low) on each goal line yet? How many times do we have to rely on ESPN’s cockeyed view of the goal line to determine a score or not? LSU got hosed in their bowl game because they didn’t have a proper angle (though everyone but the officials could tell the runner scored).
There’s lots of technology that could be brought in to reduce the human error. Surprised that the WWL doesn’t mandate it. Maybe they like the controversy.
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The WWL likes controversy? No way … 🙂
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Call for officials is same level of difficulty. Read for safeties is what has been eased. That, in turn, lowers the reward for offenses to run plays designed to stress that call/read.
Works for me.
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Put RFID chips in the ball and uniforms identifying each player, fly a small drone over the field that measures LOS, player location, etc., and emit warning beeper to officials when a violation occurs, ball crosses first down marker, goal line, etc.
/This is snark…but probably very doable.
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The chip technology for balls is being worked on currently, solution does not seem that far off. That will address the forward position of the ball on TDs and 1st downs but does nothing to address the incompetency of officials (and their bosses) or the problem with balance between offenses and defenses. Why have former colleagues managing the officials (foxes guarding the henhouse)? And how did an incompetent like Rogers get expanded responsibilities? He was lousy in the SEC office now he oversees the NCAA? NCAA is very much akin to federal government workers in their ability to addressing problems.
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I would have blown a gasket if Auburn successfully ran their pop pass play after that fake punt got called back. Obviously a moot point after the fact, but I was pretty damn livid during that moment of the game.
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Close to Christmas time was that game. I ran in the garage, grabbed an old role of wrapping paper & slammed it on the ground repeatedly until it was destroyed after that play. I’m not proud. Good thing gift bags are in vogue.
Seriously tho, if that had cost us that game…just wow…
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While the penalty on the Gurley kick return was a picky call you could make on every kick, the ineligible on the fake punt was absolutely ludicrous. I thought at that point, we were going to be playing 11 vs. 18 all night long like we did in ’13 on the Plains. Thank goodness we played our best game of the year and didn’t let the worst officials in the country influence the game’s outcome.
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Seems like, although, you know…the memory thing…the rule used to be one yard?
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Hey the Line Judge and the Head Linesman have to watch for it and it will be easier to call now that they don’t have to guess what is 3 yards down field. I would slow down with wanting the NFL rule on screen passes, we have made a decent living doing that for years. The SEC refs suck because they actually think they are stars. If they fired Wagers and a few more that think they need to get a lot of face time, the conference would get better.
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Wagers is out. He announced his “retirement” last year. Methinks he got forced out.
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I can live with bad officiating–mistakes happen as long as they were honest and go both ways. What I can’t stand is crooked officiating.
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Hmmmm, let’s see. One yard is about that much (holds arms apart)? Izzat about right Zeke?
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