Rule Change questionnaire

[Herdcyclones]

As an official, I got a questionnaire about last year's rule changes, and if I thought they were effective. This goes out to all (head?) coaches and officials. I get these every year.

What I find interesting is the next part--problems--and if they are something that need to be addressed with rule changes in the future. Here is what they asked about. I assume these get brought up because the controlling board of the Fed is hearing about this. As a reminder, this questionnaire is from the NFHS and not the IHSAA (IHSAA sends it out for the Fed)


Announcers talking, or playing music when the opponent's offense is on the field.
Home band playing when opposing offense is on the field.
Proper enforcement of blindside blocks
Player numbers hard to read
Low blocks by the defense against the offense outside the free-blocking zone and not being properly called.
Low blocks by the offense against the defense outside the free-blocking zone and not being properly called.
The number of non game personnel on the sidelines
Tooth and mouth protectors with words and logos on them
Different colored helmets by players from the same team
Starting a 40 second play clock as soon as the runner is down
Allowing a player to save a loss of yardage by throwing the ball so that it lands beyond the neutral zone, if the player is outside the tackle position.
At the snap, no more than four backs rather than seven on the line.
Using instant replay
Requiring a set distance between each player on the kicking team prior to the kick.
Allowing a player to spike the ball from the shotgun formation
Making forward pass interference by the defense an automatic first down for the offense.
Adding the nameplate area on the back of the jersey to the horsecollar rule
All illegal personal contact fouls in Rule 9-4 to carry an automatic first down.

Some thoughts from me:
The new current blindside block rule to me is very judgement--hard one to call. I like the safety aspect, but if I called it or not, I'm gonna get chewed on either way.
Some uniforms, in their attempt to be stylish are very hard to read. I'd like them all to look like Penn State, lol.
I definitely do not want the 40 second play clock. Now maybe they would limit it to varsity. But at best we have 5 man crews with a ball boy or two. Worse in sub-varsity. It's fine in the NFL and college with more refs and good ball boys. Just seems it could be problematic on long incompletions. Also, and I only have white hatted sub-varsity, but I like having an official's discretion as to when to start the play clock. But late in blowouts, or maybe early in the season for sub-varsity, I like to be a little slow on starting the clock. It prevents delays of game, or maybe prevents some snaps if things are getting a bit chippy late.
I would like a change to being able to spike it from the shotgun
I don't like automatic first downs on pass interference. I don't want an offense getting a 1st down on some borderline PI call on 3rd and 20. Don't like it as a fan, and definitely as an official.

Again, all of the above are just questions they asked about it. But a lot of times, when they ask those questions, it means a rule change may be coming soon.

 

[Altybon]

To me it sounds like they are trying to make it like college. When or if kids play football in college. Some of those are college rules I think 40 second play clock is to long as well. I would do 30 or 35 play clock. I see why they would want to do the pass interference thing to make the rule more like college it would be easier work for the referee mostly why I see them asking that.. But I like it the way it is.

 

[KidSilverhair]

What an interesting list of topics! From things regarding player safety and blindside blocks, to complaints about noise and shotgun spikes.

As a radio guy myself, I'm really really REALLY in favor of making the uniform numbers more readable. There are lots of schools out there who come up with fancy fonts and odd color combinations designed to look "cool," but they only end up making it nearly impossible to read the numbers. (I think it was CR Washington that trotted out dark red jerseys with dark blue numbers last fall. Those suckers were darn near indecipherable.) What are numbers for, anyway? To allow spectators and announcers to identify who's involved in a play. Let's make sure they do what they're intended to do, darn it!

I haven't seen any instances of different colored helmets myself, but I can see that causing confusion. I recall quite a few years ago some college teams would have their "player of the week" wear a differently colored helmet during the game, which only served as a signal for the opposing team to really go after that guy.

Instant replay? In Iowa high school regular-season football? How is that ever going to come about, even if it was deemed to be a good thing, which I don't agree with? Even in the NFL and college, instant replay review has morphed from "correcting the obvious on-field mistakes" to "let's see what possible micro-instant view we can come up with to give us a reason to change the call on the field that perfectly reflected what the human eye is able to determine during live action."

"No more than four backs rather than seven on the line." What does that mean? That you could line up ten players on the line of scrimmage, with just one behind the line to take the snap? Not sure I think that's a good idea.

The horsecollar rule is already an odd one, as far as enforcement and interpretation go. It's a necessary injury-reducing rule, I agree, but the rule defines it as only applying to a solo tackle and only when the tackler brings the runner all the way to the ground with the horsecollar - lots of fans and perhaps some officials don't really look at it that way, so I'm not sure I'd be in favor of making it even more discretionary to call by including more of the jersey. What about if you grab the jersey behind the shoulder pad area? Is that a horsecollar, too?

Spiking from the shotgun would be fine by me, as well as allowing the quarterback to throw the ball away if certain conditions are met.

Anyway, thanks for sharing this. It's a neat list, and thought-provoking, too.

 

[HaydenHawk8]

As an official, I got a questionnaire about last year's rule changes, and if I thought they were effective. This goes out to all (head?) coaches and officials. I get these every year.

What I find interesting is the next part--problems--and if they are something that need to be addressed with rule changes in the future. Here is what they asked about. I assume these get brought up because the controlling board of the Fed is hearing about this. As a reminder, this questionnaire is from the NFHS and not the IHSAA (IHSAA sends it out for the Fed)


Announcers talking, or playing music when the opponent's offense is on the field.
Home band playing when opposing offense is on the field.
Proper enforcement of blindside blocks
Player numbers hard to read
Low blocks by the defense against the offense outside the free-blocking zone and not being properly called.
Low blocks by the offense against the defense outside the free-blocking zone and not being properly called.
The number of non game personnel on the sidelines
Tooth and mouth protectors with words and logos on them
Different colored helmets by players from the same team
Starting a 40 second play clock as soon as the runner is down
Allowing a player to save a loss of yardage by throwing the ball so that it lands beyond the neutral zone, if the player is outside the tackle position.
At the snap, no more than four backs rather than seven on the line.
Using instant replay
Requiring a set distance between each player on the kicking team prior to the kick.
Allowing a player to spike the ball from the shotgun formation
Making forward pass interference by the defense an automatic first down for the offense.
Adding the nameplate area on the back of the jersey to the horsecollar rule
All illegal personal contact fouls in Rule 9-4 to carry an automatic first down.

Some thoughts from me:
The new current blindside block rule to me is very judgement--hard one to call. I like the safety aspect, but if I called it or not, I'm gonna get chewed on either way.
Some uniforms, in their attempt to be stylish are very hard to read. I'd like them all to look like Penn State, lol.
I definitely do not want the 40 second play clock. Now maybe they would limit it to varsity. But at best we have 5 man crews with a ball boy or two. Worse in sub-varsity. It's fine in the NFL and college with more refs and good ball boys. Just seems it could be problematic on long incompletions. Also, and I only have white hatted sub-varsity, but I like having an official's discretion as to when to start the play clock. But late in blowouts, or maybe early in the season for sub-varsity, I like to be a little slow on starting the clock. It prevents delays of game, or maybe prevents some snaps if things are getting a bit chippy late.
I would like a change to being able to spike it from the shotgun
I don't like automatic first downs on pass interference. I don't want an offense getting a 1st down on some borderline PI call on 3rd and 20. Don't like it as a fan, and definitely as an official.

Again, all of the above are just questions they asked about it. But a lot of times, when they ask those questions, it means a rule change may be coming soon.

40 second play clock would change the game and would also help speed the game up personally. I sit and watch some of these games on Friday nights and they take FOREVER! Last fall as I was observing our local high school team I witnessed 3 of their games last 2:40+. That is way too long for a HS game. Most college games last around 3hours, and they are playing 15min quarters not 12.

It would also make some of these coaches "speed up" their play calling and also make the officials work a little faster. The one night I am not joking the game took every bit of 3hours and the officials took forever to blow the play clock in. I mean there would be 2-3min between plays because they were so slow. Teams these days want to run uptempo and when its so slow between plays it affects them. I think a 40 second play clock would be good for IHSAA. Make the clock similar to college (run out of bounds, bring it back in and wind it).

Another note about moving towards college ball. A lot of states are moving that direction. I believe in Texas they already do, and I know Florida and other southern schools are moving more towards the college game. Its prepares the students athletes for the next level. Plus several of the HS officials work college as well, so there is less chance for confusion I assume.

Blind side block rule is good for safety but damn I would hate to be an official. We had a player ejected for it last year (apparently they said led w/helmet and warranted a targeting call/blindside block call). On film he def hit him high, but there was no helmet to helmet contact.

 

[C-Town Card]

"No more than four backs rather than seven on the line." What does that mean? That you could line up ten players on the line of scrimmage, with just one behind the line to take the snap? Not sure I think that's a good idea.

The horsecollar rule is already an odd one, as far as enforcement and interpretation go. It's a necessary injury-reducing rule, I agree, but the rule defines it as only applying to a solo tackle and only when the tackler brings the runner all the way to the ground with the horsecollar - lots of fans and perhaps some officials don't really look at it that way, so I'm not sure I'd be in favor of making it even more discretionary to call by including more of the jersey. What about if you grab the jersey behind the shoulder pad area? Is that a horsecollar, too?

I agree with a lot of your points. Couple of my own-

The LOS rule (correct me if I'm wrong) currently states at LEAST seven on the line, so this would just be a semantics switch? I think it is fine the way it is.

You are correct on the horsecollar rule in that it describes bringing a player to the ground. I thought they already amended this rule to include the nameplate? Could be mistaken.