Delay of game on the defense?????

[Just Win]

Is the SEC officiating crew making up penalties as they go along? As I sat at the game saturday night, I thought the crew was almost as inept as the crew at the Bama/SC game. MSU was lined up for a punt, and Bama was called for "delay of game on the defense". I have watched football for over 30 years and I have never, ever heard of that call being made unless a defender touched the ball before the snap from center. I watched the replay, and no one touched the ball. The commentators on TV were as baffled as I was. Does anyone have an explanation for this? Is Bobby Gaston aware of this? RTR!

 

[RollTideinGA]

Is the SEC officiating crew making up penalties as they go along? As I sat at the game saturday night, I thought the crew was almost as inept as the crew at the Bama/SC game. MSU was lined up for a punt, and Bama was called for "delay of game on the defense". I have watched football for over 30 years and I have never, ever heard of that call being made unless a defender touched the ball before the snap from center. I watched the replay, and no one touched the ball. The commentators on TV were as baffled as I was. Does anyone have an explanation for this? Is Bobby Gaston aware of this? RTR!

Can also be called if the defense is barking out the snap count. I think I heard on the radio that was the speculation. But I dont see our D doing that.

 

[Bebes]

it was the correct call. the defensive players were barking the cadence of their offense...

 

[1BAMAPREACHER]

:BigA:
"Delay of Game" on defense is when the defense yells, or screams, or hollers out any kind of noise that could/would sound like the snap of the opposing offense to draw them off-sides and/or to cause them to "jump" thus creating a "False Start".
We have that rule in High School foootball here in the state of Alabama and I have been on a crew that has called that twice on 2 different occasions. Usually, it is the Umpire's call because he is the one who can hear that in the middle of the field.
:biga:

 

[Just Win]

You are all kidding right?

The defense "barking" out anything has nothing to do with an offensive player being disciplined enough to go on his own guys snap count. Change up your snap count if you have to. Give me a break. I guess if you guys say that's a rule, you know what you are talking about. But that rule is ridiculous. Maybe we should make it a rule that when you almost rip a guy's head off by tackling him by the facemask, it's a penalty. Oh yeah, we already have that one, but the SEC ref's seem to miss it alot even though they are about 50 yds closer to the player than the 80,000 fans who see it clear as a bell. Whatever.

 

[ajacks04]

yeah, its a rule. i believe it is a good rule as well.

 

[uafan4life]

It can also be coincidental. With the way most offenses call plays and do cadence, not the old down, set, hike, sometimes a defensive player calling a play or something he sees can sound somewhat like a cadence. That's probably what happened. After all, that call is a pure judgement call.

As far as it being ridiculous, no it's not. If a defense was allowed to mimic the snap count, the the nose guard could do it on every play. The end or tackle isn't going to know if that 'hike' came from the QB or the NT. 5 yards every down. It makes perfect sense and is a necessary rule.

The reason you don't see it called very often is because it doesn't happen very often. Most of the time when it is called it is not the defense trying to make the offense jump, but barking out a play or signal or something during the cadence.

 

[Bebes]

The defense "barking" out anything has nothing to do with an offensive player being disciplined enough to go on his own guys snap count. Change up your snap count if you have to.

uh...how is the offensive player supposed to know WHO is calling out the snap count???

 

[code32er]

You are almost correct.

I was mad at first but looking at the replay it was the correct call. Although that call is not made very often it somehow did not suprise me out of this crew.
ILLEGAL DELAY OF GAME
Article 2. a. The ball shall be declared ready for play consistenly throughout the game by the referee when the officials are in position. Consuming more than 25 seconds to put the ball in play after it is declared ready for play is an illegal delay.
b. Illegal delay also includes:
1. Delibeately advancing the ball after it is dead.
2. When a team has expended its three timeouts and committs a rule infraction. (6 rules covered here, I won't go into detail)
3. When a team is not ready to play after an intermission between periods(other than the half),after a score,after a radio/tv/team timeout or anytime the referee orders the ball be put in play.
4.Defensive verbal tactics that disconcert offensive signals.
5. Defensive actions designed to cause a false start.

#5 is what they got us on for the 2 players that kept jumping toward the line of scrimmage before the ball was snapped. Again, it is seldomly called and a little bit nit picky. I thought if they wanted to get picky they could have got msu 3 times on pass plays where they were "picking" (happend on their TD pass) our DB's. Rule states it is the "Offensive" players responsibility to avoid contact. Otherwise known as a "rub" or "pick". Ramzee got picked by one of their recievers but made a nice recover but was still a little late. It takes guts to make that call and this crew didn't have any.