Be the Referee: Other Football Changes

September 7, 2017

This week, MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl discusses a few final football rules in the final of a three-part series on changes in the sport for this fall.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Other Football Rules Changes - Listen


Today in our final segment of a three-part series on the football rules changes for the 2017 season, we’re going to be looking at three items:

• On passing plays, pass interference will no longer be called when the defender is simply face guarding the receiver with no contact.

• In the final two minutes of a half, the team accepting a penalty will now have the option of restarting the game clock with the snap of the ball, rather than the referee’s ready-for-play signal.

• This is the second year of an experiment in Michigan with a 40- second play clock, which starts shortly after a play is over, replacing the 25-second play clock which was always started by the referee marking the ball ready for play.

Past editions
August 31: Pop-Up Onside Kicks - Listen
August 24: Blindside Blocks - Listen

Be the Referee: Safety in End Zone

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

October 11, 2022

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Safety in End Zone - Listen

Team A has the ball on its own 3-yard line – facing a 4th-and-10. The quarterback drops back into the end zone, and just before he’s about to be sacked, he throws the ball away.

Out comes the flag for intentional grounding – which would give the defense two points and force Team A to kick off. But the coach of the team on defense would rather decline the penalty and take over at the 3-yard line. Can he do that?

Not exactly.

While he can decline the penalty, the result of the play is the same. A safety for the defense. If the penalty is accepted, the enforcement is from the end zone resulting in a safety. Incomplete illegal passes end the play where the pass is made, so even if the penalty is declined, it’s a safety because the play ended behind the goal line.

Previous Editions:

Oct. 4: Football Overtime Penalty - Listen
Sept. 27: Kickoff Goal - Listen
Sept. 20: Soccer Timing - Listen
Sept. 13: Volleyball Replays - Listen
Sept. 6: Switching Sides - Listen
Aug. 30: Play Clock - Listen
Aug. 23: Intentional Grounding Change
- Listen