Be the Referee: Untimed Down
October 13, 2016
This week, MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl discusses untimed downs in football, a hot topic given a scenario involving one of our in-state universities earlier this season.
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 – Untimed Down - Listen
A few weeks back, the Central Michigan-Oklahoma State football game generated a lot of conversation about the playing rules when any period gets extended with an untimed down.
Many times announcers will wrongly talk about an accepted defensive penalty, that it then means the offense gets one more snap. Under high school rules, whenever there’s an accepted penalty on the last play of the period, there is one untimed down. The only exceptions to this – just like the college rules – are those penalties which also bring about a loss of down.
NOTE: Penalties which bring about a loss of down are: Intentional Grounding, Illegally Handing Ball Forward, Illegal Forward Pass and Illegal Touching.
Past editions
October 6: Soccer Penalty Kick Change - Listen
Sept. 29: Preparation for Officials - Listen
Sept 22: You Make the Call: Returning Kickoffs - Listen
Sept. 15: Concussions - Listen
Sept 8: Equipment Covering the Knees - Listen
Sept. 1: Play Clock Experiment - Listen
Aug. 25: Clipping in the Free Blocking Zone - Listen
500 Attend 'Officiate Michigan Day II'
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 4, 2018
LANSING – More than 500 Michigan officials, from beginners to veterans with decades of experience, gathered Saturday at the Lansing Center for “Officiate Michigan Day II” – an opportunity to learn and train with experts in the avocation and share their passion for playing an irreplaceable role in high school sports.
They were greeted by MHSAA Executive Director and past College World Series baseball umpire Mark Uyl, and sent forth at the conclusion by retired wrestling official James C. McCloughan, who received the Medal of Honor in 2017 for his military service in Vietnam as a combat medic with the U.S. Army.
In between, attendees took in multiple sport-specific training sessions. Lunchtime panels provided opportunities to learn and interact on a number of topics, from effective communication to training and mentoring new officials.
“I hope to get a lot of things from a lot of experienced officials,” said Lansing’s Ken Black Jr., a first-year official, as he prepared to dive into the day’s opportunities. “This is my first year doing it, and I want to digest everything they have to say and go from there.”
The first Officiate Michigan Day was conducted in July 2013 as part of the run-up to the National Association of Sports Officials conference in Grand Rapids. NASO will bring its conference back to Michigan in 2021, with Officiate Michigan Day III to be part of those festivities.
Below are a pair of videos from Saturday’s event. The first gives a few glances at what attendees experienced – including a session with recently-hired MHSAA coordinator of officials Brent Rice – and also includes comments from officials explaining why they made the trip.
The second video shows the final minute of McCloughan’s closing, where he salutes veterans in attendance and gives a special musical tribute.
Also, click to see more photos from our Officiate Michigan Day II gallery.
PHOTOS: (Top) Instructor Dave Uyl, far right, presents during Saturday’s Officiate Michigan Day II. (Middle) From left, Rachael Stringer, Margaret Domka, Jeff Servinski and Lamont Simpson explain “Climbing the Ladder” of the officiating ranks. (Photos by John Johnson.) VIDEOS by Jeremy Sampson (top) and John Johnson.