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Anyone heard of this before?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by bumpy mcgee, Nov 3, 2009.

  1. bumpy mcgee

    bumpy mcgee Well-Known Member

    Covered a prep game on Saturday.
    Time winding down, trailing team in shotgun, QB takes the ball, spikes it to stop the clock.
    Ref throws flag for intentional grounding.
    Apparently there is a rule that to spike the ball, the snap has to be hand-to-hand.
    I had never heard this rule before, anyone else?
    Making it more strange: the RB was standing right next to the QB.
    According to the official, it doesn't matter, if the snap is not hand-to-hand and a spike occurs it is intentional grounding no matter what.
    Anyone on the rules committee verify this one?
     
  2. EagleMorph

    EagleMorph Member

    I've never seen a team spike the ball out of shotgun formation...that's not exactly hard evidence, but I'd have to say there's a reason for that.
     
  3. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    Another rule that has to be done away with...it should be intentional grounding no matter what but the NFL needed an artificial way to keep games going when teams were out of timeouts.

    How about in the first quarter instead of taking a time out because the QB decides the called play isn't going to work againt the defense he sees, he spikes it instead of taking a delay of game or a tmeout. Think they'd call that intentional grounding?

    But the rules change later in the game, which is moronic.
     
  4. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member


    but before that rule weren't QBs allowed to throw it out of bounds and have the clock stopped without grounding?
     
  5. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    They couldn't just take a snap with nobody else moving and throw it out of bound, no.
     
  6. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    I'd like to see that rule in writing.
     
  7. Yodel

    Yodel Active Member

    Kenny Stabler did that for Alabama against Tennessee many years ago. Left the game in a tie. As my boss learned, asking him about it even now is not a good idea. :)
     
  8. joe_schmoe

    joe_schmoe Active Member

    not sure about prep rules, but ncaa has an approved ruling that covers it that says shotgun is legal formation to consevre time (actually it says in the approved ruling qb lines up 7 yards behind center).
    the main thing about the rule is that the action must be immediate.
     
  9. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    I can't think of a definite specific game but I do remember seeing QBs in NFL games also doing that. and i also never remember grounding being called when QBs threw the ball way out of bounds where it was no way catchable.
     
  10. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    The spike only became legal in high school ball in the mid 90s. It wouldn't surprise me that there's a rule like that. I would guess that the underlying reason for it is something along the lines of being in the shotgun making it easier to fake a spike to deceive the defense. I'm not sure that's a GOOD underlying reason, but that's my guess.
     
  11. Matt1735

    Matt1735 Well-Known Member

    I don't have a high school rulebook in front of me, but the referee was correct. In NFHS play, the exception to intentional grounding is a spike from a hand-to-hand snap.
     
  12. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    I think we had a thread on this same topic a year or two ago.
     
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