Onside Kick (LSU - NC)

[TXMike]

Any issues here?
 
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[stanman001]

if A is not allowed to block until they can leagally recover/touch the ball how is the hit legal?  I dont think the B player touched the ball prior to being hit.

[cperezprg]

Also, in the moment of the kick it is possible that there are only 3 players in the left side.

[NVFOA_Ump]

Replay clearly shows A's contact before B touches the ball and the ball and both players are still within the 10 yard zone.  Can replay actually "fix" this one?  Replay provides for "touching of a kick", but how about this play?  It doesn't seem to qualify for replay, and since it's obvious there's a foul here, maybe that's why it wasn't reversed?

[ABoselli]

Is replay allowed to reverse the illegal formation non-call? That was Steve Shaw's crew, correct? He's got the formation. Unusual that UNC kicked to LSU's sideline - normally teams will do this stuff to their own sideline.

[NVFOA_Ump]

Not sure that the formation foul isn't too close to call.  When the kicker makes contact with the ball his teammate (the fourth player on that side of the ball) is almost directly behind the ball, and he's moving. Who would call that?  Not sure that there's any way to flag something that close.  The other foul is a bit more black and white, and there's both the F and the L standing just a few feet away.

[Atlanta Blue]

I was working this game as the scorer, and talked with the replay official.  Yes, they missed the illegal block, but that can't be corrected by review.  Once the call was made (or not made) on the field, the only things for review were: did LSU touch the ball before it went 10 yards (yes), and who recovered (UNC).  But it should have been flagged for the contact by UNC.  No one even mentioned the formation, I think that was far too close to call.

As a kicking coach, you kick the onside kick to the side that is best for your kicker, irregardless of which team is on which sideline.  In reality, what difference does it make?  There is nothing anyone on the sideline can do to help.

[ABoselli]

I've just noticed over the years that teams have a tendency to do that - whether it's kicking onside or running any kind of trick play. In a practical sense, the sideline has no effect, but coaches will do things that don't make sense to me from time to time.

Had a coach Saturday who decided kicking off to start each half was worth it so he could get the wind at his offense's back in the first and third quarters. Opening toss winning captain - "We defer", toss losing team - "we want to defend this goal", deferring team captain after I let him know he got to receive the ball - "Umm..... yea, OK". The team that wanted the wind ended up scoring once, (with the wind, but on defense) but had their most productive plays on offense into the wind. They also gave up what proved to be the winning score on the second half kickoff.

Football's a funny game.

[Diablo]

What are some tips for working onside kicks?

Obviously, the U & B initially watch for Team A offside and the S & F do the same for Team B.  After that, who does what? 

I guess it's a good idea and reasonable to expect S & F to continue officiating Team B players and their restraining line.  Should the H & L officiate Team A players?

What do the U & B do after watching Team A's restraining line?