clock stoppage

[jrevino]

I am a youth football coach in California, and we follow high school rules. Lately refs have been keeping clock running if player goes out of bounds. They are saying if player goes out on his own clock will stop, but if he is driven out (progress is still forward) clock does not stop. I cannot locate any rule of the sort. Rulebook as far as I can tell clearly says clock will stop and start at the next snap if ball goes out of bounds. Any clarification would be appreciated. thanks

[bawags06]

The rule you are looking for is 4-2-2 and the definition of forward progress in 2-15-1, but the answer you are looking for is in the interpretation of the rules. In my area, we operate on the idea of giving the runner what he earns. No more, no less. A runner who steps out of bounds gets the out of bounds spot and the clock stops. A runner who is driven out of bounds leaves the covering official with a decision to make: where did the runner's progress get stopped? If the progress was stopped in bounds--even if the runner was still on his feet--the ball is dead there, meaning that the live ball didn't go out of bounds. By the time the ball was out of bounds, it was dead, regardless of whether the whistle sounded.
It is sometimes tough to determine if the runner was moving forward or was driven forward out of bounds. I won't lie, coach: when there is room to do so, most of us rule that he was stopped in bounds to keep the game moving. If he wanted to stop the clock, he should have gotten out of bounds on his own. (Similar to how we start a new series on a tick mark if at all possible, even if it means taking or giving a fraction of a yard to make managing the game a little easier.)

P.S. Welcome to our little corner of the internet. It's always nice to see coaches looking to learn and engage in useful ways!!

Edits to correct typos/punctuation.

[UTchad]

I know little league in our area always has a running clock except for last two minutes of the first half and second half. Check to make sure there aren't any weird rule adjustments either. But the comment above is the correct.

[AlUpstateNY]

The rule you are looking for is 4-2-2 and the definition of forward progress in 2-15-1, but the answer you are looking for is in the interpretation of the rules. In my area, we operate on the idea of giving the runner what he earns. No more, no less. A runner who steps out of bounds gets the out of bounds spot and the clock stops. A runner who is driven out of bounds leaves the covering official with a decision to make: where did the runner's progress get stopped? If the progress was stopped in bounds--even if the runner was still on his feet--the ball is dead there, meaning that the live ball didn't go out of bounds. By the time the ball was out of bounds, it was dead, regardless of whether the whistle sounded.
It is sometimes tough to determine if the runner was moving forward or was driven forward out of bounds. I won't lie, coach: when there is room to do so, most of us rule that he was stopped in bounds to keep the game moving. If he wanted to stop the clock, he should have gotten out of bounds on his own. (Similar to how we start a new series on a tick mark if at all possible, even if it means taking or giving a fraction of a yard to make managing the game a little easier.)

P.S. Welcome to our little corner of the internet. It's always nice to see coaches looking to learn and engage in useful ways!)

Very well stated and explained.

[bawags06]

One other thing that bears pointing out... officials in youth games are often trying to work the whole field with just 2 or 3 officials. This sometimes makes it awful tough to be in the right position to determine if a runner stepped out or was forced out. So, now we're back to when in doubt, his progress was stopped in bounds.

[TampaSteve]

it was well explained above, but I've heard of the general axiom of:
If runner is falling forward as going OOB kill the clock. If he falls laterally let it roll.

[bbeagle]

it was well explained above, but I've heard of the general axiom of:
If runner is falling forward as going OOB kill the clock. If he falls laterally let it roll.

If a runner goes out of bounds ON HIS OWN, either forward, backwards or laterally, the clock stops.

If you determine a runner's forward progress was stopped in-bounds, then he was pushed backwards out-of-bounds, you give him his forward progress spot - and the clock keeps running.

[TampaSteve]

Certainly going OOB as a result of being tackled.

[refjeff]

It is sometimes tough to determine if the runner was moving forward or was driven forward out of bounds.

  Either way he is OOB and the clock stops.

[AlUpstateNY]

  Either way he is OOB and the clock stops.

Not exactly, the clock should be stopped when the covering official determines whether a live ball was carried OOB.  When Forward Progress is stopped IN-Bounds, and the then Dead Ball is subsequently carried OOB, the clock continues to run, because the "Play" ended in bounds.

[CalhounLJ]

I think the question here was did it matter if he went out on his own, or was driven forward OOB.
"...the runner was moving forward or was driven forward out of bounds." It doesn't matter in either one of these cases. If he went out while moving FORWARD, or was driven FORWARD out of bounds, we will still stop the clock in either case. On the other hand, if he had been driven BACKWARD OOB, then the argument could be made for a running clock because his forward progress was stopped inbounds.