According to the rulebook, the intent of the rule change was not to allow for only 6 on the line if they have 10 players, but to make is easier to identify legal and illegal offensive formations.
Comments on the Rule Changes:
Redefined Requirements for a Legal Scrimmage Formation (2-14-1, 7-2-5a) — A legal scrimmage formation now requires at least five offensive players on their line of scrimmage with no more than four backs. This change will make it easier to identify legal and illegal offensive formations.
If that was the intention of the rule, it seems like the numbering exception does not supercede the 5 ineligible requirement. And, officially I have now declared my horse dead.
We'll agree to disagree and I'll say no more than this. As the U I'm responsible for both counting the offense and verifying that we have 5 restricted linemen (by number) in formation. On a SKE play I also identify the 5 ineligibles and confirm with the crew who the exception(s) are by number. If I've got less than seven on the line the identifying becomes nearly impossible. And to simply explain away 2 clearly conflicting rules by saying an eligible number on the end of the line is always eligible is IMO simple HORSE HOCKEY. This problem did not even exist until a few months ago so to apply that here to 'fix" a clear rules conflict simply doesn't fly.
If on a FG attempt, just before the set with 10 on the field (6 #80's lineman) 81 on the left end steps back and the blocking flanker on the other side steps up that just changed the whole required coverage for the defense. That defeats the entire alignment rule requirement and IMHO is a direct violation of the SKE rule. And here in MA there's plenty of coaches that will pick up on this "trick play". If we let the alignment go X times during the game, are we flagging it when they shift and throw a TD to the now uncovered "scrimmage kick numbering exception" to win the game? With an explanation to the losing team coach "But coach they were at a disadvantage, they snapped the ball with only 10 players."?
And I agree 100% that
the numbering exception does not supercede the 5 ineligible requirement. To use the numbering exception we need 5 identifiable ineligibles and the numbering exception says that the way to identify them is that they must be between the ends.