Pardon me, but doesn’t something like this defeat the purpose of the change? I thought the entire premise was to make play to play consistent.
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As we discovered in NCAA and Texas HS, it greatly increases consistency in the RFP period, but it doesn't make it 100% consistent. We'll probably never get to 100%. But I'd guess - strictly a gut feel guess based on experience, no science behind it - that consistency increased at least 75%. Certainly worth the effort. But as some have said, the PCOs do need to use a little "timing" in starting the play clock. See the signal, mentally confirm the signal, make sure there is no other superseding signal, then, if all checks out, start the play clock. That's the long way of saying, "Pause, take a breath and start the clock." That will probably take between 1 and 2 seconds. This will do two things: 1) prevent a percentage of unnecessary delays of game, 2) mitigate resets of the play clock (unilaterally by the PCO, or at the direction of the on-field crew).
Consistency is everyone doing it the same way. If we get everyone to pause, take a breath, and start the clock, then we have consistency.
I am with you, though, on overtly extending the time taken to begin the play clock, regardless of the game situation. It is not our responsibility to ensure sportsmanship by the teams, outside of what is prescribed by the rules. If one team is completely overwhelming another team, then the superior team needs to show sportsmanship by taking action to abbreviate the game. They can consume every second of the play clock. They can stick to a running game, and run the simplest plays that gain only enough yards per down to earn a first down after three downs. They can play their lesser skilled players, making it more difficult and, thus, more time consuming, to earn a first down, or stop the opponent from earning a first down when on defense. Coaches need to take the lead on this. (Heaven forbid coaches should show some sportsmanship.)
When in question as whether a BC's progress is stopped inbounds or out of bounds, I am OK with ruling inbounds. But we shouldn't overtly steal the players' time, even if they are getting badly beaten. It is these situations in which the third string guard gets to play, and that may only happen a hand-full of times during a season. That is his time. Time he'll remember the rest of his life. I'm not stealing his time.
Robert