I still don't under stand the new rule change.
This post will be really long, but here’s my attempt to paraphrase and explain the new rule. I hope it’s helpful for those that like long explanations.
As Ralph has said, the Editorial Committee may still change the actual wording of the new rule. So until we see that, it’s hard to be definitive about every subtle part of the rule. Everything that I write below could be wrong if the Editorial Committee writes things differently than what I understand about what the Rules Committee is trying to accomplish.
As BossMan basically said somewhere above, it appears that the college rule is actually written more clearly (at least so far). The Federation and NCAA being two separate committees, there are lots of times that they want to get to basically the same place, but they come at it differently. So subtle differences can creep in.
But as I understand it, the Fed wants to change over to how the NCAA enforces offensive fouls behind the line. AND ALSO for defensive fouls when a run ends behind the line.
There will be a little confusion this first year. And there are some people that don’t like the rule change at all. But the Committee voted unanimously for the changes. So obviously there was wide spread support for this change. (I personally like the change.)
The Fed and NCAA have some different terminology, but they have some similar concepts:
The Fed has “All But One”. The NCAA is “Three-and-One”. Same thing, different terms. Unless there is a specific rule on how to enforce a penalty, you fall back onto “All But One”. When you do fall back to that, then “All” fouls are enforced from the Basic Spot. Except for the “One” situation where the offense fouls behind the Basic Spot.
To determine the Basic Spot, you have to know what “type” of play it was when the foul occurred. Here again, the Fed and NCAA use different terminology, but they sort of end up in the same space. In Fed, there are “loose-ball” plays and “running” plays. Those help determine the Basic Spot. But now, the new rule is going to change a “running” play that ends behind the line to be the Previous Spot. (Again, the terminology and rules that the NCAA uses are, to me, clearer. But we’ll wait and see how the Fed actually writes this in the book.)
But as I understand the new Fed rule, instead of the old way of them having the Basic Spot be the end of the related run when the run ended behind the line, the new rule will make the new Basic Spot the Previous spot.
OK, so let’s deal with that portion of the changes first. The new Basic Spot being the Previous spot when the related run ends behind the line of scrimmage. Using “All but One”, we know that 3 situations are going to use that new Basic Spot. Fouls by A in advance of the Basic Spot. And fouls by B both behind and in advance of the Basic Spot.
A 3/10 at the A-35. B54 tackles A1 by the facemask 10 yds behind the line of scrimmage (A-25). Under the old Fed rule, we would enforce 15 yds from the A-25 and end up A 3/5 A-40. Under the new rule, the Basic Spot is now the Previous Spot and All-but-One tells us to enforce that defensive foul from the Basic Spot. So under the new rule, we enforce from the A-35 and end up A 1/10 at the 50.
A 3/10 A-35. B54 legally sacks A1 at the A-25. But BJ called B23 for defensive holding at the A-49. The run ended behind the line, so the new Basic Spot is the A-35. Fouls by the defense are enforced from the Basic Spot. So A 1/10 A-45.
A 2/10 A-35. A1 sweeps right and is tackled for a loss at the A-30. A24 committed an illegal block below the waist downfield at the A-37. Again, the run ended behind the line, so the Basic Spot is the Previous Spot. A’s foul occurred beyond the basic spot, so we are going to enforce from the basic spot. B might choose the result of the play (A3/15 A-30) or they can have the penalty enforced (A 2/25 A-20).
So those are 3 examples of using All-but-One with the new Basic Spot.
Now, let’s deal with the second portion of the change. What to do when A fouls behind the line. In my opinion, right now the new rule is very convoluted talking about different basic spots for different fouls. But we’ll see if maybe they clean that up a bit. Here’s what they’re trying to accomplish.
If A commits certain fouls behind the line of scrimmage (Ralph has listed those), then we will enforce those from the spot of the foul. Every other foul that A commits behind the line of scrimmage will be enforced from the Previous Spot.
(The NCAA actually does this the opposite way. They define the fouls that you enforce from the previous spot and then everything else is from the spot. The Fed defines the ones that you enforce from the spot and then everything else is from the previous spot. In practice, if they were careful about how they listed things, it will end up being the same set of fouls.)
A 3/10 A-35. A1 intentionally grounds the ball from the A-25. We will still enforce that from the A-25 because grounding is listed as one of the fouls where we will still do that.
A 2/10 A-35. A75 holds at the A-33. A1 is sacked at the A-30. B could take the result of the play (A 3/15 A-30). Or they can accept the penalty. Because holding is not listed as being a spot foul, we’ll enforce that from the previous spot (A 2/20 A-25).
A 2/10 A-35. A throws a TD. But A75 was holding at the A-33. B will obviously accept the penalty. A 2/20 A-25.
Well again, this was really long. But basically I feel that there are 2 points to grasp with the new rule. (And again, with the caveat that we haven’t seen the final language.)
First, that the Basic Spot for runs that end behind the line is now the Previous Spot. That’s really important for Defensive fouls. And is a “Big Change”.
Second, that Offensive fouls that occur behind the line will either be enforced from the spot of the foul or from the previous spot, depending on the what the foul is. Another “Big Change”.
