Football Officiating > National Federation Discussion

Offense Alignment

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BoBo:
 No mans land??
The offense lines up with the wing back in no mans land. He is next to the tackle with a player outside of him that is clearly on the line.

He is not really on the line of scrimmage and yet is not clearly in the backfield.

Causing some confusion to the defense as to how the offense is lining up.

Is this a penalty for not aligning properly and the player being definitively either on the line or not?

Do you flag it? Does it matter if its a running play or passing play?

Please include a rule reference or case book reference please.


Whether that player is eligible or not.

VALJ:
Illegal formation at the snap.  Five yards from the previous spot.  7-2-3.

On a pass play, it's an ineligible downfield; if he touches the forward pass before a B player touches it, it's illegal touching.  7.2.3.B in the case book.

LarryW60:
If he's overlapping the nearest player on the line (which sounds like the tackle in this case) then I'll usually have him on the line as well.  We actually see this a lot on planned running plays.  The team gets miffed when I flag them on a pass play if he goes out, though.  If it's the team on my sideline, I'll warn the coaches the first time I see it that, (Coach, #xx needs to be clearly in the backfield or he'll be an ineligable receiver."  They usually fix it.  If not, there'll probably be a flag sometime later in the game because they did it on a pass play and the covered player went downfield.

busman:
Is it illegal formation if there are seven others on the line and it is a straight forward running play?  What criteria do you use to determine if it is no man's land?  Do you use the "daylight rule" (if I see daylight between him and the lineman, he's okay)?  At levels below varsity, do you help him get lined up?  If you are a wing and it happens on your side on a running play, would you say something to the coach?

The Roamin' Umpire:

--- Quote from: busman on August 26, 2010, 11:29:45 AM ---Is it illegal formation if there are seven others on the line and it is a straight forward running play?  What criteria do you use to determine if it is no man's land?  Do you use the "daylight rule" (if I see daylight between him and the lineman, he's okay)?  At levels below varsity, do you help him get lined up?  If you are a wing and it happens on your side on a running play, would you say something to the coach?

--- End quote ---

Technically, yes. Anytime a player is in "no man's land", it's an illegal formation foul.

In practice, unless it's clearly causing confusion for the defense, I'm going to talk to the coach and player and get this fixed before it DOES cause a disadvantage.

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