6-3-10d

[ajv]

(C'mon, admit it - you had to look it up)

Watching one of the recent bowl games I thought I saw something that started me thinking about a what-if. So I'll present this as a hypothetical play.

Kick attempt on a try. Holder A34 is pointing at a small white patch on the ground to indicate to the kicker where the ball will be placed. The snap occurs, the ball is placed and the ball is kicked for a score. The white marker on the ground gets displaced when the kick is made and is clearly not part of the field markings.

Are you calling 6-3-10d on something like that in your games?

[ElvisLives]

I would prefer to use preventive officiating, and simply have them pick up the patch, or go pick it up myself, and let them know that it isn’t permitted, by rule. 

If a member of the kicking team placed the “patch” there, and I didn’t catch it before the kick, I’d warn them (head coach) to not do that again, and report this to my coordinator.  I suspect he would then send out a memo to the teams reminding them of this rule, and all future violations would be enforced, without any further warnings.  And, I’m sure Redding would pick up on this and remind all teams via a bulletin.

Let’s put this in a different scenario.  Very muddy natural grass field.  Team A holder brings some sand from the sideline to the field and drops it down, and smooths it for a smooth, dry spot to place the ball.  If I see this, I’ll move the snap location a few feet to one side, and kick the sand into the turf, with the same warning procedure as above.

I’ll avoid calling the foul one time.  After that, they get penalized.

Robert

[Sonofanump]

I would prefer to use preventive officiating, and simply have them pick up the patch, or go pick it up myself, and let them know that it isn’t permitted, by rule. 

Thinking about how I would react if the play or game clock was a factor and no time to remove said marking.

[ElvisLives]

Thinking about how I would react if the play or game clock was a factor and no time to remove said marking.

That does complicate.  You’d have little option but to make the call.

[bossman72]

We used to do this in college.  Our holder would bring a piece of tape out to mark the spot.  The officiating coordinator sent us a letter telling us to not do it.  So we got creative and our holder would pluck a bit of white grass from the hash or 5 yard line and put it down at the spot.

[ajv]

I was looking up Nelson for another reason. It was a rule change in 1989 that introduced the restriction on marking the spot for placekicks.

There is more history about the 6-3-10d rule in Nelson's book. A one-inch elevation of the ball for a place kick (including scrimmage place kicks) was permitted in 1948. Then in 1965 two-inch tees were permitted. Finally, in 1989 tees were eliminated for field goals and try kicks.