Back Judge - 40/25 second play clock mechanics

[Badger1]

Last season our crew informed both coaches prior to the start of the game that our back judge would raise his arm with 5 seconds remaining on the play clock and start counting down at that time.  With the new rule this season, I thought I read somewhere that the back judge is to raise his arm with 10 seconds remaining on the play clock and start counting down when it was at 5 seconds remaining.  My question is if we reset the play clock to 25 because of a delay or there has been an administrative stoppage and we blow the ready for play for 25 seconds, is it still OK for the back judge to raise his arm at 5 seconds and start counting down or should the back judge give the 10 second warning and count down when it reaches 5 seconds?  I could see where a coach/quarterback may get confused if you had a 10 second warning for 40 seconds and 5 second warning for 25 second play clock.  Also, do the Readyref timers allow you to set a 10 second warning for 40/25 second settings?

[Ralph Damren]

I don't recall any changes discussed on "the poor man's stopwatch" at our Manual Committee Meeting. In Maine, we've always counted down the last five seconds and see no reason to change. Some coaches instruct their QBs , when running out the clock, to watch the BJ for his count before calling for the snap. IMHO, to differ from this could be confusing. If your state differs, the important thing is that all your officials are on the same page.

[FLAHL]

In our association, and I think this is true for all of FL, the BJ raises his hand at 10 seconds and counts off the last 5 seconds. This is the case for both 25 second and 40 second play clocks. 

[ilyazhito]

The CCA manual tells the back judge to raise his hand at 10 seconds, hold it out sideways at 5 seconds, and slowly lower it until it reaches his body as time expires. Why re-invent the wheel, when a solution already exists?

[KWH]

The CCA manual tells the back judge to raise his hand at 10 seconds, hold it out sideways at 5 seconds, and slowly lower it until it reaches his body as time expires. Why re-invent the wheel, when a solution already exists?

Why?
Simple answer is; CCA stands for Collegiate Commissioners Association! Additionally, this is a extremely rare mechanic since NCAA Fields are required to have visible play clocks.

On the other hand, the NFHS has a publication entitled Football Game Officials Manual which recommends the B in 5-Man (R in 4-Man) will give a visible signal with 5-Seconds remaining.

While everybody has an opinion, a reasonable may assert, deviating from the NFHS Officials Manual could be considered re-inventing the wheel when working NFHS contests.

My 2 cents

FYI - In OREGON, the B simply raises his/her hand (and nothing else) with 5 seconds remaining on the invisible play clock. 
This will remain the mechanic for 2019 signal regardless of a 40 or a 25 play clock.

[ilyazhito]

Why not adopt the existing solution from the CCA mechanics manual into the NFHS Football Game Officials' manual? This would make the mechanics for those situations consistent between levels.

[CalhounLJ]

First, because it’s an extremely rare mechanic nobody at the high school level uses. Second, the NFHS has a mechanic that works. No sense fixing something that’s not broken.


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[peterparsons]

Out of interest, how does B show the count down the last five in NFHS?

I'm interested from the point of view of the IFAF mechanics where, currently, B simply raises his/her arm at 10s and there is no other indication until the play clock expires. We rarely work on fields with a visible play clock, so this is our normal mode of operation.

[bossman72]

I prefer the 10 second warning.  5 seconds is too short for the QB to hurry up the offense, especially if they are breaking the huddle.  PA just changed their mechanic to the hand up at 10 seconds, then basketball chop the last 5.

[AlUpstateNY]

PA just changed their mechanic to the hand up at 10 seconds, then basketball chop the last 5.

That's been the BJ mechanic we've used, in a 25 second play clock environment, since we expanded to a 5 man configuration.  It seems to work well.  If the QB is just breaking the huddle and the BJ has begun chopping away the last 5 seconds. his choices are already severely limited.

[d0d0joe]

Our association has shared new mechanics for the BJ from the FHSAA recommendations. They now have the BJ raise one arm at 10 seconds left on either the 40 or 25 and to do the countdown from 5 doing the old basketball official chop.

In years past the BJ would raise his arm at 5 seconds left and did no visible chop (in our association).

At the request of the local county ADs we ran the new mechanics and clock at the Spring games. We were also asked to be consistently strict on it. My two games had significantly more DoGs than we normally see. What I noticed is that the teams that have always run the offense with the QB running over to the sideline to talk to the HC got DoGs every series because nobody was watching the BJ.

I work the U so I just sat back with my  and marked off those penalties.

[Magician]

Our association has shared new mechanics for the BJ from the FHSAA recommendations. They now have the BJ raise one arm at 10 seconds left on either the 40 or 25 and to do the countdown from 5 doing the old basketball official chop.

In years past the BJ would raise his arm at 5 seconds left and did no visible chop (in our association).

At the request of the local county ADs we ran the new mechanics and clock at the Spring games. We were also asked to be consistently strict on it. My two games had significantly more DoGs than we normally see. What I noticed is that the teams that have always run the offense with the QB running over to the sideline to talk to the HC got DoGs every series because nobody was watching the BJ.

I work the U so I just sat back with my  and marked off those penalties.

This is apparently one of the reasons our state commissioner proposed this rule 4-5 years ago. He noticed some referees would allow the QB to get the play and get back to the huddle before blowing the RFP. This burned a lot of time on the clock which upset the defense if they needed the ball back.

With a 40-second clock we still have a lot of teams who send their QB to the sideline to get the play so it's still possible. They just have to be a little quicker.

[prab]

Our association has shared new mechanics for the BJ from the FHSAA recommendations. They now have the BJ raise one arm at 10 seconds left on either the 40 or 25 and to do the countdown from 5 doing the old basketball official chop.

In years past the BJ would raise his arm at 5 seconds left and did no visible chop (in our association).

At the request of the local county ADs we ran the new mechanics and clock at the Spring games. We were also asked to be consistently strict on it. My two games had significantly more DoGs than we normally see. What I noticed is that the teams that have always run the offense with the QB running over to the sideline to talk to the HC got DoGs every series because nobody was watching the BJ.

How does the BJ determine when there are 10 seconds left.  Does your area have visible play clocks?  I know that new Redi-Refs etc, are on their way, but my old one only gives a 5 seconds left on a 25 and a 15 seconds left on a 1 minute time out.  Does BJ have to silently count down the play clock when not facing the scoreboard while game clock is running?

I work the U so I just sat back with my  and marked off those penalties.