Remembered a valuable lesson last Friday...

[Official_21]

I remembered a valuable lesson last Friday.

10 seconds left in the half, team A has the ball and runs a play. Play ends up in bounds with 5 seconds left. I decided to let the clock run down to zero.

Three seconds were added back to the clock which is fine with me, as I remembered it is a CARDINAL SIN to leave one second on the clock & that it is better to let the clock run down to zero and then let the crew put time back on the clock.

I remembered my first year doing the clocks, I left one second on the clock once, after that lesson learned and haven't done it since

[Etref]

If the ball became dead inbounds why would the clock stop? First down? Penalty?

[Official_21]

I think it was a first down IIRC.

[Txgarza]

 You do what the official signals. If he killed it with 5 seconds you stop it. If he does nothing keep it running. It’s on the crew. No need to make this harder than what it is.

[CalhounLJ]

You do what the official signals. If he killed it with 5 seconds you stop it. If he does nothing keep it running. It’s on the crew. No need to make this harder than what it is.

Please send this to clock operators everywhere. The one in my game last Friday just ran the clock the way he wanted to, regardless of my signals. I reported him Saturday morning. If he had been correct it would have been different, but he wasn’t.

Running the clock is not hard. Follow the officials on the field, concentrate, and do what they ask you to do. 


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[zebrastripes]

Please send this to clock operators everywhere. The one in my game last Friday just ran the clock the way he wanted to, regardless of my signals. I reported him Saturday morning. If he had been correct it would have been different, but he wasn’t.

Running the clock is not hard. Follow the officials on the field, concentrate, and do what they ask you to do. 


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Yup. I do the clock for some small college games. I’m not getting a phone call if the R winds or stops the clock incorrectly.

[SCline]

Please send this to clock operators everywhere. The one in my game last Friday just ran the clock the way he wanted to, regardless of my signals. I reported him Saturday morning. If he had been correct it would have been different, but he wasn’t.

Running the clock is not hard. Follow the officials on the field, concentrate, and do what they ask you to do. 


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In SC we would have taken the game clock to the field and managed it ourself, are you not able to do so in your state?

[Official_21]

Please send this to clock operators everywhere. The one in my game last Friday just ran the clock the way he wanted to, regardless of my signals. I reported him Saturday morning. If he had been correct it would have been different, but he wasn’t.

Running the clock is not hard. Follow the officials on the field, concentrate, and do what they ask you to do.

Do they not have training for clock operators in your state?

I was told in training, as well as other officials on the crews that I work with, that even though we are not on the field, that clock operators are officially part of the crew.

I also like to go in at half-time & after the game is over and get feedback on my performance, both negative and positive (Not to toot my own horn, but most of the feedback I have gotten tends to be positive, ala "Good job"). I don't mind getting negative feedback too, especially since it will help learn where I went wrong.

And last but not least, I take pride in doing this job right, more so if it is a close game that goes down to the wire 

[CalhounLJ]

Yes we have training. We also have officials who because of their age can’t get on the field any more, so they are assigned clock. Believe it or not, but those are the ones I have the most trouble with. They “have been doing this for 30 years” and are sure they know exactly what to do. Kinda like the chain crew who’s been doing it forever.

By far the best clock operator I have ever had was a 19 year old young lady who signed up just to run the clock. She was totally professional, and knew more about what she was supposed to do than I did. I tried to do pregame with her, but quickly realized she was on top of her game. If I could I would take her everywhere I go.


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[Official_21]

Yes we have training. We also have officials who because of their age can’t get on the field any more, so they are assigned clock. Believe it or not, but those are the ones I have the most trouble with. They “have been doing this for 30 years” and are sure they know exactly what to do. Kinda like the chain crew who’s been doing it forever.

That's surprising to me. You'd think those ex-officials would know better, but I suppose on-field experience doesn't always correlate to running the clock.

By far the best clock operator I have ever had was a 19 year old young lady who signed up just to run the clock. She was totally professional, and knew more about what she was supposed to do than I did. I tried to do pregame with her, but quickly realized she was on top of her game. If I could I would take her everywhere I go.

That is exactly how I was. I signed up three years ago to run the clock (Has it been three years already?) and at first, I was a little rocky, especially on the play clock. But I learned quickly and since then always got a good review from all the crew chiefs I have worked with.

[Legacy Zebra]

I would echo Calhoun. Former officials (or high school officials at a college game) tend to be the ones I have the most problems with. They either don’t know the rules as well as they think they do, or more commonly they try to officiate the play rather than just doing what we signal. I’ll take somebody who doesn’t know anything but follows directions over a former official any day of the week.

[AlUpstateNY]

I would echo Calhoun. Former officials (or high school officials at a college game) tend to be the ones I have the most problems with. They either don’t know the rules as well as they think they do, or more commonly they try to officiate the play rather than just doing what we signal. I’ll take somebody who doesn’t know anything but follows directions over a former official any day of the week.

Sounds a lot like "current" field officials who assume they know more about everyone else's job responsibilities, than those actually doing those jobs.  Nobody's perfect, but those who take their responsibilities seriously, usually do a much better job.

Focusing on your own responsibilities and working constructively with TEAMMATES most often produces the best results for the TEAM officiating all aspects of the contest.

[bama_stripes]

Please send this to clock operators everywhere. The one in my game last Friday just ran the clock the way he wanted to, regardless of my signals. I reported him Saturday morning. If he had been correct it would have been different, but he wasn’t.

Running the clock is not hard. Follow the officials on the field, concentrate, and do what they ask you to do. 


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When I train clock operators, I tell them “You are nothing more than a human remote control for the on-field officials.  If they screw up, it’s on them.”

[AlUpstateNY]

When I train clock operators, I tell them “You are nothing more than a human remote control for the on-field officials.  If they screw up, it’s on them.”

That must really inspire them to feel like a member of a team working towards a unified objective and focus hard and do the best possible job they can.

[Looker44]

f they are messing up 1st half, ask site admin to get them to report to locker room at halftime. If no admin, ask home coach to get word to them, last resort-use the field mic, before you wind the half.

[Ralph Damren]

I've been doing D-III clocks on Saturdays for several years now, as I see it keeping me in the game after my field days are gone. I recall one game, where :

(1) A ran OOB @ B's 20 late in first half, I stopped the clock on wing's signal;
(2) Game clock was at opposite end of field and read 0:00.7 ;
(3) A was the visiting team, their FG unit came in ;
(4)Kick sailed wide;
(5)Halftime was not a happy one, "DON'T EVER STOP THE CLOCK THERE" WAS SAID  ;
(6) My excuse of : "I stopped it on the wing's signal & FIELD CLOCK was out of my vision" wasn't good enough  ;
(7) Clock operator was then in charge of giving penalty charts to the coaches in post-game;
(8) Home coach greeted me with: "YOU'RE @#$%&* LUCKY THAT KICK MISSED  " -his team won by 2;
(9) I now ask if the crew if they want 1/10 seconds in my pre-game;
(10) The answer is usually : "NO!!"

[Official_21]

I've been doing D-III clocks on Saturdays for several years now, as I see it keeping me in the game after my field days are gone. I recall one game, where :

(1) A ran OOB @ B's 20 late in first half, I stopped the clock on wing's signal;
(2) Game clock was at opposite end of field and read 0:00.7 ;
(3) A was the visiting team, their FG unit came in ;
(4)Kick sailed wide;
(5)Halftime was not a happy one, "DON'T EVER STOP THE CLOCK THERE" WAS SAID  ;
(6) My excuse of : "I stopped it on the wing's signal & FIELD CLOCK was out of my vision" wasn't good enough  ;
(7) Clock operator was then in charge of giving penalty charts to the coaches in post-game;
(8) Home coach greeted me with: "YOU'RE @#$%&* LUCKY THAT KICK MISSED  " -his team won by 2;
(9) I now ask if the crew if they want 1/10 seconds in my pre-game;
(10) The answer is usually : "NO!!"

All I can say is....OOF...
But Rule 3-2-4-a states:

Timing Devices
ARTICLE 4. a. Game Clock. Playing time shall be kept with a game clock that
may be either a stop watch operated by the line judge, back judge, field judge
or side judge, or a game clock operated by an assistant under the direction of
the appropriate judge. The type of game clock shall be determined by the game
management. The game clock shall not display tenths of seconds.

I suppose not all DIII have the budget for a new scoreboard, but at the same time, can't they just re-program the scoreboard to not show 1/10th of a second?

All of the High Schools that I have worked do not have 1/10th of a second displayed on the scoreboard.

[dammitbobby]

I ran chains for a D3 game this year, A was kneeling to end the half, not expecting B to take timeouts so on third down they were forced to run, and came up short, and couldn't run out the clock.  Was 4th and 9 at the A26, and after a shanked 11-yard punt, B's ball 1/10 at the A37, with .7 seconds remaining.  B promptly threw up a Hail Mary which was caught for a TD.  B won by 10.

I worked a playoff game last year that was out of our normal area in which the scoreboard had 10ths, we didn't see it/notice it until the game was well underway.  None of our schools in our local area have 10ths, that I know of.  Thankfully was a blowout so didn't matter.  Scoreboard operator also had the 'Tigers' named the 'Tiggers' on the scoreboard, which was kind of funny.