Hidden Rule Change

[Legacy Zebra]

While reading through the new mechanics manuals, I found a rule change that I have not seen presented or talked about yet. It was tucked away in the 6 player section. In 1A (six player) football, the 4th down fumble rule does not apply until AFTER a legal exchange or the ball has crossed the neutral zone.

4th and 5 at A-30. A1 takes the snap and attempts to hand the ball to A2. During the attempted handoff, the ball comes loose. A2 recovers the ball at the A-25 and runs to the A-36.

In 11 player football, the ball is dead at the A-25 when recovered by A2 and it would be Team B's ball since Team A did not reach the line to gain. In 6 player football, the ball remains alive, A2's advance is allowed, and Team A gets a new series at the A-36. Because there had not been a legal exchange nor had the ball crossed the neutral zone, the 4th down fumble rule does not apply.

4th and 5 at the A-30. A1 takes the snap and hands the ball to A2. A2 is hit and fumbles the ball. A1 recovers the ball at the A-25 and runs to the A-36.

In both 6 and 11 player football, the ball is dead when recovered by A1. It will be Team B's ball at the A-25 since Team A did not reach the line to gain.

[ElvisLives]

That’s a reasonable rule. Considering team A MUST exchange the ball after the snap before they may advance the ball beyond the NZ, they are at increased risk of a fumble on every down. The 4th down fumble rule for 11 player football is intended to prevent the ‘intentional’ fumble to gain advantage. With the previous 4th down fumble rule in 6-player football, an unintended fumble during the exchange would prevent Team A from being able advance the ball after they catch/recover it. The rule change seems fair, to me.

[Legacy Zebra]

I could go either way on the rule itself. I'm just a little disappointed that the rule change was tucked away in a mechanics manual rather than announced and presented with the rest of the rule changes at our clinic. And the fact that the 6 player exceptions have been apparently approved for this year, but haven't been posted yet.

[JasonTX]

I could go either way on the rule itself. I'm just a little disappointed that the rule change was tucked away in a mechanics manual rather than announced and presented with the rest of the rule changes at our clinic. And the fact that the 6 player exceptions have been apparently approved for this year, but haven't been posted yet.

It's in the 2023 Sixman rule exceptions and highlighted.  They are on the UIL website.  https://www.uiltexas.org/files/athletics/Six_Man_Rules_and_ARs_For_Publication_2023-24.pdf

[dammitbobby]

From the document on the UIL website (2nd page), this is struck out/redlined?

(6-1-3-a FR-68) 8. The ball must travel 15 yards on a kickoff (or place kick/punt after a safety) or be touched by the receiving team before members of the kicking team are eligible to touch it.

Am I missing a replacement rule for this?  Surely the 15 yard minimum didn't change??

[Legacy Zebra]

It was deleted because it was redundant. There was already an exception stating that the receiving team's restraining line was 15 yards from the kicking team's restraining line. And since the original NCAA rule just says "restraining line" rather than "10 yards" when talking about when Team A may touch a kick, there is no reason to have an exception even though the distance to that restraining line is different. They also added an AR to illustrate this point.

[dammitbobby]

Thanks, I knew it must be something I was overlooking.