Arkansas v Oklahoma St False Start

[Bulldog75]

Tie game.  Oklahoma State in FG range, 4th and 4 with 1 minute on the clock.  Oklahoma St keeps regular offense on the field presumably attempting to draw defensive offsides.  Ok St QB claps, wing goes in motion, DE on that side moves forward (looked to me like he entered the neutral zone), and LT directly across from DE moves.  Oklahoma State is called for a false start.  The game clock stopage for the penalty gave Arkansas enough time to match the FG and go to OT 31-31.


There was significant discussion before the foul was announced and enforced.  Why was it false start instead of defensive offsides?  On possibility is the DE didn’t enter the neutral zone.  But I’m wondering if the penalty was on the wing for making an abrupt movement that simulated the start of the play.

Anyone have any insight on this one?

[TxBJ]

I didn’t see it but Steve Shaw did a CFO video on pre-snap movements and showed plays where he wanted FST called on wing backs going in motion abruptly like the start of a play. It will be interesting to see who they called it on.

[TxBJ]

According to the box score it was called in the lineman.

[dammitbobby]

Only video I can find, is slo mo:

https://x.com/MrMatthew_CFB/status/1832503884537065972

Hard to tell who's at fault without seeing it in realtime.

[dammitbobby]

That said the more I see this and think about it, the back's motion came immediately after a clap, making me think this is a designed play, and his initial motion was to pop upright, causing the defender to react, which then caused the lineman to react.

[ElvisLives]

This may not be the sharp abrupt movement that has been happening, but it clearly happened on the clap, and was a designed action. IMHO, it was intended cause a defensive reaction, and that is a false start.
Unfortunately, we don’t really know if the clap/motion was called as the FST, or the tackle. But, if this clap/motion gets called a few more times and the coaches realize this will be called, maybe, just maybe, they’ll stop trying to use this to cheat. They’ll move on to something else, but maybe this will go away.

[TxBJ]

This may not be the sharp abrupt movement that has been happening, but it clearly happened on the clap, and was a designed action. IMHO, it was intended cause a defensive reaction, and that is a false start.
Unfortunately, we don’t really know if the clap/motion was called as the FST, or the tackle. But, if this clap/motion gets called a few more times and the coaches realize this will be called, maybe, just maybe, they’ll stop trying to use this to cheat. They’ll move on to something else, but maybe this will go away.

The play-by-play in the box score indicates it was called on the lineman.