The first example that Shaw shows on the weekly video from last week is a "swinging gate" situation on a try, although Team A is clearly not attempting a field goal. To their credit, they knew enough to have at least 5 players on the line numbered 50-79, so the formation is fine. Although split wide from the rest of the line, the snapper is actually the second lineman in from the right. Again, no problem. All of the linemen, including the snapper, have their shoulders parallel with the Team B goal line, so all good there.
At the snap, however, the snapper lifts the ball up from the ground to about his shoulder height (although he is still bent over at the waist), then he draws the ball to his right to allow himself to have a full throwing motion from right to left, and he throws the ball to a back some 8 yards or so to his left.
As Shaw appropriately notes, a snap must be a quick and continuous motion directly from the ground to the point where the ball leaves the snapper's hand. There is not to be change in the direction of the snapping motion, and it must be one smooth and continuous motion.
In this example, the snapper first lifted the ball from the ground before he started the throwing motion. As Shaw notes, this is an illegal snap (although I am impressed that the snapper made this throw without stepping toward the back, which would have compounded the illegal action). The officials should have stopped the action, and penalized. Thankfully, the attempt was unsuccessful, and the back was tackled in the backfield for no score.
But, it disappoints me that an FBS crew didn't catch this. Although unusual, this is pretty basic stuff. We must know what constitutes a legal snap, and be prepared, especially when we see a swinging gate formation, and we know fully well that such an opportunity for an illegal snap is present.
What really annoys me, though, are teams that make up this crap. I truly hope they didn't run this by some official(s), and were told it was OK (especially if they told the crew about it before the game).
These things usually come from offensive coordinators who are climbing the ladder, trying to be a head coach. Numbskulls.
