Was watching the end of the FCS semi last night. Ga Southern got confused and had two backs moving parallel to the LOS at the snap. The officials immediately killed the play & penalized as a FS.
I wasn't shocked, as I had read something about that here, but I'm curious about the philosophy that lead to this change. Can any of you NCAA guys clue me in?
Didn't see that play, but the "Illegal Shift that coverts to a False Start" (as Rogers Redding describes it) occurs when the entire team does not come to a complete stop between the end of the previous down and the beginning of the next snap (with or without substitutions). This rule change addresses those ugly situations when Team A tries to send snap quickly because the play clock or game clock is running out. In previous years, it was a live-ball foul for illegal motion or shift. RR changed it to a false start to penalize A, but keep the play from becoming a cluster ---- after the snap. Just shut it down, penalize A, and keep going. If it is under 1 minute in the half with the clock running, the 10-second subtraction applies, and the clock starts on the RFP signal. So, A doesn't gain much advantage by doing it deliberately, although, for a field goal attempt, it could be the difference in having the kicker ready, or not.
Be sure you uunderstand, though, that, if Team A sets for one-second, and THEN the motion guys go in motion and are in motion at the snap (or one stops but the other keeps going), that should be a live-ball illegal shift (not a dead-ball Illegal Shift that converts to a False Start).
