Robert, the teams are designated according to what they are at the snap for the purpose of announcing fouls. By saying, “there are two penalties, on the play; illegal formation by the offense, more than 4 players in the backfield at the snap; after the change of the possession, blocking below the waist by the defense; the defense will decline the illegal formation and keep the ball with the foul for blocking below the waist being from the spot of the foul (if that applies); first down” and point in the direction of the first down. That should be plenty clear. Then again, most of the placing I work with a mic don’t work well enough to even use. I know the one up there in Levelland didn’t work worth a darn. I gave up on it at half time.
Doc, that’s not quite correct. I apologize in advance for sounding patronizing, but I don’t know of a better way than to offer the following explanation:
By rule, teams are designated A and B when the ball is ready for the next down (free kick or snap), and those designations don’t change during the down. But whichever team is in possession of the ball is always offense, and the opponent is always defense, and those designations can change during the down. At the opening kickoff, for example, the kicking Team is Team A, and when they kick the ball they are in possession of the ball, so they are the offense, and the receiving team is the defense. When Team B - the receiving team - catches/recovers the kick, they are in possession, so they are the offense, and the kicking team is the defense, at that time. This is important, because rules are different for the offense versus the defense.
For scrimmage downs, when Team A maintains possession of the ball during the down, it is appropriate, and best, to use “offense” and “defense” during penalty announcements. But, for free kick downs and scrimmage downs during which team possession (thus, offense and defense) changes, it is not appropriate to use “offense” and “defense” with penalty announcements. Appropriate is kicking team/receiving team, passing team/fumbling team, and return team (or intercepting team, as I mentioned previously).
Things get complicated when there are multiple changes of possession. In those cases, it can become more efficient and effective to use actual team names. Thankfully, those are very unusual, if not rare.
By the way, we should use the term “fouls,” not “penalties,” when describing multiple foul situations, e.g, “There were fouls by both teams during the down,” or, “There were two fouls during the down.”
If I were king, we’d have referee’s mics at all UIL stadiums, and they’d be lapel type, with interrupter switches, just like at all NCAA and NFL venues, professionally installed to eliminate feedback. It ain’t that difficult or expensive.
Robert
