North Dakota Preps

If there is an offical that works either college or high school games i have a question, late in the 2nd or 4th quarter is it now illegal to fake a knee/spike and then throw a ball down the field? Someone told me this was now the case... I personally think this guy is a joker... but not having coached this year I had to get my doubts answered.

Any help would be appreciated...

Also, anyone have good stories from either of these plays actually working? I think we all remember Dan Marino against the Jets.

its not illegal....i know someone tried it earlier this year but the refs blew the call and actally called him for kneeling it when he wasnt even close.

I heard this same new rule on TV - can't remember if it was a pro or college game. So it is a new rule on some level of football, but I don't know about high school.

This is a pet peeve when my oldest son was a senior a team took a knee on 2nd down. At the start of the third down there was still too much time on the clock to end the game. So the qb fakes a knee down runs back another 2 yards and waits for a defensive linemen to come close to touch him. Forth down the attitude of the defensive team changed after they were expected to go half speed by the ref's and this left a bad taste in some peoples mouths.. The sporting thing to do would be to run a sneak or a play to allow the players time to unpile, although they risk a fumble. In this situation I could see a player loosing his cool and throwing a big hit that could cause an injury or ejection from a game. That is not the intention of the kneel down. However good coaching prevailed in this game after a couple looks across the sideline and the later was avoided.

old lineman wrote:This is a pet peeve when my oldest son was a senior a team took a knee on 2nd down. At the start of the third down there was still too much time on the clock to end the game. So the qb fakes a knee down runs back another 2 yards and waits for a defensive linemen to come close to touch him. Forth down the attitude of the defensive team changed after they were expected to go half speed by the ref's and this left a bad taste in some peoples mouths.. The sporting thing to do would be to run a sneak or a play to allow the players time to unpile, although they risk a fumble. In this situation I could see a player loosing his cool and throwing a big hit that could cause an injury or ejection from a game. That is not the intention of the kneel down. However good coaching prevailed in this game after a couple looks across the sideline and the later was avoided.

agreed. I don't know if they have made it illegal to fake- I have heard refs and coaches communicate that they are going to take a knee- so the refs get the quick whistle and eliminate the big hits or stupid plays. If a team did fake it once....they better expect a hard rush the next time they take one for real.

I haven't found a high school ruling- but i did find a college one

"once the quarterback begins the motion of kneeling, it is considered a kneel-down and the play can be blown dead."

Its a safety rule---
I interpret this way- if the qb tells the ref he is faking it- it will fly- if not, when the ref sees the formation and the qb starts to kneel- they should be blowing it dead-
according to this it wouldnt be illegal- but discouraged

again.....this is college- not sure on the high school ruling, but i would think its close to that

Thanks to everyone especially the last poster... that cleared it up for me!