The Miracle Kick
- Thread starter Iroh
- Start date
It almost looks like someone got a couple of fingers on it but it still made it through. Coach frost mentioned something about how the opponents are going after the deep snapper, he said he wants a clarification on the rule. Can anyone explain what the issue is?
I have seen our snapper end up on his back a number of times this season. Defenders arent allowed to rush the snapper.
One thing that I don't hear is the one dude on the right got a hand on it. How it made it through that hole then a dude tapped it and it still made it through is a true conundrum.
Edit: Looks like others have mentioned it getting hit. You could straight hear it on TV.
Edit: Looks like others have mentioned it getting hit. You could straight hear it on TV.
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The exact rule in question is 9-1-14.
Contact Against the Snapper
ARTICLE 14. When a team is in scrimmage kick formation, a defensive player may not initiate contact with the snapper until one second has elapsed after the snap (A.R. 9-1-14-I-III).
It's a 15 yard penalty and automatic first down. That is probably what Frost is talking about, and this field goal is a good example. Certainly looks to me like there's contact with the snapper the instant the ball is snapped. Flag should have been thrown. Penalty would have been declined in this instance, but still should have been thrown.
His size is pretty normal at this level. That's why the no contact rule was put into place.
I was curious about this, so I went back and watched the other kick attempts in the Northwestern game. There were a total of 5; 3 by Nebraska and 2 by Northwestern.
One thing I noticed, at least for that game, not sure about other games since I haven't gone back and looked, but it appears that Nebraska lines up for field goal blocks vary wary of this penalty, which may be one reason why Scott Frost has commented on this. Nebraska stacks both sides of the long snapper (LS), but doesn't have any down linemen directly over the LS. There is a standing player over the LS (in the case of this game, Will Honas on both attempts) but he appears to be there more for sniffing out fakes, as he doesn't make much attempt to block on either kick (again, probably wary of this penalty). On both kicks, there is contact with the LS by a Nebraska lineman; but it's both initiated by the LS and comes after the 1-second time frame defined.
For Nebraska's 3 field goal attempts, Northwestern lines up differently, having a down lineman directly over the LS on 1st attempt, and one directly on either side of the LS on the second and third attempts. On the first (made) attempt, that lineman actually angles toward his left, to the right of the LS, and initiates contact with the Nebraska lineman next to the LS. Nothing illegal that I can see on that play. On the second (missed) attempt, instead of one guy directly over the LS, they have two guys lined on either side, basically on each shoulder of the LS. Again, with the ball snap, nothing illegal appears to happen. The player over the left shoulder of the LS takes a step back and kinda stands up, probably watching for a possible fake. The player over the right shoulder of the LS does drive forward, but first makes contact with the player to the right of the LS, before then being contacted by the LS, which is legal.
The last one is already discussed above. Northwestern again has two players on either shoulder, but this time they, as well as multiple other players all make a drive directly for the middle. It's hard to see from the behind the goal posts angle which player makes contact first, and I can't find a behind the kicker angle right this second, but multiple Northwestern players drive directly at the LS and he quickly ends up laying on his back.
Maybe but I don't see it called very often, and it's most likely not going to be called in a game ending situation. We need to be better and stop blaming the refs for all of our problems.