John McDaid is the SEC's Coordinator of Football Officials.
*****
• 56.2 points per game in SEC games last season. That's slightly higher than national average.
• 177 plays per game in SEC games.
• Average SEC game time was 3 hours, 25 minutes.
• "We virtually haven't changed (time of games) ... for 10 years."
• SEC replay stops per game: 2.4 stops per game, which is slightly higher than national average.
• One targeting ejection per every nine games, which was down year over year.
• A new, national committee was assembled to consider game duration from the perspective of number of plays. "There is concern for games that have 200+ play per game. And there is a number of them."
• No longer doing untimed downs for penalties after the first and third quarters.
• No longer allowing teams to request multiple charged timeouts during the same dead-ball period. (Typically used to "ice" the kicker.)
• Another rule change is how they'll no longer stop clock after a first down in-bounds ... outside of the final 2 minutes.
• "This basically duplicates the rule we see in the National Football League."
• "If you decrease the number of plays, you're probably going to decrease the game time." (Notes that they're not worried about game time per se; it's all about number of plays.)
• There is an "editorial change" that affects roughing the kicker/punter. If the kicker possesses the ball 5 yards ahead OR behind where he catches the ball ... roughing is no longer a possible violation. The punter still could be fouled for unnecessary roughness, but that's only in situations where the defender is being unnecessarily rough. (This typically affects the game when a snap goes over the punter's head.)
• He says they're keeping keen track of replays and one of their concerns is the prevalence of unnecessary replays. McDaid suggests that too many replays are affirming fairly obvious calls that were correct.
• His biggest concern avoiding "pivot points" in games with missed calls and/or superfluous replays.
(He goes to a video showing defenders changing position before a snap. Offenses can't simulate a snap. Defenders? Can't bait a false start and also cannot emulate the signal the offense uses to run its play. "We need to evaluate all of this every time it happens each and every time. We need to give fair protection to the offense.")
• It's clear the SEC will be making judgment calls this season about defenses trying to emulate the offense's signals and/or cadence. (He shows a video of Shane Beamer getting Alabama offside by yelling and clapping.)
• He notes that previously officials didn't have the ability to "keep eyes" on all 22 players.
• He now moves on to defensive holding. He says jams and stuff above the shoulder is OK. He says officials are now seeing more DBs collisioning WRs and then putting hands around the hips, which, in his view, is not OK. Clutching jerseys also is bad in this scenario. McDaid suggests his gripe is about having a "material effect" on the WRs ability to run their route. He wants changes here.
• He also has an issue associated with DBs who jam and then use a "trail" or "catch" technique. If the ball is under-thrown, is it fair to create a PI call if the defender fairly has created that position behind the receiver? McDaid doesn't think that's necessarily a foul. He appears to want a change here.
• Now he's talking about offensive formations. Some teams are using formations that are tricking defenses into thinking a wideout on the line of scrimmage is "anchored," but then putting them in motion ... arguing that he was off the line of scrimmage. It's a fine line. McDaid thinks it's tough to judge there and creates potential pivot points that officials don't want to adjudicate in pressure situations because they don't want to affect the game's outcome.
• He laments that officials are judged in the context of all this new video capability. Do they miss calls sometimes? Yes. But McDaid wants officials to be judged in the context of their entire body of work.
(I'm also against judging officials too harshly in general because stuff happens so fast and then we, the viewer, get to see the play from five different angles and then in slow-mo in HD. It's tough to judge this stuff in real time. If you're a hater, you're welcome to hate on these guys. Just telling you how I feel about it having played at a low level and having watched/covered hundreds of games from the sideline without TV coverage or replay.)
*****
• 56.2 points per game in SEC games last season. That's slightly higher than national average.
• 177 plays per game in SEC games.
• Average SEC game time was 3 hours, 25 minutes.
• "We virtually haven't changed (time of games) ... for 10 years."
• SEC replay stops per game: 2.4 stops per game, which is slightly higher than national average.
• One targeting ejection per every nine games, which was down year over year.
• A new, national committee was assembled to consider game duration from the perspective of number of plays. "There is concern for games that have 200+ play per game. And there is a number of them."
• No longer doing untimed downs for penalties after the first and third quarters.
• No longer allowing teams to request multiple charged timeouts during the same dead-ball period. (Typically used to "ice" the kicker.)
• Another rule change is how they'll no longer stop clock after a first down in-bounds ... outside of the final 2 minutes.
• "This basically duplicates the rule we see in the National Football League."
• "If you decrease the number of plays, you're probably going to decrease the game time." (Notes that they're not worried about game time per se; it's all about number of plays.)
• There is an "editorial change" that affects roughing the kicker/punter. If the kicker possesses the ball 5 yards ahead OR behind where he catches the ball ... roughing is no longer a possible violation. The punter still could be fouled for unnecessary roughness, but that's only in situations where the defender is being unnecessarily rough. (This typically affects the game when a snap goes over the punter's head.)
• He says they're keeping keen track of replays and one of their concerns is the prevalence of unnecessary replays. McDaid suggests that too many replays are affirming fairly obvious calls that were correct.
• His biggest concern avoiding "pivot points" in games with missed calls and/or superfluous replays.
(He goes to a video showing defenders changing position before a snap. Offenses can't simulate a snap. Defenders? Can't bait a false start and also cannot emulate the signal the offense uses to run its play. "We need to evaluate all of this every time it happens each and every time. We need to give fair protection to the offense.")
• It's clear the SEC will be making judgment calls this season about defenses trying to emulate the offense's signals and/or cadence. (He shows a video of Shane Beamer getting Alabama offside by yelling and clapping.)
• He notes that previously officials didn't have the ability to "keep eyes" on all 22 players.
• He now moves on to defensive holding. He says jams and stuff above the shoulder is OK. He says officials are now seeing more DBs collisioning WRs and then putting hands around the hips, which, in his view, is not OK. Clutching jerseys also is bad in this scenario. McDaid suggests his gripe is about having a "material effect" on the WRs ability to run their route. He wants changes here.
• He also has an issue associated with DBs who jam and then use a "trail" or "catch" technique. If the ball is under-thrown, is it fair to create a PI call if the defender fairly has created that position behind the receiver? McDaid doesn't think that's necessarily a foul. He appears to want a change here.
• Now he's talking about offensive formations. Some teams are using formations that are tricking defenses into thinking a wideout on the line of scrimmage is "anchored," but then putting them in motion ... arguing that he was off the line of scrimmage. It's a fine line. McDaid thinks it's tough to judge there and creates potential pivot points that officials don't want to adjudicate in pressure situations because they don't want to affect the game's outcome.
• He laments that officials are judged in the context of all this new video capability. Do they miss calls sometimes? Yes. But McDaid wants officials to be judged in the context of their entire body of work.
(I'm also against judging officials too harshly in general because stuff happens so fast and then we, the viewer, get to see the play from five different angles and then in slow-mo in HD. It's tough to judge this stuff in real time. If you're a hater, you're welcome to hate on these guys. Just telling you how I feel about it having played at a low level and having watched/covered hundreds of games from the sideline without TV coverage or replay.)
Last edited:
