Watching the replay

[GTWannaBee]

but then the other team thinks, "hey they are gonna make adjustments to our adjustments, so maybe we just continue doing the same thing and now it will work."

This reminds me of the scene from Waterboy.

 

[TechSBP]

I also have read that DCs coach their DL to engage OL releasing to the second level in anticipation of "drawing" a chop call. Of course who knows if it's true considering it's endangering the player if he's not paying attention to the cut, but I've seen plays in the last 5 years called chops for this very reason (DL grabbed an OL releasing).

Its possible, but not if the coach cares about the player. IF the DL is the one engaging and the OL is truly trying to get free, it shouldn't be a chop. And you're right, I've seen officials get this wrong, because they are correctly calling it in favor of player safety and the umpire can't see if the dl is really the one doing the engaging in most cases. In this case, it was the correct call. But as you've said, I've seen a lot of these wrong, particularly against VT.

 

[TechSBP]

Disagree. Read the rule. If the OL is trying to not engage, and the DL is trying to engage, and then gets cut, then it's a no call. That's spelled out. There's not supposed to be any grey area. That's what happened vs Southern.

VT coaches their players to try and engage to draw the chop block call, while endangering their own bodies in the process. It's the ugliest thing about the entire VT program. Beamer intentionally risks his players careers to draw fouls.

I read the rule too, and I've enforced it on the field. That's what I was citing. I think the OL was engaged. But that's based on memory of something I watched saturday.

Keep in mind that the umpire, who has to make that call, is never going to get a good angle on what the ol is doing. The rules are for fair play and player safety. Unless the umpire can really see the OL trying to break free, he should call it if it looks like the OL is the one engaging.

Don't give me an BS about "he should be in position." He was. And its just a fact that you are supposed to call it in that situation, every time.

I guarantee he was graded out correctly for that penalty. I would be shocked if Johnson disagreed with that call. Because that is how the rule is applied.

 

[beej67]

It's a really hard call to get right, honestly. I think the rule itself is too difficult to adjudicate. And personally, I think if you're going to be doing this stuff as a part of your offense then you need to have the ability to overcome one bad call per game minimum due to operating routinely in an area that's this grey.

We did manage to overcome our 1 a game vs Southern, with a nice 22 some odd yard completion. We have not overcome it in the past. So we'll see.