OT - Football Rules Question - Cincy Silent Count

[Kgun7]

Cincinnati employed a shotgun silent count that utilized the left guard as a trigger. The left guard turned and looked back, after being set, to view the QB motion for the snap. Then he tapped the center to let him know when to snap the ball.

Getting set in your stance, then looking back at the QB right before the ball is snapped, isn't considered a false start? What would happen if Wirth or Stephen launched across the line and pummelled the left guard as soon as he moved his head?

#1 - UCONN clearly knows when the ball will be snapped because the left guard is tipping this off. Obviously this helps the defense time their blitzes. I didn't witness any random snap counts.
#2 - If Wirth or Stephen reacts and hammers the left guard in an effort to induce a false start, it's possible they deter Cincy from using this system and disrupt their silent count plan.

Either way ... UCONN has got to find a way to turn this into an advantage.

Anybody else witness this? Thoughts?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Until the offensive lineman puts his hand on the ground he can look back. He needs to be set (I believe for at least one full second but it could be a bit longer) before the snap and normally (but not required) a lineman will have one hand on the ground in a three point stance.

One thing that irritated me yesterday was a play in the first half when with about eight seconds left on the play clock, UC ran an injured (I believe QB) off the field and replaced him while the play clock was running. As the rules state that if the offense changes players, the defense is allowed to also make a change, an on the ball coaching staff from our part would have immediately sent a player from the sideline in, signalling another to leave, forcing Cincy to call a TO as they would not have gotten that play off due to substituting so late into the clock. As they had the ball with two minutes left near midfield, this (not forcing them to burn a TO) almost cost us points.

We need to accept that their staff is far sharper than ours and to compound matters, when our offensive coordinator attempts to show how sharp he is, we usually end up over thinking and end up either (second half yesterday) unable to get the play off or destroy whatever rhythm and momentum the offense has been building.

 

[businesslawyer]

We need to accept that their staff is far sharper than ours .

Well that's not saying much, is it?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Well that's not saying much, is it?

Unfortunately, PP & GDL both went full retard.

 

[Kgun7]

FCF thanks for the explanation. I'd have to go back to watch the tape, but it may have appeared that the center waited at least a second before snapping the football after being tapped. I just kept watching that thinking how can UCONN use that to their advantage to time the snap count or induce the LG into a false start.

Kudos to the Cincy coaching staff for having the forethought to game plan for crowd noise ... even when they didn't even need to ... that's good coaching.