Rules Question ?

['82 Tiger 2]

i know when the player catching a punt waves his hand for a fair catch that you have to give him about 3 yards or so to catch the ball.

if the player doesn't wave for a fair catch so he can attempt a run back, do you still have to give the three yard buffer area?

i may have missed it, but i didn't think i saw the ole miss player wave for a fair catch on our first punt. we got the penalty for not allowing enough room to catch the punt.

maybe we hit him before the ball got to him...?

[Tigerwalkin 2]

I could be wrong, but I think the "halo" rule is no longer in effect. You just can't hit him before the ball gets there, which I think is what happend Saturday.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

The distance criteria is no longer in effect. You simply have to give a player a reasonable chance to catch the punt without interference. More of a judgement call on the official's part.

[saniflush 0]

I think you are right.. The "halo" rule was taken out but you have to give them a fair chance to catch the ball. I believe that it has been turned into a subjective rule that is implemented by the officials on a case by case basis. Now that being said, we did not give him a chance to field the punt but I will take one of those penalties all day long. I understand that you don't want to "give" the other team opportunites off dumb penalties and I don't want to see anyone play dirty but you hit in football and anyone who thinks that kid wasn't thinking about getting hit the rest of the game is mistaken in my opinion.

[freebody 0]

Fifteen yards makes it an expensive "message" to send, especialy when it gave them the ball on our 40.

[Eagle Eye 7]

Not expensive when you consider Ole Miss had 3 plays in our 3 yard line and couldn't punch it in. Not expensive when you consider we only held them to one field goal, when they were in the red zone tons of times. Not expensive at all. Not that I am condoning the penalty, but I just do not think it cost us at all.

[WarTiger 3,917]

The "HALO" rule is indeed gone, but you still must give the opponent the opportunity to catch the punt. Something else that isn't mentioned yet, is that you can't block the receivers path to the ball either. If that player has to move forward to make the catch, then its the resposibility of the players of the kicking team to know where the ball is, and not block that players path to the ball.

[saniflush 0]

I say just hittem hard and make them hear footsteps!

[AWK 0]

Ole miss Tactics, the Quaterback is open for hits up to five seconds after the play has ended, that aggravated me so bad