Jim Bender

.⁦@GovEvers⁩ is calling a special session of the Legislature for April 14 to ban partisan gerrymandering

I asked Speaker Vos what his proudest accomplishment is. He paused for a minute like he had to think about it, and then said, “Expanding school choice beyond Milwaukee. It was very hard to get that done, but we did it.” Interesting answer. #BreakingNews

Statement from the #Bears:

I’ve tried to be as clear as possible on the rule which came into effect in 2013 when I was Coordinator of Officiating for the American Conference. I’ll try one more time. I posted the rule earlier. The key word in the rule is “position”. Once a player plays in a specific position (QB, RB, WR, LB, DB, OL, DL, Punter, Place-kicker, holder, etc), no teammate who shares the same number may legally play in that position. This is determined *at the snap* and what that player does during the down is not relevant. Here, the backup QB clearly was in the Punter position *at the snap*. No one else with #80 had played in that position earlier so nothing on the fake punt play was illegal as he was listed as #80 on the game day roster. After that, no other player with #80 can legally be in the Punter position when the ball is snapped. If that happens, it’s a foul for Unsportsmanlike Conduct at the snap. When the actual Punter #80 took his punting “position” later in the game it was a foul *at the snap* which would only be penalized once. USC fans can feel free to believe anything they like. But this is the rule.

I’ve tried to be as clear as possible on the rule which came into effect in 2013 when I was Coordinator of Officiating for the American Conference. I’ll try one more time. I posted the rule earlier. The key word in the rule is “position”. Once a player plays in a specific position (QB, RB, WR, LB, DB, OL, DL, Punter, Place-kicker, holder, etc), no teammate who shares the same number may legally play in that position. This is determined *at the snap* and what that player does during the down is not relevant. Here, the backup QB clearly was in the Punter position *at the snap*. No one else with #80 had played in that position earlier so nothing on the fake punt play was illegal as he was listed as #80 on the game day roster. After that, no other player with #80 can legally be in the Punter position when the ball is snapped. If that happens, it’s a foul for Unsportsmanlike Conduct at the snap. When the actual Punter #80 took his punting “position” later in the game it was a foul *at the snap* which would only be penalized once. USC fans can feel free to believe anything they like. But this is the rule.

There are two issues here. The one you note, where it would be an unsportsmanlike conduct foul when the actual punter (#80) played that position later. The other is that if a player enters the game wearing a number other than listed on the game day roster, he must inform the Referee who would then inform the opposing head coach and make an announcement. I don’t have the game day roster but it would be odd if they were both listed as #80 and the QB is listed as #7 on the team roster. I didn’t hear an announcement nor did it seem the opposing coach was informed. This is also an unsportsmanlike conduct foul. The obvious problem with both rules is that it is highly unlikely the officials would know either of these happen on the field unless informed by the opponent. One would hope the Big Ten will address this harshly during the week.