Get Ready for Fall 2024
From: Rich Kollen
Subject: SCCFOA
Date: Thursday, September 05, 2025
When ruling on pass interference, the following applies to both offensive and defensive pass interference: Both players have a right to the ball. Incidental contact is legal interference. In order to be defensive pass interference, the defender must materially restrict the receiver. This should be your primary focus when making this call. SCCFOA standard is to make it BIG.
We had a final score of 65 to 0. The third and fourth quarters were shortened to only five minutes each. Situations like this raise bigger questions. Some of our colleges may begin to consider eliminating sports, unless they are fully funded and supported at the institutional level. On that same note, the team only suited up 38 players for game one. What is it going to look like by week ten?
We had a play last week where the quarterback rolled out and legally threw the ball away; the pass crossed the line of scrimmage and landed beyond the sideline while he was outside the tackle box. An official flagged an ineligible lineman downfield on the play. After the crew huddled, they correctly ruled that there was no foul. The final result was simply an incomplete pass, and the ball was returned to the previous spot, an SCCFOA standard, and an NCAA Officiating Standard (Section 7-9)
On a field goal try:
• If the kick is blocked and remains behind the line of scrimmage, either team may recover and advance. (Rule 6-3-1-a)
• If the kick crosses the line of scrimmage (whether blocked or not), only the defense may recover and advance. (Rule 6-3-5)
• If the defense recovers while grounded behind the line of scrimmage, the ball belongs to the defense at the spot of recovery, not the previous spot.
We need to do a better job of stopping the clock on plays that end out of bounds, incomplete passes, timeouts, and similar situations. I know I’m a bit old school, but because our timers are not always consistent, I would like to see every official signal to kill the clock on these plays.
Referees need to designate one of the deep officials, someone you trust the most, to assist with clock management (start/hold signals after plays). As the Referee, you carry significant other responsibilities, and having a reliable deep official monitoring the clock will help ensure accuracy. That said, there’s no need for everyone to signal to start the clock. The timer is trained to focus on the Referee (white hat) for that. However, if for any reason the timer does not see the Referee’s start-the-clock signal, I am fine with the other officials providing a backup clock-starting signal.
Referees, we need more practice with our announcements. One way to prepare is to get a stack of 3x5 cards and write down possible scenarios you might have to announce. Then, practice delivering them weekly.
With both the play clock and game clock running late in the game, and the team with the ball leading by 40 points, the Referee apparently told the offense to stay in the huddle and let the game end. The assumption was that the game would expire without another snap needed. Unfortunately, the Referee must have misread the clock, and a delay penalty was assessed. The head coach of this nationally-ranked program lost his composure on the sideline and, in his postgame interview with the sideline reporter, blamed the Referee for instructing the team to stay in the huddle. A reminder to all officials: unless you are 100% certain of the situation, silence can never be misquoted.
Coaches, please remind your video staff to record the game clock time at the start of each play. This makes it much easier and faster for us to review the film.
We need to do a better job of dead-ball officiating. Once the play ends, keep your head on a swivel and keep scanning the field for any potential malicious contact after the play is over. We can’t have players end up on going down without knowing how they got there.
Last week, I discussed the NCAA numbering rules. I then received an email from Dave Silverstein, Sports Information Director for the Northern California Football Association, reminding me that the 3C2A, our governing body, has a rule prohibiting duplicate numbers. Since our commissioner has been out of the country, I’ll defer this matter to him when he returns.
We have four new Referees this season. This past weekend, we saw a few miscues on penalty enforcement and not just from our new officials, but from some veterans as well. Let’s make sure we study the rules, and talk about penalty enforcement in pregame this week.
Remember, whenever there’s an incorrect penalty enforcement, it’s on the entire seven-person crew. For newer officials, I know it can be difficult to step up and correct the Referee in the moment, but doing so can save the crew. We should all be working toward that goal. If you aren’t sure whether you are correct, get in the rulebook more. There was a play last week in which the quarterback crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass that was completed. There were 11 seconds left in the half. The crew enforced the penalty, and enforced a 10-second runoff, leaving 1 second left in the half of a close game. All officials (especially Referees) need to get in the rulebook this week. For an illegal forward pass to result in a 10-second runoff option, it must be incomplete. The foul did not stop the clock. No 10-second runoff should have been enforced. (Rule 3-4-4-a-3) We had another situation when a tight end was clearly covered by a wide receiver. Both players went downfield, and the ball was thrown to the tight end, who was interfered with by the defensive back and did not touch the pass. There were two flags on the play (one for the ineligible man downfield, and one for defensive pass interference). The crew came together and did a great job to get the penalty correct. The ineligible man downfield was enforced five yards from the previous spot, and the defensive pass interference was picked up, because an ineligible receiver cannot be interfered with. Great job! (Rules 7-3-8-a and 7-3-10)
Good luck and stay safe this week. As always, thank you for your commitment to this great game and our student-athletes.
Rich Kollen
Director of Football Operations
Subject: SCCFOA
Date: Thursday, September 05, 2025
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
2025 WEEKLY BULLETIN #2When ruling on pass interference, the following applies to both offensive and defensive pass interference: Both players have a right to the ball. Incidental contact is legal interference. In order to be defensive pass interference, the defender must materially restrict the receiver. This should be your primary focus when making this call. SCCFOA standard is to make it BIG.
We had a final score of 65 to 0. The third and fourth quarters were shortened to only five minutes each. Situations like this raise bigger questions. Some of our colleges may begin to consider eliminating sports, unless they are fully funded and supported at the institutional level. On that same note, the team only suited up 38 players for game one. What is it going to look like by week ten?
We had a play last week where the quarterback rolled out and legally threw the ball away; the pass crossed the line of scrimmage and landed beyond the sideline while he was outside the tackle box. An official flagged an ineligible lineman downfield on the play. After the crew huddled, they correctly ruled that there was no foul. The final result was simply an incomplete pass, and the ball was returned to the previous spot, an SCCFOA standard, and an NCAA Officiating Standard (Section 7-9)
On a field goal try:
• If the kick is blocked and remains behind the line of scrimmage, either team may recover and advance. (Rule 6-3-1-a)
• If the kick crosses the line of scrimmage (whether blocked or not), only the defense may recover and advance. (Rule 6-3-5)
• If the defense recovers while grounded behind the line of scrimmage, the ball belongs to the defense at the spot of recovery, not the previous spot.
We need to do a better job of stopping the clock on plays that end out of bounds, incomplete passes, timeouts, and similar situations. I know I’m a bit old school, but because our timers are not always consistent, I would like to see every official signal to kill the clock on these plays.
Referees need to designate one of the deep officials, someone you trust the most, to assist with clock management (start/hold signals after plays). As the Referee, you carry significant other responsibilities, and having a reliable deep official monitoring the clock will help ensure accuracy. That said, there’s no need for everyone to signal to start the clock. The timer is trained to focus on the Referee (white hat) for that. However, if for any reason the timer does not see the Referee’s start-the-clock signal, I am fine with the other officials providing a backup clock-starting signal.
Referees, we need more practice with our announcements. One way to prepare is to get a stack of 3x5 cards and write down possible scenarios you might have to announce. Then, practice delivering them weekly.
With both the play clock and game clock running late in the game, and the team with the ball leading by 40 points, the Referee apparently told the offense to stay in the huddle and let the game end. The assumption was that the game would expire without another snap needed. Unfortunately, the Referee must have misread the clock, and a delay penalty was assessed. The head coach of this nationally-ranked program lost his composure on the sideline and, in his postgame interview with the sideline reporter, blamed the Referee for instructing the team to stay in the huddle. A reminder to all officials: unless you are 100% certain of the situation, silence can never be misquoted.
Coaches, please remind your video staff to record the game clock time at the start of each play. This makes it much easier and faster for us to review the film.
We need to do a better job of dead-ball officiating. Once the play ends, keep your head on a swivel and keep scanning the field for any potential malicious contact after the play is over. We can’t have players end up on going down without knowing how they got there.
Last week, I discussed the NCAA numbering rules. I then received an email from Dave Silverstein, Sports Information Director for the Northern California Football Association, reminding me that the 3C2A, our governing body, has a rule prohibiting duplicate numbers. Since our commissioner has been out of the country, I’ll defer this matter to him when he returns.
We have four new Referees this season. This past weekend, we saw a few miscues on penalty enforcement and not just from our new officials, but from some veterans as well. Let’s make sure we study the rules, and talk about penalty enforcement in pregame this week.
Remember, whenever there’s an incorrect penalty enforcement, it’s on the entire seven-person crew. For newer officials, I know it can be difficult to step up and correct the Referee in the moment, but doing so can save the crew. We should all be working toward that goal. If you aren’t sure whether you are correct, get in the rulebook more. There was a play last week in which the quarterback crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass that was completed. There were 11 seconds left in the half. The crew enforced the penalty, and enforced a 10-second runoff, leaving 1 second left in the half of a close game. All officials (especially Referees) need to get in the rulebook this week. For an illegal forward pass to result in a 10-second runoff option, it must be incomplete. The foul did not stop the clock. No 10-second runoff should have been enforced. (Rule 3-4-4-a-3) We had another situation when a tight end was clearly covered by a wide receiver. Both players went downfield, and the ball was thrown to the tight end, who was interfered with by the defensive back and did not touch the pass. There were two flags on the play (one for the ineligible man downfield, and one for defensive pass interference). The crew came together and did a great job to get the penalty correct. The ineligible man downfield was enforced five yards from the previous spot, and the defensive pass interference was picked up, because an ineligible receiver cannot be interfered with. Great job! (Rules 7-3-8-a and 7-3-10)
Good luck and stay safe this week. As always, thank you for your commitment to this great game and our student-athletes.
Rich Kollen
Director of Football Operations