rules

This is going to be a problem, I think.

From NCAA.org (LINK):

The Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved a new football rule that requires players who target and contact defenseless players above the shoulders to be ejected, effective for the 2013 season. The change increases the on-field penalty for targeting by adding the automatic ejection to the existing 15-yard penalty.

The new rule in football means that discipline for those players flagged for violations will mirror the penalty for fighting. If the foul occurs in the first half of a game, the player is ejected for the remainder of the game. If the foul occurs in the second half or overtime of a game, the player is ejected for the remainder of the game and the first half of the next contest.

In an effort to address concerns when one of these plays is erroneously called on the field, the ejection portion of the penalty will be reviewable through video replay. The replay official must have conclusive evidence that a player should not be ejected to overturn the call on the field.

There were also other changes: 

• the blocking below the waist rule has been simplified
• jersey and pant colors must be different from the field of play [EDIT: my mistake]
• a 10-second runoff for injuries with less than a minute in the half 
• 3 seconds is the minimum amount of time required to spike the ball
• number changes must be reported to the referee

Every year lots of new people find this corner of the internet, and some struggle to find all the awesome information stored here. First, take a second and scroll up and look under the winged helmet - there are a lot of very useful links. I'm putting some of them here because lots of people have no idea that they exist, and we've seen tons of threads (Where can I watch!?!?) created because... well because people don't know that a sticky thread exists for that.

Brian: http://mgoblog.com/content/about-mgoblog

FAQ:http://mgoblog.com/content/mgofaq

Not sure who Tacopants is? Slow on the other inside jokes? want to know why Brian has a MS in Computer engineering? There's your answer.

• "Tacopants"? Tacopants is Jason Avant's eleven-foot tall imaginary friend. Chad Henne spent much of 2005 hitting him between the numbers, which are unfortunately eight feet off the ground and made of dreams. Blessed with infinite eligibility and the ability to sneak on and off the field without alerting the referees -- made of dreams, remember -- Tacopants has taken a lesser role in the offense as Henne matures but still pops up at inopportune times. The term has its genesis in this post.

Ethics: http://mgoblog.com/content/offical-ethics-mgoblog

Contact: mgoblog@gmail.com

That's stuff about the guy who runs/owns/is MGoBlog.  Think he's betrayed his ethics? Have a tip/correction? Email is a way better way to do it than a dickish thread.

Want to advertise: Talk to Seth.

MGoBoard:

FAQ http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/mgoboard-faq

Can't start a thread? Not sure if "Denard" is a bad thread title? What's on topic? This isn't Nam, there are rules.

Coming to AA: http://mgoblog.com/content/guide-ann-arbor-eating-drinking

Guide to eating and drinking. Zingerman's is good, but overpriced. Maize and Blue is better. /shots fired

Stuck in a car on a Saturday? http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/listening-gameanywhere

And Finally:

WHERE CAN I WATCH THE GAME:http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/um-friendly-bar-locations-across-us-and-elsewhere

Stop making threads about it.

Hope this has been a helpful and informative little diary. Now go enjoy wife day and the rest of the bye week.

Much as I respect both Brian and Seth, I don't think that it's obvious that Coales overtime TD catch, which was overturned on review, was incomplete.  I'm not going to say that the review ref was wrong, but this was a tough call that could have gone either way, both on the initial call and on review.  I'll start with Brian:

It's incomplete because the tip of the ball hits the ground and it shifts in his arms when it happens.

I'm not sure that's what the rules call for as part of "control".  If it is it would lead to some absurd results in other situations.  For instance: imagine a tackler punching at a ball while making a tackle.  The ball's position shifts, but remains in the ballcarrier's hands.  Would that be a fumble?  The fact that the ball shifts position, by itself, doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't still under the receiver's control.  Firm control doesn't mean absolute control.

The ball has the potential to slide through his upper arms when it impacts the ground...

Except it doesn't.  The ref isn't there to speculate about what might happen, here's there to judge what does happen.  And what happened was the ball remained in the reciever's arms and/or hands the whole time.  Coales still had the ball in his hands after he hit the ground and rolled onto his back.  You can argue about how tight his grip was, but nobody else touched it and it didn't roll away after Coales hit the turf.

...ground aids catch; not a catch.

I don't know how you can say the ground aided the catch.  Normally if you're juggling something and then hit the ground, the ground jars the object loose.  That clearly didn't happen here.

Meanwhile Seth asks about whether the replay official should have overturned the original call.  He says no:

But it's too close to call/not enough evidence to overturn! If someone is saying this to you they are confusing a Law & Order episode for reality. They have conceded that "incomplete" is the correct call, and are essentially complaining that it should have been ruled incorrectly because of a technicality in the literal meaning of the review rule.

Seth confuses substantive rules with procedural rules here, and forgets that, when you're dealing with video replay, there's a procedure that's supposed to be followed.  To put it another way, this kinda is "Law and Order".  In real life, lawyers argue about procedure all the time.

The replay official is not there to substitute his judgement for the that of the field official on close calls, he is there to correct obviously incorrect calls -- that's what "indisputable video evidence" means.  True, at this point the gripe is more about procedure than substance, but procedure matters too.  The standard for a review official is high for a reason -- we don't want every tricky judgement call reviewed and overturned or we'd never finish the game.  If the replay official didn't have "indisputable evidence" then he shouldn't have overruled the field official, even if he believed the pass was probably incomplete.

Okay, having said all that -- it was a helluva a game and I'm very proud of this team and the way they played.  And even if Coale's catch had stood up, we would have won anyway.  That's just how Team 132 was.

I have a rules question for the experts out there:

With Michigan up 17-9 in the 4th quarter, and VT driving, Logan had that run to the left on 4th and 11 (or 4th and 13).  What is the rule about hands to the face on blocks?  

Kovacs is trying to shed a block and make a tackle, and the blocker puts his hand on Kovacs' facemask and pushes up.  Kovacs knocks it away only to have the blocker push the facemask AGAIN making it so that Kovacs likely couldn't even see.

I know that with a stiff-arm the ballcarrier gets a lot of leeway with hands to the opponent's face, but should a blocker have the same leeway?  This would have been a crucial missed call on a crucial drive if Michigan hadn't pulled it out.

I know this isn't the right venue for this, but hopefully people are in a good mood from the game so I wont get reamed for this.  Mods please feel free to delete if deemed unenecesarry.

I recently broke my foot, leading me to be on crutches for the foreseeable future.  I didn't see anything on MGoBlue.com regarding crutches; all it says is " Exceptions for medical reasons will be addressed individually at the gates."  The search function on this site wasn't working, so I couldn't check to see if this had been previously discussed.  I have never seen anyone on crutches at the games, but I imagine with ADA rules, they have to be allowed.

Does anyone have any experience with this?  I hope someone may have some info before I get to the game with the potential of being turned away.

For everyone who thinks this isn't a worthwhile thread, I apologize, and here's my favorite new .gif to make it worth your click.

Official announcement from MGoBlue.com reproduced in its entirety below the cut.

Sept. 30, 2010

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan ice hockey team kicks off its 2010-11 season against Mercyhurst on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 7:35 p.m. With the start of the season, Yost Ice Arena will have a variety of new procedures in place for game days. Guests no longer will be allowed to leave the arena and return on the same ticket. Also, smoking will be banned in all areas inside and within the immediate vicinity of the arena.

The following is an outline of the procedures for the upcoming 2010-11 hockey season at Yost Ice Arena:

EXIT/RE-ENTRY
NEW FOR 2010-11: Guests are not permitted to leave Yost Ice Arena and return on the same ticket. Re-admittance to Yost Ice Arena will be allowed only in the case of an emergency. Those needing to exit Yost Ice Arena for this purpose must see the Gate Supervisor through which they exit/re-enter prior to exiting.

SMOKING
NEW FOR 2010-11: For the health and enjoyment of all guests, smoking is prohibited in ALL areas of Yost Ice Arena. In addition, guests wanting to leave and smoke may not re-enter the facility. The enforcement of this regulation depends on the cooperation, consideration, and good faith of smokers and nonsmokers alike. It is the responsibility of all fans to observe the no-smoking regulation.

PROHIBITED ITEMS
Guests are reminded that outside food and beverages are not allowed into Yost Ice Arena. Bags, purses or backpacks measuring larger than 8.5 inches wide by 11 inches long by 8.5 inches high will not be admissible. All items carried into Yost Ice Arena are subject to inspection. Exceptions for medical reasons will be addressed individually at the doors. [ Prohibited Items ]

PARKING
Free parking is available at Elbel Field (corner of Hill and Division) and Crisler Arena (blue lot), closest to the Glick Field House and Ocker Field Hockey Field. The lots and pathways to Yost Ice Arena are well lit before, during and after hockey games. Limited parking is available at Yost Ice Arena (gray lot) for $5 per vehicle or with a valid hockey permit. Handicapped parking is available at Yost for $5 and a state handicapped permit or valid hockey permit.