![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.referee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/A-Gridiron-Geometry-Lesson.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
L<\/span>aypeople may think there isn\u2019t\u00a0a big difference between spots,\u00a0lines and planes, but officials need a\u00a0clear understanding of those geometry terms.\u00a0Very briefly, a spot is a specific point\u00a0on the field. A line is a long narrow\u00a0band of closely spaced spots (points)\u00a0and a plane is a series of lines parallel\u00a0to another and stacked to an infinite\u00a0height. A line may be chalked or\u00a0painted on the field, but along with\u00a0spots and planes will often have to be\u00a0visualized.<\/p>\n There are roughly 10\u00a0different types of spots defined in the\u00a0rules. Almost all the spots are utilized\u00a0for penalty enforcement; in fact,\u00a0one of those spots carries the name\u00a0\u201cenforcement spot.\u201d It is exactly what\u00a0one would suppose it to be \u2014 the\u00a0spot from which a penalty is enforced\u00a0(NFHS 2-41-2; NCAA 2-25-1).<\/p>\n Another spot applicable to penalty\u00a0enforcement is the spot of the foul\u00a0(NFHS 2-41-8; NCAA 2-25-5) which\u00a0requires no explanation. The end of\u00a0the run (NFHS 2-41-9; NCAA 2-25-8)\u00a0is also seemingly self-explanatory, but\u00a0the two codes differ for legal or illegal\u00a0handing. In NFHS, such handing\u00a0does not result in the run ending,\u00a0but in NCAA it does (NFHS 2-41-9;\u00a0NCAA 2-25-8c).<\/p>\n As A1 is running beyond\u00a0the neutral zone, he is grabbed by\u00a0the facemask and spun around. He\u00a0then hands the ball backward to\u00a0A2 at team B\u2019s 30 yardline. A2 is\u00a0then tackled at team B\u2019s 25 yardline.<\/p>\n In NFHS, the 15-yard\u00a0penalty for the facemask foul is\u00a0enforced from team B\u2019s 25 yardline\u00a0as there was only one run. In NCAA,\u00a0the penalty is enforced from team B\u2019s\u00a030 yardline, which is where the run\u00a0ended.<\/p>\n The previous spot (NFHS 2-41-\u00a07; NCAA 2-25-2) is the spot from\u00a0which the ball was last put in play.\u00a0The succeeding spot (NFHS 2-41-10;\u00a0NCAA 2-25-3) is the point at which\u00a0the ball will next be put in play. All\u00a0dead-ball fouls are enforced from\u00a0the succeeding spot. Each time such\u00a0a foul is enforced, a new succeeding\u00a0spot is designated.<\/p>\n Understanding the basic spot\u00a0(NFHS 2-41-1; NCAA 2-25-10) is\u00a0essential to penalty enforcement. It\u00a0is a benchmark for determining the\u00a0enforcement spot on certain plays.\u00a0The basic spot can be either the\u00a0previous spot, the end of the run or\u00a0the post scrimmage-kick spot (NFHS\u00a02-41-6; NCAA 2-25-11).<\/p>\n The previous spot must be a spot\u00a0between the hashmarks; if any of the\u00a0other aforementioned spots occur in\u00a0a side zone, they are re-located to the\u00a0nearest hashmark.<\/p>\n The out-of-bounds spot (NFHS\u00a02-41-5; NCAA 2-25-6) is almost\u00a0always the dead-ball spot. The lone\u00a0exception is under NCAA rules when\u00a0a forward fumble goes out of bounds.\u00a0In that case, the ball is returned to the\u00a0spot of the fumble (7-2-4b-1).<\/p>\n First and 10 on team A\u2019s 20\u00a0yardline. A1 runs to his 28 yardline,\u00a0where the ball pops into the air. It\u00a0hits the ground at his 33 yardline and\u00a0goes out of bounds at his 35 yardline.<\/p>\n In NFHS, it\u2019s team A\u2019s ball\u00a0first and 10 at the 35 yardline because\u00a0that\u2019s where the ball went out of\u00a0bounds. The clock starts on the snap.\u00a0In NCAA, because the fumble went\u00a0forward and out of bounds, the ball is\u00a0awarded to team A at the spot of A1\u2019s\u00a0fumble. That yields second and two\u00a0from team A\u2019s 28 yardline. The clock\u00a0starts on the referee\u2019s signal because\u00a0the ball is returned to an inbounds\u00a0spot.<\/p>\n There are several lines\u00a0in the game and most of them are\u00a0actually planes. The one that is truly a\u00a0line without exception is the sideline\u00a0(NFHS 2-26-6; NCAA 2-12-1). The\u00a0sideline is the lateral limit of the field\u00a0and extends from endline to endline.\u00a0The marked line may be anywhere\u00a0from 4 inches to 6 feet wide, but the\u00a0\u201cline\u201d which delineates out of bounds\u00a0is the inside edge adjacent to the\u00a0field. The sideline is never a plane\u00a0because the ball or the runner\u2019s body\u00a0can break the plane of the sideline as\u00a0long as the runner has not touched\u00a0the sideline or beyond it. The endline\u00a0(NFHS 2-26-2; NCAA 2-12-3) is also\u00a0a boundary line and has the same\u00a0characteristics of the sideline.<\/p>\n The yardlines (NFHS 2-26-7;\u00a0NCAA 2-12-6) are marked every\u00a0five yards almost from sideline to\u00a0sideline. The remaining yardlines\u00a0are marked in 2-foot lengths in four\u00a0places on the field (near the sidelines\u00a0and hashmarks). But because they\u00a0are not required on high school\u00a0fields, it can make measurements a\u00a0challenging proposition. Unlike the\u00a0sideline, which is the inside edge of\u00a0the marked line, the yardline is the\u00a0nearer edge of the drawn line in the\u00a0direction the offense is advancing.\u00a0The chains should always be checked\u00a0from one leading edge to another.<\/p>\n The remaining lines of\u00a0note are all actually planes. That\u00a0includes the line of scrimmage (NFHS\u00a02-25; NCAA 2-21-2), which is the\u00a0yardline that defines the vertical\u00a0plane passing through the point of\u00a0the ball nearest a team\u2019s own goalline.\u00a0The scrimmage lines are established\u00a0when the ball is ready for play. The\u00a0significance of the plane is primarily\u00a0in determining whether or not an\u00a0encroachment foul has occurred.\u00a0Although the codes differ with regard\u00a0to whether encroachment is a liveball\u00a0foul (NCAA) or a dead-ball foul\u00a0(NFHS), the foul occurs if the plane is\u00a0violated.<\/p>\n Perhaps the best-known plane is\u00a0the goalline (NFHS 2-26-3; NCAA\u00a02-12-2). Regardless of how wide the\u00a0line is drawn on the field (it may be\u00a0up to 8 inches wide in NCAA), the\u00a0entire line is in the end zone. It is\u00a0extremely important to understand\u00a0the goalline is a plane because when\u00a0a ball in a runner\u2019s possession breaks\u00a0the plane of the opponent\u2019s goalline,\u00a0the ball is dead and a touchdown is\u00a0scored.<\/p>\n Similar to the goalline, the lineto-\u00a0gain (NFHS 2-26-5; NCAA 5-1-2)\u00a0and the forward progress spot are\u00a0technically planes, but because the\u00a0ball does not become dead when\u00a0those planes are penetrated, the\u00a0practical application is to treat them\u00a0as lines.<\/p>\n The post A Gridiron Geometry Lesson<\/a> appeared first on Referee.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Laypeople may think there isn\u2019t\u00a0a big difference between spots,\u00a0lines and planes, but officials need a\u00a0clear understanding of those geometry terms.\u00a0Very briefly, a spot is a specific point\u00a0on the field. A line is a long narrow\u00a0band of closely spaced spots (points)\u00a0and a plane is a series of lines parallel\u00a0to another and stacked to an infinite\u00a0height. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":926,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-925","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aafoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aafoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aafoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aafoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aafoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aafoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aafoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aafoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Spots<\/h2>\n
Play 1:<\/h3>\n
Ruling 1:<\/h3>\n
Play 2:<\/h3>\n
Ruling 2:<\/h3>\n
Lines<\/h2>\n
Planes<\/h2>\n