Arkansas high school football coach refuses to punt

[improbus]

This is awesome. It is like someone who plays video games finally got control of a real football team. I am proud to say that I have never punted in and football game (Tecmo or NCAA).

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=892888

[paintmered]

Greg Easterbrook at Tuesday Morning Quarterback is a bid advocate of the strategy as well. It's unconventional but has merit.

[WVRed]

All I can say is you had better have an efficient offense to be able to make this work.

I still dig the A-11 offense though. I'm hoping we see that in college in the very near future.

[dabvu2498]

That makes me miss Hal Mumme.

[TeamSelig]

....awesome

[IslandRed]

All I can say is you had better have an efficient offense to be able to make this work.

It can work in high school, I guess, if your team is so superior that you have, as that coach calculated, a 50% chance of converting a fourth-and-eight (a success rate that would be a logical absurdity at higher levels). Of course, if your team is that much better, you're going to win anyway. He's also factoring in a typical high-school kicking game, i.e. not very good. At higher levels, the expected flip of field position by punting or doing a normal kickoff is greater. It's good to see someone rethinking the conventional wisdom, though.

I still dig the A-11 offense though. I'm hoping we see that in college in the very near future.

My guess is there will be a rule change of some kind that neuters the A-11 as soon as it makes a mark in the college game.

[WVRed]

My guess is there will be a rule change of some kind that neuters the A-11 as soon as it makes a mark in the college game.

I don't really see how. You are using a QB as a tailback basically. If you pitch the ball to your HB(who is acting as a QB), it's basically a HB pass, which is legal.

Somebody like a Tim Tebow would be perfect for this type of offense.

[IslandRed]

I don't really see how. You are using a QB as a tailback basically. If you pitch the ball to your HB(who is acting as a QB), it's basically a HB pass, which is legal.

Somebody like a Tim Tebow would be perfect for this type of offense.

On a normal scrimmage play, the ineligible receivers have to wear numbers in the 50-79 range and they have to report when they're going to be in a pass-eligible spot. So the defense may not know where the eligible receivers are going when the offense breaks the huddle, but at least they know who they are.

The A-11, as I understand it, uses a loophole in the rules. On scrimmage kicks (field goals and punts), as long as the snap is taken seven or more yards behind the line of scrimmage, the jersey-numbering restriction goes away. This is so teams aren't limited to using interior linemen on punt coverage etc. The "gimmick" of the A-11 is that they use a very deep shotgun snap, seven yards behind the LOS, so the other ten guys can wear eligible-receiver numbers and make the defense guess as to who's coming out for the pass on any given play.

So, to neutralize the A-11, all they would have to do is say, if you are in a scrimmage-kick formation, you cannot legally throw a forward pass beyond the line of scrimmage unless your ineligible receivers conform to the 50-79 numbering rule. That would make it hard for some teams to throw passes off a fake punt or field goal, but it could be done.

[Caveat Emperor]

I used to have a dynasty going in NCAA 2007 where I hadn't punted in over 6 years of games.

I'd graduated 2 punters who had never once taken the field.

I love it!