Lining Up Offsides

Just a quick note re the phenomenon of lining up offsides.  As you will recall Mizzou got whistled for this twice against Northwestern, leading the announcer to declare major mental lapses and accuse the Tigers of not being ready to play.  Blah blah blah.  At the time, I mentioned that it was probably something we do all the time, the Wildcat coaches noticed it on tape, and alerted the refs before the game.  I have no idea if that’s the case, but it didn’t seem like something we would just start for the bowl game.

So, true to form, I obsessed about it.  Every bowl game I watched I looked for players lining up offsides.  Guess what.  It happens ALL THE TIME.  I noticed it in every bowl game since the Alamo Bowl.  During the Fiesta Bowl, I’d say a defender was offsides on at least 25% of the plays.  It happens up and down the line, although most often with the DEs. 

The neutral zone, defined as the length of the football, is mostly ignored.  Defenders’ heads hang over it or their hands are planted on the wrong side.  It rarely gets called. 

Now, remembering the Alamo, Willy Mo was actually standing on the wrong side of the line - which I have not seen duplicated during my obsession.  That was bad.  Coulter, though, was well within the norms of footballing when he lined up with his hand over the line. 

I suggest a game for tonight’s title tilt.  Every time you see a defender line up offsides and it isn’t called, you drink.  If the game is anything like your average contest, you won’t be able stand by halftime.