Here’s Alabama getting away with some rule-breaking during the College Football Playoff and causing Washington to fumble, as spotted by ESPN:
A Bama player got away with illegally faking a Washington snap signal, causing a fumble
You can’t do this, but Alabama got away with it.
In the third quarter of the Peach Bowl semifinal on Saturday, Washington was getting ready to snap the ball. Alabama linebacker Ryan Anderson clapped his hands, in such a way that Washington’s offensive linemen could be tricked into thinking Washington’s QB, not a Bama defender, was calling for the ball to be snapped.
Football teams often use a clapping cadence before the snap. Washington center Coleman Shelton sure looks like he got fooled by Anderson’s clap.
That’s why the NCAA has rules against defenses clapping before the play. Here’s a passage from this year’s rulebook:
No player shall use words or signals that disconcert opponents when they are preparing to put the ball in play. No player may call defensive signals that simulate the sound or cadence of (or otherwise interfere with) offensive starting signals.
Apparently, Browning brought it up with the officials too.
If Washington’s on a clapping cadence, Alabama cannot clap before the play. It’s plainly not allowed, and it doesn’t matter if Anderson didn’t mean to be deceptive.
The same issue came up during Pitt’s game against Penn State back in September. Penn State coach James Franklin said Pitt was disrupting Penn State by emulating the Nittany Lions’ clapping cadence, and Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi called it an “excuse.”
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