During the first quarter of Saturday’s Penn State-Northwestern game in Evanston, Wildcats running back Justin Jackson got flagged for facemasking. That’s rare, but it’s a thing! Offensive players can and sometimes do get facemask penalties.
Stiff-arming RBs can get flagged for facemasking. Watch Northwestern demonstrate.
Penn State led 3-0 after one quarter, which included this personal foul on Northwestern’s Justin Jackson.
College football’s facemask rule says “no player shall continuously contact an opponent’s face, helmet (including the face mask) or neck with hand(s) or arm(s).” But there’s a carve-out for runners with the ball, which is why stiff-arming is usually OK.
But if you twist, yank, or turn the facemask of an opponent, that’s a 15-yard personal foul, and there’s no exception to that rule:
No player shall grasp and then twist, turn or pull the face mask, chin strap or any helmet opening of an opponent. It is not a foul if the face mask, chin strap or helmet opening is not grasped and then twisted, turned or pulled. When in question, it is a foul.
Most running back stiff-arms to the face of a defender don’t involve that twisting and turning. Jackson’s did, which made his maneuver illegal (and also pretty dangerous).
The NFL’s rule is nearly identical to the NCAA’s. High school governing bodies ban pretty much all facemask contact, but the rules are more lenient in college and the professional game. They’re just not lenient enough for RBs to do whatever they want.
See More:
