Illegal Shift 4th Down

One of the most important plays of the game and our offense lays a complete egg. First off Pritchart goes in motion while Falslev is already in motion running right in front of him. Second the snap is low and almost went in between Nelson's legs (lucky he could bend over that far with his broken back). Third Falslev's route would have taken him out of bounds at the one yard line. Fourth Nelson threw the ball into the stands.



Why was Pritchart in the game if he wasn't being kept in to block? He can't catch. He obviously didn't understand the play call. I can't even imagine that he was supposed to go to the same side that we were trying to get Falslev to. Was the snap late and Pritchart thought the play was running? Falslev was literally running in motion right in front of him.



Why weren't we trying to find one of the three other options who are taller than 5'6"? Nelson had one read and even if it was caught it wouldn't have scored a touchdown unless the defender missed hitting Falslev out of bounds on the 1 yard line.

bigger question; why wasn't a time out called when there was confusion on the play... It was 4th down and the game just about, call a TO and get the right play in... RN also rushed the snap with 4-5 seconds left on the game clock....

Microcosm of our entire offense last night. Mistakes by everyone, not just the QB.

piece of crap. big big big piece of crap. pathetic. this was as embarrassing as doman and bronco breaking hill's leg for no reason.



btw did you see how sjsu did that victory formation with more than one minutes in the game. see that coaches. byu could learn a lot from some of these wac teams.

I had no idea that pritchard couldn't catch. I actually thought he was being touted as someone who COULD catch out of the backfield.



And why does it matter that BYU tried to throw it to the guy who was 5'6"? He was open and if Riley could have got him the ball on time (kind of like Hill's USU TD to falslev) it would have certainly went for a TD. And why has falslev suddenly become the whipping boy? Is it because he plays with more "grit" than suave, and that is quickly becoming the least desirable attribute of a BYU player?

But wait; shouldn't BYU have gotten that 4th down preserved yet to play after a five yard penalty? Since when does an infraction before the snap cause a loss of down? I think Bronco was protesting that. I don't get it.

BOID wrote:
But wait; shouldn't BYU have gotten that 4th down preserved yet to play after a five yard penalty? Since when does an infraction before the snap cause a loss of down? I think Bronco was protesting that. I don't get it.

Illegal shift doesn't stop the play because it isn't considered a false start which would blow the play dead. Both players were doing a legal motion so there wasn't a false start, what was illegal is they were both in motion at the same time at the snap. Both players would have needed to stop and set for 1 second before the snap for it to be a legal shift. The flag was thrown and the pass was incomplete. San Jose declined the penalty. Had we scored a touchdown they would have accepted the penalty and we would have had to try again from 5 yards back.



Bronco was actually protesting that there were whistles blown stopping the play like it was a false start. On TV they replayed the play with the sound on trying to hear whistles but you couldn't hear any. If you watch the replay you will see that the right tackle actually did jump a little early so there could have been a false start called, but I wouldn't have liked our odds trying to score a touchdown on 4th and 13.

BroncoBot wrote:
I had no idea that pritchard couldn't catch. I actually thought he was being touted as someone who COULD catch out of the backfield.



And why does it matter that BYU tried to throw it to the guy who was 5'6"? He was open and if Riley could have got him the ball on time (kind of like Hill's USU TD to falslev) it would have certainly went for a TD. And why has falslev suddenly become the whipping boy? Is it because he plays with more "grit" than suave, and that is quickly becoming the least desirable attribute of a BYU player?

Nothing against Falslev, but if you have two wide receivers who are 6'3" and 6'4" and a tight end that is 6'5" and it is 4th and 8 why are you calling a play with the only option being the smallest player on the field? Did you notice that Riley had been throwing high all second half once he got injured? The timing on the play was blown up by the low snap. You needed everything to work perfectly for that play to work and basically nothing worked on the play.

Wickchad84087 wrote:

I had no idea that pritchard couldn't catch. I actually thought he was being touted as someone who COULD catch out of the backfield.



And why does it matter that BYU tried to throw it to the guy who was 5'6"? He was open and if Riley could have got him the ball on time (kind of like Hill's USU TD to falslev) it would have certainly went for a TD. And why has falslev suddenly become the whipping boy? Is it because he plays with more "grit" than suave, and that is quickly becoming the least desirable attribute of a BYU player?

Nothing against Falslev, but if you have two wide receivers who are 6'3" and 6'4" and a tight end that is 6'5" and it is 4th and 8 why are you calling a play with the only option being the smallest player on the field? Did you notice that Riley had been throwing high all second half once he got injured? The timing on the play was blown up by the low snap. You needed everything to work perfectly for that play to work and basically nothing worked on the play.

probably because those other guys make great decoys. Kidding, sort of.



Again, the play would have worked if Riley had thrown the ball correctly.