JH discusses "alleged" offsides on final play (att: Minnesota posters)

[ArrowheadBlue]

“I did want to say, somebody was showing me this picture of the line of scrimmage on the goal-line stand where we appear to be offsides. It’s a very interesting thing. I’ve studied this a lot, and I have really good clarification on this that centers will often times come up to the ball and move the ball forward, and that’s not a penalty but what the officials tell you is the defensive line gets the ground that’s coming to them. They won’t penalize the center for not picking up the ball and moving it forward, but the defensive line gets the ground that belongs to them, so optically it can look like that in a picture but the way I understand it from the officials is that is legal.”

What was the issue?

“Yeah, some people were commenting. I know some bloggers, fans and things saw the picture and said, ‘Hey, isn’t Michigan offsides?’ and this is a subject I know a little something about so it was good. Our defensive line took the ground that was coming to them, that belonged to them and executed that stop as good as you can.”

 

[jemblue]

Anyone who thinks we were offside should just watch the video of the last 20 seconds again. After the review the official said the ball would be spotted on the "half-yard line." Minnesota then threw an incomplete pass, so the spot didn't change. And yet, before the next play, the ball was clearly moved up, by a full football length even. It's obvious from any photo that their center moved it up, which is a penalty, incidentally (snap infraction) - although it's rarely called.