Is face guarding in college football a penalty?

[HomerChampless]

Is face guarding, where the defensive back guards the face of the receiver and doesn't turn around to see or defend the ball a penalty in college ball? One would have to question if the penalty exists in the NFL. The Anthony Hitchens incident as a Dallas Cowboy linebacker against the Detroit Lions receiver last season comes to mind as a face guarding that wasn't called as a penalty.

I've heard some college announcers describe a pass interference called on a pass play as face guarding this season. That if the defensive back had 'played the ball' he wouldn't have been flagged.

Are NFL refs wrong? Are college announcers wrong? What's the rule on face guarding in college? In the pros?

 

[hawkfan2679]

I could be wrong, but face guarding is never a penalty unless contact is made. At that point, if a player makes no attempt to play the ball, any contact would be constituted as pass interference. Not sure if this applies to the NFL/College/both though...

However, if the defender gets his head around and is deemed to be "playing the ball," then he has as much right to the ball as the receiver does.

All from memory though, so...

 

[HomerChampless]

Well, Hitchens made contact with the Detroit receiver so... Maybe the refs decided his contact was incidental? In this day and age of NFL rules that give all kinds of advantages to the passing game?

 

[hawkfan2679]

Here's an interesting link I found when looking up the play you referenced:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2319198-refs-pick-up-flag-after-pass-interference-on-cowboys-in-4th-quarter

About halfway down the page there are are some pictures of the transcription of a conversation with the head official that day.

 

[hawkfan2679]

The reason they picked up the flag was minimal contact...having seen the vine on that link, there was a little bit of contact, but that's it. One of the tweetcaps was of Brandon Pettigrew saying Hitchens "ran right through me." That's a stretch at absolute best...

 

[HomerChampless]

So, pro refs evidently don't call face guarding. They call 'substantial' contact and holding. Not calling face guarding is a recent change of NFL rules.

What about college football? Is the college football announcer leading us astray with their it's a must to play the ball comments?

 

[damnfinn]

unless they have changed the rules, the defensive player must make contact for it to be called pass interference.

 

[uihawk82]

The refs can call face guarding in college. The hawks have been called for it many times

 

[99topdawg]

At the college level, the rule requires contact. “Contactâ€￾ is specifically mentioned in all descriptions of pass interference in Rule 7 of the NCAA manual.This comes into play for an official on a judgment call. If the defender is making a play on the ball, some incidental contact is typically allowed. If the defender doesn’t look back, makes himself an obstacle and makes contact with the receiver, a flag can be thrown (an easy call most of the time). If the defender does not make contact, however, no flag.
In the NFL, by rule, face guarding is allowed but like at the college level that changes if contact is made.

Found this on the local Google Machine, written by Bill LeMonnier.

Link

 

[HomerChampless]

Good info, dawg. Incidental contact, a judgement call that can persuade a ref to call a penalty if there's face guarding and no guarding of the ball during a pass.

I'd like to say face guarding a pass receiver isn't the best defense but it sure is better than the holding some Iowa linebackers seem to like to do. And if some have to hold, maybe they need to learn a better defensive technique?

 

[SayHawkKid]

Good info, dawg. Incidental contact, a judgement call that can persuade a ref to call a penalty if there's face guarding and no guarding of the ball during a pass.

I'd like to say face guarding a pass receiver isn't the best defense but it sure is better than the holding some Iowa linebackers seem to like to do. And if some have to hold, maybe they need to learn a better defensive technique?

In order to block a receiver's vision, the defensive player needs to be in close proximity to the receiver, which is the main objective. Regarding holding, it has been said by many that holding can be called on nearly every play. With experience, the best D players learn how to hold and get away with it.