If any exist??
Our guys were flagged for an ungodly # of "false starts" on Saturday, and I haven't seen any comment on the issue, other than the Heels needing to work on it, especially with several green O-linemen playing due to injuries to starters.
My question really revolves around how much the home team is allowed to create outside noise to disrupt the opposition offense's play call and snap count, without being flagged for a penalty for "delay of game". I realize that crowd noise is particularly hard to control, and clearly this is a big part of a "home field advantage", but at what point does it cease to be allowable, and result in a penalty against the home team.
I watched the game Saturday on ABC (and due to the OT in Clemson, they didn't show the first few minutes when the Heels held the Canes to a 3 and out on the opening drive, and forced a punt giving the Heels a short field on their first possession). With a 2nd and 8 on the Miami 15, the Heels were called for a false start on two consecutive plays, making it a 2nd and 18, which ultimately resulted in the FG. I listened to the entire game on THSN, and both Jones Angell and William Henderson (IIRC) the color analyst, were commenting on the incredible noise (also commented on by Lee Pace on the sideline) in the stadium while the Heels were trying to call plays and execute same, particularly on those 2 downs deep in Canes territory.
And the real complaint was that such noise was NOT crowd noise, or even their band playing - it was very loud music being piped over the Stadium PA system. This comment was repeated several times throughout the game, apparently with never a visible or audible warning to the Canes bench to curtail same. Since I didn't listen to the ABC crew doing the TV broadcast, I don't know if they commented on it or not. But, just what are the accepted limits of what a home team's fans and support staff are allowed to do to disrupt an opponent's ability to communicate on the field???
Clearly, it impacted our ability to execute the offense - and maybe that was due to UNC attempting to "tempo" the Canes defense immediately after the ball was marked for play (which could be a problem, I guess, even if the noise were cut back when the ball was whistled ready for play), or we just had inexperienced OL whose focus wasn't sufficient to deal with a noisy hostile environment.
Either way - can anyone clarify the rules, and what "should" have been done by the officiating crew (assuming that the reports of excessive extraneous noise and the source of such are reasonably accurate), if anything?
Our guys were flagged for an ungodly # of "false starts" on Saturday, and I haven't seen any comment on the issue, other than the Heels needing to work on it, especially with several green O-linemen playing due to injuries to starters.
My question really revolves around how much the home team is allowed to create outside noise to disrupt the opposition offense's play call and snap count, without being flagged for a penalty for "delay of game". I realize that crowd noise is particularly hard to control, and clearly this is a big part of a "home field advantage", but at what point does it cease to be allowable, and result in a penalty against the home team.
I watched the game Saturday on ABC (and due to the OT in Clemson, they didn't show the first few minutes when the Heels held the Canes to a 3 and out on the opening drive, and forced a punt giving the Heels a short field on their first possession). With a 2nd and 8 on the Miami 15, the Heels were called for a false start on two consecutive plays, making it a 2nd and 18, which ultimately resulted in the FG. I listened to the entire game on THSN, and both Jones Angell and William Henderson (IIRC) the color analyst, were commenting on the incredible noise (also commented on by Lee Pace on the sideline) in the stadium while the Heels were trying to call plays and execute same, particularly on those 2 downs deep in Canes territory.
And the real complaint was that such noise was NOT crowd noise, or even their band playing - it was very loud music being piped over the Stadium PA system. This comment was repeated several times throughout the game, apparently with never a visible or audible warning to the Canes bench to curtail same. Since I didn't listen to the ABC crew doing the TV broadcast, I don't know if they commented on it or not. But, just what are the accepted limits of what a home team's fans and support staff are allowed to do to disrupt an opponent's ability to communicate on the field???
Clearly, it impacted our ability to execute the offense - and maybe that was due to UNC attempting to "tempo" the Canes defense immediately after the ball was marked for play (which could be a problem, I guess, even if the noise were cut back when the ball was whistled ready for play), or we just had inexperienced OL whose focus wasn't sufficient to deal with a noisy hostile environment.
Either way - can anyone clarify the rules, and what "should" have been done by the officiating crew (assuming that the reports of excessive extraneous noise and the source of such are reasonably accurate), if anything?
