Play Clock Reset Situation
With :47 remaining in the 4th quarter and Team A ahead of Team B by 7 points, A ball and 4th down, the play clock operator failed to start the 40 second clock after 3rd down allowing an eventual 8 seconds to run off the play clock. We appropriately killed the clock, the put it back to :47 and were about to put the ball rfp, before we realized the play clock should be reset to :25 as it was an administrative stoppage/officials’ timeout to reset the game and play clock (or get it running as it should have).
The A head coach asked for the books and we were able to cite rule 3-5-7 and explain our reasoning for having the play clock set to :25 after the officials’ timeout.
B ended up getting the ball back with :07 to go after A ran it down to :23, punted and there was a subsequent lengthy (in amount of time) return. They then completed a Hail Mary with :00 left on the clock following the c.o.p. and then had their try attempt blocked to lose by 1.
My question is the :25 play clock in that situation correct, especially given the circumstance? Or should we have handled this situation differently? I felt in this situation we were able to hang our hats on the rule (3-5-7), however it was just an unusual situation and I’d like to get your take so we can use that information/guidance moving forward.
If you are putting the clock back to :47, you are re-creating the play and the play clock should be set to 40. The rule references here would be 3-4-8 and 3-4-9. Your administrative stoppage was to correct the clock. I think you could have left the game clock at :39 and reset the play clock to 25 for administrative stoppage. I think the best scenario is to re-create the entire situation since you knew the end of the last play was at :47. The bottom line is the play clock operator put you in a tough situation.