Big Ten revises way it aligns officials on onside kicks after controversial offside call on Gophers

The Big Ten's change in the way its football officials will align themselves for onside kicks is being done on an experimental basis for the rest of the season and will be evaluated to determine if it will be used across all conferences, the NCAA's supervisor of officials said Tuesday.

Onside kick officiating was put in the spotlight after Minnesota, on a controversial call, was penalized for offside when it recovered an onside kick late in its game at Michigan on Saturday.

Effective immediately, the line judge and head line judge will be positioned on the kicking team's restraining line — “thereby putting multiple officials in the best position to consistently make the correct judgment,” the Big Ten said in a statement Monday.

The restraining line is typically the kicking team's 35, and its coverage players aren't allowed to cross it until the ball is kicked. The receiving team's restraining line is the 45, or 10 yards upfield. The ball must travel at least that far for it to be a legal onside kick.

On regular kickoffs, the back judge and umpire traditionally are stationed on the kicking team's restraining line and the line judge and head line judge are on the receiving team's goal line. If an onside kick was imminent, the line judges moved from the goal line to between the two restraining lines, typically the kicking team's 40. The field judge and side judge are and will remain at the 45 to make sure the ball travels the required 10 yards.

“We need all the eyes we can get up where the action is going to be,” national supervisor of officials Steve Shaw said.

Shaw said Big Ten coordinator of officials Bill Carollo's rationale for requesting the experiment was that the line judge and head line judge are more accustomed to detecting false starts and offside because of their roles during scrimmage play. The back judge and umpire will now move to the middle ground where the line judges were previously.

There will be no change in the alignment for regular kickoffs.

Minnesota trailed Michigan 27-24 with 1:37 left in Saturday’s game when it lined up for an onside kick. The Gophers' Matt Kingsbury recovered the kick, but he was ruled offside. Offside calls are not subject to video review. Minnesota tried another onside kick, Michigan recovered it and ran out the clock.

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said he submitted the play to the Big Ten for review.

“We credit the Big Ten Conference for recognizing the need to make this change to ensure accurate calls in the future,” he said in a statement.

Shaw said officiating mechanics usually go unnoticed by fans.

“This one got highly publicized because of the events of last weekend," he said.

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