It seems that each new college football season brings its own group of confusing rules violations and enforcements.

This young season has been my cornucopia of officials’ rulings and violations that might need explaining, at least to some fans. The LSU-Auburn game contained at least one such call by the officials.

Auburn had scored a touchdown in the game’s final minutes and tied the score at nine. The point after attempt sailed wide, apparently leaving the score tied and probably sending the game into overtime.

Wait. A flag had been throw on LSU for a personal foul. After the penalty was assessed, Auburn again kicked for the extra point, and this time the kick was true resulting in Auburn having a 10-9 lead.

As usual, the TV announcers had no idea what the personal foul consisted of. The referee announced LSU’s No. 9 had committed a personal foul &045; the penalty was half the distance to the goal, and Auburn would retry the point.

The announcers, attempting to find the foul on the replay, assumed No. 9, being a receiver or defensive back, would be rushing the kicker from outside. They never did locate him.

What actually happened was No. 9 had lined up in the middle, ran in and leapt in an attempt to block the kick. His problem was when he came down from his leap, he landed on one of Auburn’s linemen.

NCAA football Rule 9, Article 1, Section 2q, which in 2003 had read, &uot;No defensive player, in an attempt to gain an advantage, may step, jump or stand on an opponent,&uot; had been amended for the 2004 season to add, &uot;No team B (the team not putting the ball in play) player who runs forward and leaps in an obvious attempt to block a field goal or try, may land on an opponent.&uot;

Watching the replay, that is exactly what I saw No. 9 do. The call was correct.

There was a call in the Ole Miss-Vandy game I thought might have been made in error by the officials. Late in the game when Vandy had been forced to punt, the Ole Miss safety ran forward and caught the ball.

He was immediately clothes-lined by a covering Vandy player who drew a flag for catch interference. While the action by the Vanderbilt player may well have qualified as a personal foul, it did not appear to violate Rule 6, Section 4, which deals with the &uot;Opportunity to Catch a Kick.&uot;

Article 1 states, &uot;…must be given an unimpeded opportunity to catch the kick.&uot; Article 1c adds, &uot;It is an interference foul if the kicking team contacts the potential receiver before, or simultaneous to, his first touching the ball&uot;.

As the Ole Miss player caught the ball and held on to it, I think the interference call was in error. Most fans realize the old halo rule was eliminated last year and the receiver always has the option of gaining protection by calling for a fair catch.

About the only change I’d like to see in the rules now is that taunting on a touchdown run would be penalized from the previous spot. Miami again. More coaches would control their hot shots like Coach Croom does, wouldn’t they?

And that’s official

Al Graning is a former SEC official and former Natchez resident. Reach him at

AlanWard39157@aol.com

.