Quote:
Originally Posted by dkgojackets
would that matter? the clock was already stopped because of the spike and then the penalty was enforced for too many men.
It allows the offense to get a free timeout by commiting a penalty.
When the offense wants to spike the ball the clock is running and they want it stopped ASAP. There has to be some motivation to force them to wait till the ball is set properly and they are lined up properly to do so, the run off ensures this.
Without it the center and QB should just snap and spike the ball regardless of everything else going on.
There are apparently rules about when the run off happens vs. when it doesn't. For example in the NFL if the offense commits a penalty but was set there's no run off (this happened a few weeks ago I forget the game).
I'm not sure but I'd call too many men on the field not being set and I think the run off should apply in that case, but I'm not sure.