Noise Rule In College Football

RollTide1224

All-American
Feb 18, 2008
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I'm watching a replay of the 1977 Bama vs. Southern Cal game and noticed something I never knew existed. When Bama is close to the goaline and the crowd gets noisy they step away from the ball and basically get a free timeout. The announcers say that if it keeps up then it can be a penalty. I looked it up on google but couldn't find too much about it. For those that were around that day what exactly was the rule?

I honestly can't believe that that was ever a rule. On a side note there a bunch of full bama games on youtube including the 1992 national championship game, 1999 Florida game, 2005 Florida, 08 Clemson, and a bunch from the 92 season. I've been watching them today and it's cool to see old games.
 

Dallas4Bama

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Sep 27, 2006
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Yep. At one time that was not only a rule, but it was considered bad sportsmanship for the crowd to make enough noise to effect the presnap communications. Coach Stallings still feels that way and has been vocal about it for years.
 

RTR91

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Nov 23, 2007
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I remember seeing the replay of a Michigan game a few years ago, and this same situation came up. My brother and I couldn't believe it.
 

RedStar

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Yep. At one time that was not only a rule, but it was considered bad sportsmanship for the crowd to make enough noise to effect the presnap communications. Coach Stallings still feels that way and has been vocal about it for years.
I love it because it actually is a way for the fans to be involved in the game and affect the play on the field.
 

okbama

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Mar 10, 2003
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No different than everybody making noise and waving their arms during free throws in basketball. Home field advantage comes to mind.
 

Dallas4Bama

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No different than everybody making noise and waving their arms during free throws in basketball. Home field advantage comes to mind.
I'm not saying its right or wrong, but at one time that was considered bush league as well. Years ago if the crowd tried to effect the game it was looked at in the same light that many BAMA fans do a team that runs a gimmick offense or an abundance of trick plays. It was something that teams who couldn't beat their opponent on the field or court did to have a chance.

Again, I'm not saying I'm against it so please don't everyone flame me. Just commenting on the change in the norms.
 

RollTide1224

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Feb 18, 2008
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Some of the things I read on the internet said if it continued the home team would be charged a timeout and then every time beyond that it was a 5 yard penalty. Does anyone know how long this was in existence?

Watching that game from 77 was great you've got Bryant smoking on the field, tear away jerseys, and the camera keeps panning to this smoking hot chick in the stands and keith jackson makes great comments. Totally worth a watch.
 

mittman

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Jun 19, 2009
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Yep. At one time that was not only a rule, but it was considered bad sportsmanship for the crowd to make enough noise to effect the presnap communications. Coach Stallings still feels that way and has been vocal about it for years.
I actually remember being shushed by my parents and some fans around me as a young boy. It really was considered bad sportsmanship.
 

Rush

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Jul 5, 2011
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Some of the things I read on the internet said if it continued the home team would be charged a timeout and then every time beyond that it was a 5 yard penalty. Does anyone know how long this was in existence?

Watching that game from 77 was great you've got Bryant smoking on the field, tear away jerseys, and the camera keeps panning to this smoking hot chick in the stands and keith jackson makes great comments. Totally worth a watch.
Where can I find it, 1224? :)
 

BigBama76

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Oct 26, 2011
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I'm watching a replay of the 1977 Bama vs. Southern Cal game and noticed something I never knew existed. When Bama is close to the goaline and the crowd gets noisy they step away from the ball and basically get a free timeout. The announcers say that if it keeps up then it can be a penalty. I looked it up on google but couldn't find too much about it. For those that were around that day what exactly was the rule?
The crowd noise rule came about during the late 70's but was sort of unofficial in that it didn't get in the rule book till around 1984. The NFL stop using it in the 80's and it just seemed to go away in college as well around the same time. Now I think it only applies to the bands and actual participates of the game, not the fans.

The way it was implemented originally, even before it was put in the rule book, was if the QB came to the line of scrimmage and signaled to the Referee there was too much noise, the referee would make an announcement and take away a timeout from the opposing team. If they had no more timeouts available they'd be penalized, I believe 5 yards per occurrence.

What sometimes happened if the game was really contentious would be the crowd just got louder and I think eventually everybody just kind of felt like it was too arbitrary a rule.
 

RollTide1224

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Feb 18, 2008
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Where can I find it, 1224? :)
The youtube video?


That's the first and second half.

This is the 1992 national championship game.


I downloaded a addon for firefox that allows you to rip these off of youtube. I figured these will get taken down for copyright issues so I wanted to get them before they did.
 

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