I didnt want this to get lost since its been brought up in a couple of threads already. I was able to get clarity from 2 people involved with the NCAA. One with the head of the ncaa rules committee, one with the USA football who put me in touch with someone who is an ESPN NCAA Rules analyst .
Since this was brought out in the Petrino thread and that he was complaining, and also i saw some threads on the UL site with pictures.
1) the ball is held by the refs and once they put it in play its good to go
2) the chains do not need to be set for the ball to marked for play
3) the down box is the only thing that needs to be in place
4) common practice is for 8-10 secs to go by to mark a ball for play, but it can be done sooner, and usually is in end of game situations
5) refs also need to be in position before ball can be snapped.
6) if subs have been made ball will be held longer
7) there is no rule against having additional sets of chains, there is some concern that it may lead to issues with more congestion and confusion on the side lines. If SU wanted to work on it with chain crews they might be able to get it done at home games. but it would have to show that its practical for it to work right.
Since this was brought out in the Petrino thread and that he was complaining, and also i saw some threads on the UL site with pictures.
1) the ball is held by the refs and once they put it in play its good to go
2) the chains do not need to be set for the ball to marked for play
3) the down box is the only thing that needs to be in place
4) common practice is for 8-10 secs to go by to mark a ball for play, but it can be done sooner, and usually is in end of game situations
5) refs also need to be in position before ball can be snapped.
6) if subs have been made ball will be held longer
7) there is no rule against having additional sets of chains, there is some concern that it may lead to issues with more congestion and confusion on the side lines. If SU wanted to work on it with chain crews they might be able to get it done at home games. but it would have to show that its practical for it to work right.