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Pastimes : College Football: Nits, Gators, Bruins, Vols - Whoever! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DScottD who wrote (4785)	10/24/2001 11:15:34 AM
From: E'Lane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11146

Should make for an "interesting" game Saturday. Guess I should take my "library voice" with me.... Gamecock's stadium must be one quiiiieeettttt place. Yeah, right! ~~~~~~ Holtz would rather get a rulebook than earplugs vs. Vols Commentary by DAVID CLIMER Add another entry to Lou Holtz's job description: Traffic cop for the Noise Police. Holtz is raising a stink about raising the roof. He has issued a warning that if Tennessee's fans push the decibel level on Saturday, his South Carolina offense may exercise discretion over valor. ''If we can't hear, we can't play,'' Holtz said. ''There's no sense in us even trying to play if we cannot understand what play is being run or when the ball is going to be snapped. ''That is totally unfair. But I feel quite certain that the officials will give us that opportunity to call our plays and snap the ball.'' Say this for Lou Holtz: He always has an agenda. He works psychological angles, seeks motivational advantages and generally pushes the envelope in order to gain any edge. Having been stung by South Carolina's inability to communicate and produce points in a loss at Arkansas, he is making a lot of noise about crowd noise. This goes against convention in hearing-impaired conferences like the SEC. Most teams prepare for the worst when they go on the road. You know ahead of time you won't be able to hear yourself think so you practice communication via hand signals, silent counts and mental telepathy. ''We tell our coaches that we prefer if it is at all possible to get the ball snapped,'' said Bobby Gaston, coordinator of football officials for the SEC. ''We found out a long, long time ago that if you don't snap it, the crowd noise gets worse.'' While it was once standard operating procedure for officials to halt the game and ask for quiet so the visiting team's offense could hear, Gaston said he cannot recall such an instance ''in the last six or seven years, maybe more.'' But Holtz has a different idea. And if he forces the SEC officiating crew to play by the letter of the rulebook, this could get very interesting. The step-by-step policy for dealing with crowd noise: • When the offense gets in position at the line of scrimmage and the quarterback believes his voice cannot be heard, he can turn to the referee and ask for a ruling. If the referee agrees it is too loud, he stops the clock and allows the offense to huddle again. • If the crowd noise is still too great, the referee asks the captain of the defensive team to motion for the crowd to quiet down and a public address announcement is made, informing fans that the home team is subject to a penalty if it continues to interfere with the snap count. • If the noise remains too great, a timeout is charged against the defense. • If it continues and all timeouts are exhausted, a 5-yard penalty is assessed for each additional delay caused by the crowd. As you might expect, this does not sit well with UT Coach Phillip Fulmer. He believes the sound and the fury is part of the game. ''We've been in a lot of big games, and basically the officials tell us that they're going to play,'' Fulmer said. ''If the referee can hear the quarterback, then they're going to play. I'm sure our fans will be into it.'' Thus, the battle lines are drawn in decibels. Will the crowd pipe down? Will the officials step up? If a tree falls in the end zone and no one is there, does it make a sound? For a coach who is so meticulous in his preparations, Lou Holtz is making this a snap decision. tennessean.com