USA Football Rules Editor Bill LeMonnier is a former college referee who currently serves as an ESPN NCAA rules analyst. Click here to ask Bill a question. Make sure to put “Ask the Official” in the subject line.

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During a recent New Mexico high school football game, a defensive player timed the snap perfectly and knocked the ball loose while the offense was trying to run out the clock in victory formation. This came on the heels of four offside calls where the defense was trying to do this.

The result of this turnover was a game-changing touchdown by the team that recovered the ball. Is knocking the ball away from the center during the snap a legal play?

No. This is encroachment on the defense, which is a 5-yard, dead ball penalty. And well before the defense got to four offside penalties, an unsportsmanlike conduct foul should have been called on the defensive team’s coach for unprofessional conduct.

Defensive players cannot go after the ball while the center is in a legal snap and it is still in his hands. The ball must leave the center’s hands as either a backward pass (shotgun QB or punter) or touch the hand of the quarterback. If the center and quarterback mishandle the snap, that’s a live ball and anyone can get it.

In the same vein, a center cannot stutter or delay the snap once in motion. That would be a 5-yard false start penalty. For a legal snap to occur and a play to start, the ball must be transferred in one fluid motion from the center to an eligible receiver.

This was a missed call, but like any other call/no call, most states won’t take a protest over a missed judgment or rule application.