We have an old saying among referees: “Funky ain’t a foul.”

Sometimes, officials relaying a penalty can’t describe what exactly it is that they saw. “It looked weird” isn’t good enough.

The bottom line: Don’t throw a flag if you can’t explain what happened to a coach. Just saying, “pass interference” isn’t enough when determining a penalty.

Instead, put the foul into a specific bucket, or category, so the coach knows how to correct the issue with his player. Was it:

• Playing through the back?
• A hook and turn?
• An arm bar?
• A cut off?
• Face guarding or not playing the ball with early contact?

It’s not pass interference if what you saw was incidental contact, inadvertent foot entanglement, regular touching or what we officials call chicken fighting (where both players are giving a little).

Pass interference is about gaining an advantage to the other player’s disadvantage. Did the contact restrict the opponent or cause separation?

As an official it is your job to make a judgement call, but make sure you can describe the reasoning behind that call when a referee or a coach asks.

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.