Today's Tidbit... The Meaning Behind the Ready-to-Play Signal and Others

I like some Tidbits more than others. This Tidbit is favored because I stumbled across information about the ready-to-play signal while looking for something else, making this an unexpected gift.

So, what is interesting about the ready-to-play signal? The NCAA implemented it in 1951 after Southwestern officials used it a bit. The lowly signal was an aftereffect of one of the most critical changes in the game: the arrival of free substitution. But, like most football stories, its history starts a bit further back.

Early football was rugby, so it had more or less continuous play. As shown in an earlier article breaking down film of the 1903 Yale-Princeton game, nearly continuous play remained in football when the century turned since teams still used the Traditional T formation. The game did not slow down until teams started pre-snap shifting, huddling, and changing formations from play to play in the 1920s.

The offensive center "spotted" the ball, and players brought out-of-bounds balls back onto the field until hash marks arrived in 1932. Only then did the referee begin spotting the ball regularly. Often, it was to the offense's advantage to periodically run quickie plays, quickly aligning and snapping the ball to catch the defense unprepared.

Due to concerns about limited rosters due to students entering the service, the 1941 season was the first to allow free substitution. Still, few teams took advantage of the rule until Fritz Chrisler's Michigan team went two-platoon in 1945. That led others to substitute one or two players at a time when on offense. Coaches who cared more about winning than good sportsmanship took advantage of swapping personnel by using sleeper ends occasionally. Sleepers occurred when the clock stopped, and teams had three players run off the field, and only two ran on. They left a third player along the sideline, hoping they would be lost in the shuffle so they would not have a defender on them at the snap, allowing them to streak downfield for a pass and an easy score.