Quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Ernie
Hi Bob,
Normally, I agree with you. However, I am going to disagree with you here on the NCAA part. IMHO the rule is quite clear. It says, "When Team A does not have possession of the ball when the down ends." In this case they do have possession when the down ends. The ball is not turned over until after the down ends.
This type of question always pops up on the CCA test and there is a difference between having possession when the down ends and gaining possession by rule when the down is complete.
I must apologize for my earlier post, I messed up the results. You guys are correct about the illegal touching. The only option I can see here is to enforce the foul from the previous spot.
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REPLY: Uncle Ernie, I can appreciate your position on this, but I'd like to pose three NCAA play situations for your consideration:
A, 4/10 from midfield. While A12's scrimmage kick is in flight, B45 holds a K player at B's 35. Then:
(a) the ball bounces and rolls out of bounds untouched at B's 10, or
(b) the ball is bouncing untouched at B's 10 where K22 grabs the ball
(c) the ball rolls to a stop at B's 15 with no player attempting to secure possession. Official blows it dead.
If I'm not mistaken, in all of these cases, K is technically in possession at the moment the down ends. R is only "awarded" possession after the down ends. However, in my opinion, all three scenarios qualify for PSK enforcement. I believe that's true for
both Federation and NCAA rules.
Rom Gilbert seems to agree. Check out play #2 on this web page. It's dedicated to PSK.
http://members.atlantic.net/~gilbertr/p-0203.htm
Also, take a look at Play #10. It's another case where A is technically "in possession" at the moment the ball becomes dead.
Also notice that Rom uses the words "in
legal possession" to describe the principle. That is, who's next entitled to put the ball in play. That's how I understand that you determine "possession" for the purposes of PSK.