Quote:
Originally posted by wisref2
I'm not so sure about your ruling on this one. I'm open to being called an idiot on this one, but........
It is an incomplete pass - no foul on the play (Federation rules). He jumped from OOB, so he was still OOB when he touched the ball. The touching makes the ball dead (ball touching a player who is OOB).
It's the same as if he would have caught the ball OOB.
He never returned to the field, so there is no illegal participation. A player eligible at the start of a down is elegible through the entire down, so it's not pass interference.
Everything that follows the touching is ignored, since the play ended when the ball was touched.
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REPLY: I'm certainly not going to call a fellow official an idiot, but I do take exception with your interpretation. If you read the definition (NF 2-28-1 or NCAA 4-2-1a) both codes agree that a player is out of bounds when he is touching something other than a player or game official on or outside the sideline or endline. The most common situation is the ground. There's no requirement in either rule code that a player having been out of bounds must re-establish himself inbounds. If he's not touching something out-of-bounds, he's by definition inbounds. Both codes agree. This is unlike basketball where a player having been OOB is required to re-establish himself back inbounds. So in the posted play, it's not an incomplete pass, but rather a legally batted ball by an illegal participant for Federation. For NCAA, the receiver loses his eligibility by going OOB on his own accord. A different rule governs this.