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Old Tue Jul 24, 2007, 10:33am
Robert Goodman Robert Goodman is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,875
Think about the sorts of things that USC normally are. The only fouls called USC I can think of that affect play directly are those where a player of B deliberately prevents the ball from being put in play. All the rest are penalized not to rectify an unfair advantage but just to make the players' behavior nicer, so to speak.

Here you have 2 teams in a live ball situation each taking some unfair advantage -- one probably unintentionally, the other intentionally. Sure, B22 interferes with play in a way that you're flagging as pass inteference but in an extreme enough case could even be considered an unfair act (preventing a score) with an equitable penalty, possibly a TD awarded. But so what? A had already fouled by putting the ball in play from an illegal formation, and should not be allowed to benefit from the outcome of that play. So the logic of replaying the down is inescapable IMO, even if the rules weren't so clear about it.

The exception would be situations involving the safety of the players, and IIRC NCAA does make such an exception for personal fouls in a dual foul situation. If B22 had interfered with A88 by pulling his face mask, that foul would be enforceable.

Robert
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