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Welpe,
Thanks for your response. I went back and read 10-4 & 10-5, to include as many times before, Rule 2 Definitions. Without the understanding of Rule 2 and the "Fundamentals of Football" one is hard pressed to gain an understanding of the rest of the rules. Interestingly enough in Rule 2-SECTION 43 TEAM DESIGNATIONS we find the following :
ART. 1 . . . The offense is the team which is in possession of the ball. The
opponent is the defense.
ART. 2 . . . A is the team which puts the ball in play. The opponent is B.
ART. 3 . . . K is the team which legally kicks the ball during the down. The
opponent is R.
ART. 4 . . . Team designations (A and B, K and R) are retained until the ball is
next marked ready for play.
Throughout the years of officiating I've understood that the Team Designations that start with the "Ready for Play" continue throughout the down, regardless of the action by any player/team, status of the ball or whether there was a COP until the next "Ready for Play". This would be supported by 2-43-4 above. However, 2-43-1, by itself, without the addition of article 2-4, may imply that it can change (I'm still not totally convinced). Right, wrong or indifferent, I've always believed that team designations with regards to rules application never changed during a down. Based on the later, that puts my understanding of the application of rule 10-5-4 at odds with the play situation/scenario. Rule 10-5-4 taken at face value and as "Plain language" would suggest that Team A (the Offense at the start of the Ready for Play) would have to commit an illegal forward pass or some other infraction behind its goal line that was subsequently accepted by Team B (the Defense at the start of the Ready for Play) in which the spot of the penalty or its enforcement was the Goal Line or behind the GL, resulting in a Safety. Furthermore, it doesn't specifically treat/address COP's. Clearly, in the stated scenario, since it was Team B (the Defense), that gained possession of Team A's Offensive PASS via an interception in their/B end zone(EZ) with the down not ending with that single action (loose ball play with the ball remaining live with B in Team/Player possession) doesn't in my mind change Team Designations or Labels under 2-43. Looking at Rule 8-5 in general, shows consistent language where the designation of B after a COP continues to be B and similarly for A.
So again, in this scenario, I'm still wrestling with the facts of Force, Team Designations/Labels and what the "Basic Spot" and the Spot of Enforcement is under 10-4 & 10-5. If I just simply look at the action, I've got A making a bad Pass that a B player took advantage of by intercepting it in his EZ. If he had downed the ball in his EZ, then we would come out to the 20 and have 1st and 10 B (He got the ball with Clean Hands, made no mistakes after the interception - life is good - he's a hero), However in the stated scenario, since he elected to gain an advantage by getting the ball to a Teammate that he thought had better field position and did so incorrectly, the asserted ruling of C (Safety), states that we are not going to reward him with the ball at all, instead, we are going give his opponents 2 points and make him kick the ball away to give his opponents another shot at scoring. Something isn't right here. In my gut, hitting him with a distance penalty that took away any advantage that he hoped to gain with an illegal handing after a good and legal interception is absolutely appropriate (enforce the penalty from the succeeding spot), however to award his opponent with two points AND make him give up the ball ,,,,,, WOW ...... I'm going to bury myself in the Redding's Guide, Case Book and go look at my NCAA rules.
Although you offer a reasonable explanation and reference to the rules, I really need to resolve this in my own mind. Thanks for making me really DIG and learn.
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