question on "interference"

[MD Longhorn]

tibear, I agree with most of what you said... but I think the implied question behind the question is ... are we going to allow a deliberate act by an offensive player to give an advantage to the offense (i.e. had the player gotten out of the way, the runner would have only gotten 2nd... but now that the offensive player deliberately altered the play, his runner gets 3rd).

I think I'd feel compelled to kill this particular play and send the runner back to 2nd (and I'm fully prepared to be blistered by those who say I have no rule basis for such a decision). If the ball had simply inadvertently struck the ODB, it's more like the play you mention with the 1BC. I think the difference here is the seemingly intentional way in which the ODB prevented the ball from going out of play.