Arkansas Lateral
 

In yesterday's Arkansas game the lateral occurred on 4th down. It bounced before it was recovered by Arkansas and advanced for a first down. My question is....would this play have been legal in the nfl? My understanding is that fourth-down fumbles can only be recovered and advanced by the player who fumbled. Since the lateral bounced, would it be considered a fumble?

Why would it have been illegal at any level? It is not a fumble, it is a backward pass (not a lateral). NCAA and the NFL have basically the same fourth down fumble rule.

Peace

Thanks. I thought that a backwards pass that hits the ground would be considered a fumble and not a backwards pass. I guess that is not the case.

Nope, fumbles are accidental losses of the ball. Backward passes are intentional acts of giving the ball "away." If a pass is forward, then it would be an incomplete pass. If you have a fumble that goes forward, then you have a live ball. The forth down fumble rule would apply regardless of going forward or backward.

Peace

There is no such thing as a lateral. Its either forward or backward.

Usually, but not necessarily. If you look at the definition of "fumble" in the major codes, it's by exclusion. It's a catchall for loss of possession not produced by the other named means.

Here's a deliberate act of loss of player possession that AFAICT would be ruled a fumble: a "leave pass". The ballcarrier would place the ball on the ground & run away from it for a teammate to pick up. I even thought of a scenario where such a pass would make sense. In a general sports sense it's a type of pass, but in the football rule book sense it would not satisfy the definition of "pass".

Also, IIRC, a player who deliberately drops the ball for a punt or drop kick & is prevented from kicking the ball (or simply misses it) is ruled to have fumbled.

However, I can't think of a case complementary to that: accidental loss of ball that would not be ruled a fumble. So if possession is lost accidentally, it's a fumble, but if a fumble occurs, you can't be absolutely sure it must've happened by accidental means.