Football Plays to Review (Video)

[SC Official]

The entire ball didn't come out but his knee didn't touch the ground.

[BoomerSooner]

Originally Posted by SC Official

The entire ball didn't come out but his knee didn't touch the ground.

For NCAA the knee not touching the ground isn't relevant to this play. By rule, "the ball becomes dead ... when a ball carrier simulates placing his knee on the ground" (NCAA 4-1-3o). So if we determine the ball didn't leave the end zone, then we have a dead ball ending in the end zone and a touchback.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by BoomerSooner

For NCAA the knee not touching the ground isn't relevant to this play. By rule, "the ball becomes dead ... when a ball carrier simulates placing his knee on the ground" (NCAA 4-1-3o). So if we determine the ball didn't leave the end zone, then we have a dead ball ending in the end zone and a touchback.

Did not know this. Thanks.

[BoomerSooner]

I could be wrong, but I think it was added to prevent teams from having the QB fake kneeling to get the defense to relax and then taking a shot right before halftime.

[teebob21]

Not a football official, but I like to think I know the rules. I look forward to the rest of the discussion in the thread.

#1. Penalty should be applied on the succeeding kickoff, I guess (???). (Rule 10, Art. 5) However, I freely admit I have no idea how halftime plays into this. (Sidebar: if it was an unsportsmanlike conduct personal foul, say, for fighting, is it enforced the same, i.e. after the half?)

#2. Incomplete. (NCAA AR 7-3-6 XIII)

#3. I personally don't have KCI here, but definitely targeting. Eject. (Forcible contact to head or neck of defenseless opponent; clearly the returner meets the qualifications of 2.14.d)

#4. We don't have a great angle here, but it doesn't look like the entire ball crosses the plane of the goal line. Touchback.

[jdmara]

If you have it available, I would love to see the entire play with review of the Northwestern drive at 3:01 in the 4th period. It's the wild fumble into the end zone, WM recovery followed by an illegal bat (or forward pass). It ended up being called a touchback. Thanks

[The Roamin' Umpire]

Originally Posted by jdmara

If you have it available, I would love to see the entire play with review of the Northwestern drive at 3:01 in the 4th period. It's the wild fumble into the end zone, WM recovery followed by an illegal bat (or forward pass). It ended up being called a touchback. Thanks

Video of play (but not final ruling) here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd_ytv3tnAc

Here's what I see:
(1) Fumble clearly happens before ball breaks plane; fumble is the force that puts the ball into EZ.
(2) Defender possesses ball inbounds in the EZ, leaps, and tosses it back into field of play. This appears to be an illegal forward pass, though it is difficult to be certain of the angle.
(3) Ball lands inbounds in the EZ and is recovered by offense before they touch the pylon.

Seems pretty straightforward - decline penalty, touchdown. The question is whether the defender landed OOB before releasing the ball - the main video does not really have a good angle on this, though the inset freeze frame looks like he *does* release the ball first.