Intentional grounding or not

[benbret]

NFHS Varsity Football. A's ball on their on 1 yard line. QB is in shotgun 7 yards deep in endzone. After the snap, team B members put pressure on QB and he throws the ball (just to get rid of it) into the middle of his line. A lineman that is on the 1 yard line tries to catch the pass but it bounced off of his hands and hit the ground. What is the call? If the lineman was in the endzone when he touched the pass would it make a difference in the ruling?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by benbret

NFHS Varsity Football. A's ball on their on 1 yard line. QB is in shotgun 7 yards deep in endzone. After the snap, team B members put pressure on QB and he throws the ball (just to get rid of it) into the middle of his line. A lineman that is on the 1 yard line tries to catch the pass but it bounced off of his hands and hit the ground. What is the call? If the lineman was in the endzone when he touched the pass would it make a difference in the ruling?

It's an illegal forward pass, intentional grounding. Because the pass was illegal, there was no illegal touching foul by the ineligible receiver.

If the penalty is accepted, safety. Team B might want to decline the penalty if it was 4th down.

[Mbilica]

No choice to decline. Because there was no legal pass, the run ended in the end zone. This is a safety whether it is accepted or decline. No choice need be offered since the result is the same. FED 8-5-2c

[BoomerSooner]

Originally Posted by Mbilica

No choice to decline. Because there was no legal pass, the run ended in the end zone. This is a safety whether it is accepted or decline. No choice need be offered since the result is the same. FED 8-5-2c

This is correct.

Because it was an incomplete illegal forward pass from the end zone, the result will always be a safety. As odd as it sounds, there cannot be illegal touching on this play because there was not a legal forward pass (eligibility restrictions only apply to a legal forward pass). Had the ineligible player caught the illegal pass, the defense would then have the option to accept the penalty for the illegal forward pass (safety) or accept the result of the play including any action following the catch by the ineligible player. Likewise, had the defense intercepted the pass, they would have the option to decline the penalty for an illegal forward pass and accept the result of the play including any action following the interception.

As it seems the OP also had a question about how illegal touching by an ineligible player might affect a situation like this, I'll point out what would have happened had the pass been legal in the original situation. For example, let's add an eligible receiver in the area of the pass but an errant throw missed the intended receiver and an ineligible receiver touched the ball. In this situation, the location of the touching does not matter as the penalty is enforced from the basic spot, which on a loose ball play is the previous spot. So had the pass been touched on the 1 yard line or in the end zone, the enforcement would be from the previous spot. Since the penalty includes a loss of down, the enforcement would be half the distance to the goal and loss of down. Probably not any need to offer those options.

[HLin NC]

But Boomer, what about ABO? Foul by A behind the basic spot, to wit the illegal touch, would be assessed from the spot.

[Texas Aggie]

NCAA: illegal forward pass -- regardless of whether he catches it or not. That is as the play is stated here.

Exception: if he was out of the pocket AND the ball crossed the LOS, OR, there was an eligible receiver close by, then you'll stay with the illegal touching foul.

There should be a flag on this play regardless.

[BoomerSooner]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

But Boomer, what about ABO? Foul by A behind the basic spot, to wit the illegal touch, would be assessed from the spot.

Well, I guess if for some crazy reason you don't want to switch back and forth between Fed and NCAA this would be accurate.

This is what I get for trying to post while watching college football highlights. I completely goofed this up because discussion of the basic spot isn't necessary in NCAA as the rule specifically declares the previous spot as the enforcement spot for illegal touching.

Fail