This play happened last night in a game I was listening to on the radio. Largest class of schools in the state and don't have enough fields to all play on friday night but that is another rant of mine. All I can tell you is what the announcers said. They seem to be pretty well versed on most of the rules. They will say that an official got it wrong when it is obvious but normally just try to rationalize the call when they don't know what actually happened.

It was 4th down for K. They punted and it was blocked. The punter picked up the ball and punted it again. The announcers never said where this second punt occurred but for this discussion we will assume it was behind the neutral zone. The officials flagged it for an illegal kick. The announcer rationalized the play into there can only be one punt per down. R declined the penalty because there was no loss of down and took the ball, I assume, at the end of the second kick but that is not the question as I don't remember that yardline.

Is there actually a rule that says there can only be one kick per down? The rules are very specific on the ammount of passes per play and where those can occur but I don't think it gets as detailed about kicks.

Following is Rule 6-2
SCRIMMAGE KICKS
ART. 1 . . . A may punt, drop kick or place kick from in or behind the neutral zone before team possession has changed.

ART. 3 . . . Any kicker may catch or recover a scrimmage kick while it is in or behind the neutral zone and advance, unless it is during a try.

PENALTY: Illegal kick (Art. 1) (S31) 15 yards.

I don't see anywhere that there can only be one punt per play. I think that is the rule in NCAA but we use NF here.

NCAA can have more than one punt as long as it never crossed the neutral zone and any Team A player may get the ball and run, pass, or kick . Another strange play that officials often don't realize is the punter can actually run past the NZ and then come back and punt the ball. The rule only implies that the punt must be made from behind the NZ.

Under NF rules, there can be more than one legal kick during a down provided each kick occurs from in or behind the NZ before a change in team possession. If an R player never possessed the ball then there was never a change in team possession. K can even kick the ball a second time if the ball went beyond the NZ, as long as the 2nd kick takes place from in/behind the NZ. Casebook play 5.1.3C addresses this situation.

Good. I thought based on my assumptions on this play that they ruled incorrectly on it.

As for the NCAA rule I think that I was confusing myself between this subject and whether a player can make a forward pass after a blocked scrimmage kick. It's legal in NF rules but I don't think it is under NCAA but maybe not. I'm sure not an expert on NCAA rules even after playing college football.

NCAA As long as the kicked ball never crossed the NZ it can be picked up and passed.