Muff Kick

[jTheUmp]

Yes, it's a legal play in FED. 1st and 10 for K at the K-20.

(On another note: the juxtaposition of a thread titled "Muff kick" by a poster named "surehands" made me chuckle).

[Robert Goodman]

There was a number of decades where Fed rules had it that possession by a K player of a kick made the ball dead regardless of its type or previous trajectory. That was during a time when their philosophy seemed to be that the only good ball was a dead one (for safety), or maybe the rules makers' motiv'n was to keep the rule book short, which having such a rule did, compared to having it as a dead ball in some cases & a live ball in others.

[Texas Aggie]

In NCAA, you wouldn't have a forward pass to begin with because the ball is dead as soon as K (or A since NCAA doesn't use K/R) recovers

You're right. I shouldn't be making rules comments on my "spring break" which has just ended.

OK, so real quick: change the play a little to where the punt is from deep in A's territory. Everything happens like in the OP, except the ball isn't recovered. Now, the muff causes the ball to go back into A's end zone where it goes out of bounds.

Ruling?

[Legacy Zebra]

OK, so real quick: change the play a little to where the punt is from deep in A's territory. Everything happens like in the OP, except the ball isn't recovered. Now, the muff causes the ball to go back into A's end zone where it goes out of bounds.

Ruling?

In NCAA, it’s a safety. The impetus is still A’s punt since muffing a loose ball does not change responsibility unless the ball was at rest.