Question

[Texref]

So this happened in my sons game and the ruling confused me. I was working the down market so I did ask the question but the answer didn't sound right.
8th grade football. Texas (not sure but I believe they play under NCAA rules)
This happened during a punt. There was a block in the back by both teams. Return team ran ball from their 40is to about the 30 yard line. Foul on the return team occurred near where the ball was caught and the foul on the kicking team I didn't see. In any case they ruled since both fouls were live ball fouls the result of the play stood.
I thought they would be offsetting and replay 4th down as that is what I've always seen. Just curious as to the correct ruling. Thanks in advance.

[jTheUmp]

Ok, so R's foul occurred during the kick, or during the return, and K's foul occurred at some unknown point.

There's a couple of ways it could go:
1a) If R's foul was during the kick:
R declines K's foul, K accepts the penalty for R's foul, and we enforce R's foul from the end of the kick (if foul was during the kick)
OR
1b) if R's foul was during the return:
R declines K's foul, R's foul is enforced under All-but-one (FED) or 3-and-1 (NCAA)... in either case, it's from either the end of the run or spot of the foul, whichever is worse for R.
OR
2) fouls offset, and we replay 4th down.
OR
3) R declines K's foul, K for some reason declines R's foul, and the result of the play stands. There's no real reason for K to do this, but coaches aren't always the smartest people in the room, and if the referee offered the option to K....


Sounds like Option 3 is what happened in your case.

Most veteran officials would offer K's coach options 1a/1b (whichever is applicable) and 2, and not even mention Option 3.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

Ok, so R's foul occurred during the kick, or during the return, and K's foul occurred at some unknown point.

There's a couple of ways it could go:
1a) If R's foul was during the kick:
R declines K's foul, K accepts the penalty for R's foul, and we enforce R's foul from the end of the kick (if foul was during the kick)
OR
1b) if R's foul was during the return:
R declines K's foul, R's foul is enforced under All-but-one (FED) or 3-and-1 (NCAA)... in either case, it's from either the end of the run or spot of the foul, whichever is worse for R.
OR
2) fouls offset, and we replay 4th down.
OR
3) R declines K's foul, K for some reason declines R's foul, and the result of the play stands. There's no real reason for K to do this, but coaches aren't always the smartest people in the room, and if the referee offered the option to K....


Sounds like Option 3 is what happened in your case.

Most veteran officials would offer K's coach options 1a/1b (whichever is applicable) and 2, and not even mention Option 3.

Since we don't know the exact spots, it could well have been case 1a.