Safety or Not?

[Texas Aggie]

This is why there's no need to bag a fumble behind the line of scrimmage. Ever.

I don't know about Fed but in NCAA there are several reasons why you want to bag a fumble behind the line. 1) 4th down fumble rule application; 2) forward fumble out of bounds; 3) to determine, in certain situations, if the ball was fumbled in the end zone or field of play for batting purposes (no forward batting in FOP; no batting of any kind in EZ) -- this will help the other officials and finally 4) if for no other reason it tells everyone you have a fumble.

As to the play in question, under NCAA rules the play would result in a safety as the ball is brought back to the spot of the fumble. (7-2-4-b-2). This is behind Team A's goal line and thus a safety. (8-5-1-a). Or, they could accept the penalty enforcement and have Team A repeat the down from half the distance back. Under a weird set of circumstances (e.g. bad punter and or weak punt coverage/protection; or maybe its like 3rd down and 40) they may choose to do that.