Onside kick question...

slippery rock · #1 (**permalink**) Wed Oct 22, 2003, 12:10am

There is a post below concerning an Onside Kick. It is very confusing to me.

Let me present the following situation:

NCAA rules. Team (A) kicks off. The ball is kicked against the wind, the ball is held up by the wind and the kicking team (A) catches the ball "in the air" 30 yards downfield and steps out of bounds. There was no player from the receiving team in the area and there was no fair-catch signal.

I think it is the Kicking Team (A) ball, 30 yards down the field, where they caught the ball in the air and went out of bounds. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance.

keystoneref · #2 (**permalink**) Wed Oct 22, 2003, 05:14am

I am unsure about the NCAA ruling, however in NF this would be kick catching interference. The ball must travel at least 10 yards and GROUND or the ball must be touched by a member of R before the kicking team may legally touch the ball. R may take an awarded fair catch at the spot of the penalty or penalize 15 yards from the previous spot and replay the down.

FBullock · #3 (**permalink**) Wed Oct 22, 2003, 06:58am

Under NCAA, legal, K's ball at the spot where caught. Rule 6-1-3. This assumes that when he caught the ball he came down with at least one foot in bounds. If he jumped, possed the ball and landed out of bounds, you have a kick out of bounds with a flag and all the things that go along with that penalty.

TXMike · #4 (**permalink**) Wed Oct 22, 2003, 07:01am

And what if it is a Team B player who jumps, possesses, and then lands out of bounds?

MD Longhorn · #5 (**permalink**) Wed Oct 22, 2003, 09:34am

That's a great question. I just reread all of the relevant rules (the out of bounds section, the possession section, and the kicks section), and can't find anything to differentiate the two. Meaning a player could jump, catch, and land out of bounds on purpose in order to force a kick out of bounds. There MUST be something I'm missing to not allow that.

bigwhistle · #6 (**permalink**) Wed Oct 22, 2003, 10:03am

If B jumps, catches, and lands out of bounds, it would be a kick out of bounds. This is the same as if B received the kick with one foot out of bounds. He is not deemed to have received the ball inbounds.

FBullock · #7 (**permalink**) Wed Oct 22, 2003, 10:09am

Under NCAA, if B touches the ball, doesn't have to posses it before it goes out of bounds, the ball is at the spot it went out. So if B goes up and catches it and comes down OB, B's ball at the OB spot. I believe this is a John Adams memo from a couple of years ago.

MD Longhorn · #8 (**permalink**) Wed Oct 22, 2003, 10:17am

Ah, there it is. I knew it felt wrong:

NCAA 6-2-1: A free kick out of bounds untouched inbounds by a player of team B is a foul.

Add in that a player is "inbounds" until he's "out of bounds", so the airborne player is inbounds when he touches the ball, because he is not yet "out of bounds". So the ball is out of bounds where the player takes it, but it's not a foul because it doesn't meet the standard of the above rule.

This also explains why it's a foul if the kicking team does the same thing - in that case, it DOES meet the standard of the rule, in that it was not touched inbounds by a player of team B.