The Holy Roller - What If?

[ilyazhito]

Those of us who are football fans know about the controversial Holy Roller play, where Ken Stabler intentionally fumbled the ball forward as he was being sacked, followed by Pete Banaszak and Dave Casper batting and kicking the ball, before Casper fell on the ball in the end zone for a game-changing touchdown (Errol Mann ended up scoring the winning point on the try). This resulted in the NFL changing the rules to prevent anyone other than the fumbler advancing the ball on the fumble in the last 2 minutes of the half or on 4th down. The NCAA later adopted the 4th down fumble rule, probably also in response to this situation.

What would happen, if Jerry Markbreit, the referee on that game, or one of the line of scrimmage officials, had ruled the forward fumble as an incomplete pass instead? Would we still see the 4th down fumble rule in college and pro games?