to blow pr not to blow, that is the question

[James Neil]

We had an interesting play Saturday during a semi-pro game. Team A is behind in a close game and has the ball in the center of the field at the A-35. A-2 takes a handoff and runs to the A-40. Just as he was about to be tackled, he tosses a backward pass to A-3 who’s right behind him at the A-38. A-3 runs up field to the A-42 and pitches an underhand pass to A-4 who’s about 2 yards inside the hash at the A-44. I was working Umpire and saw the second pass was clearly forward so I bagged it and tossed my flag. (I know, I should have bagged the first pass too). A4 muffs the second pass, B52 recovers and we all head the other way. B52 is downed at the A-30. A commits two dead ball fouls. I report my foul to the White Hat and he asks me why I didn’t blow it dead when the illegal pass hit the ground.
While I’m thinking about it he says it doesn’t matter, B is going to decline anyway. He then tells the B caption he has a choice of which foul to accept. I quietly interrupt and tell him both should be enforced. He consults with our Line Judge who confirms my diagnosis. While going over this play in our post-game, We had some disagreement as to wither I should have blown the play dead when the second pass hit the ground. The vote went 4-2 blow it dead. BTW ...NCAA rules