I don't have my book handy and in reading a thread from one of the messages I saw someone say that the end of the run, when a ball is fumbled by A1 forward is the spot of the fumble. I ask one of my fellow officials and he did not think so. If it is, I blew a call. What is the rule?

The basic spot on a running play is the end of the run which is a) where a player is downed or b) where he loses possession.

What was the play?

Can you describe what happened?
 

Yes, the spot where the A player fumbled (beyond the neutral zone) is the end of the run for penalty enforcement purposes. It has to be marked with a bean-bag in case there is a foul during the play.

In NFHS rules, a fumble by A in or behind the neutral zone is considered a loose ball play and the spot of enforcement would be the previous spot.

Can you elaborate a little bit more on what happened during the down in question? Then we can talk about it more.

It doesn't have to be a forward fumble. The basic spot during any fumble beyond the neutral zone, or after a change of possession, is the end of the 'related' run.

Is there any purpose of bagging a fumble in or behind the NZ?

Technically you should always bag a fumble spot because there might be an inadvertent whistle. Having said that, if the fumble is behind the LOS then it probably doesn't matter much because the team last in possession at the time of the IW would have a choice of taking the results of the play (i.e., where the fumble occurred) or replaying. Can't think of a situation where the fumbling team would want to take the results of the play (if it ended behind the LOS).
Just seems to me that it's good practice to bag the spot of a fumble, regardless of the location.

I agree it is good practice to bag all fumbles. And if you are playing by NFL rules, a fumble which goes forward and out of bounds comes back to the spot of the fumble, whether that spot is beyond or behind the line of scrimmage.

REPLY: True for NCAA rules also...

Thanks, Bob M, I thought so but I have been out of NCAA for a while and wasn't sure.

In NCAA is it all fumbles or just fumbles on 4th down?

REPLY: It's <u>all</u> fumbles out of bounds (regardless of down), and all fumbles on fourth down (inbounds or out of bounds). So a fumble on third down that's recovered inbounds is not subject to this rule, while a fumble out of bounds on first down is subject to the rule. Here are the two pertinent rules:

<b>NCAA 7-2-2-b Exception 2:</b><i> "When on fourth down, before a change of team possession, a Team A fumble is recovered in advance of the fumble by a Team A player other than the fumbler, the ball is dead and returned to the spot of the fumble. If the fumble is recovered behind the spot of the fumble by a Team A player other than the Team A fumbler, the ball is dead at that spot."</i>

<b>NCAA 7-2-4-b:</b><i> "When a fumble is out of bounds in advance of the spot of the fumble, the ball is returned to the fumbling team at the spot of the fumble. Fumbles out of bounds behind the spot of the fumble belong to the fumbling team at the out-of-bounds spot. If a fumble is out of bounds behind a goal line, it is a touchback or a safety..."</i>