Safety on a Try - NFHS

[Bob M.]

REPLY: Agree with tundra's explanation up top but I'd like to clarify for some of our newer guys:

IN FEDERATION: B's muff doesn't automatically impart a new force on a grounded loose ball. Suffice it to say that the rules don't specifically say what's necessary to rule that a new force has been applied. They only say that a new force MAY be applied to a grounded loose ball. Check with your local association on how they like this ruled. Some interpretations look for B's muff to cause a change of direction as the key to ruling a new force. In other parts of the country, you must be convinced that the ball could not have entered B's end zone of its own accord. It pretty much requires the ball to be at rest or nearly at rest before you would rule the muff to be a new force.

IN NCAA: There are only two ways that you can rule a new impetus (NCAA-ish for "force") has been applied to a loose ball: (1) if a player kicks or bats the grounded loose ball, he's considered to have imparted a new impetus, or (2) if the loose ball is at rest, any contact with it imparts a new impetus.

Federation has an additional statement that force is immaterial when a kick enters B's endzone since it's a touchback by rule. And both codes are generally in agreement that you cannot impart a new force/impetus to a loose ball in flight. And remember also, that differences between NCAA and Federation rules regarding the legality of batting, and kicks entering B's endzone remaining alive account for some of the needed differences in the rules regarding force/impetus.