NCAA - Clock Status

[The Roamin' Umpire]

Oh dear, not again. We batted this question around McGriff's forever. We never got a definitive answer from Adams on the topic.

Basically, there are two ways to look at it:

1) Treat the 4DFR as a foul, which means that it is ignored for clock status purposes. You assume that the fumble recovery is totally valid when starting the clock. Therefore, in your play, since the clock stopped for the "apparent" TD, it would start again on the snap. Several of the veteran NCAA guys said that this is the correct interpretation, and that they'd seen something official on the topic several years back.

2) Note that the 4DFR is NOT a foul, so its effects ARE considered for clock status purposes. In your case, this interpretation would say that the clock stopped only because the line to gain was reached, and so would restart on the ready. This is the interpretation that a strict reading of the rules yields.

Personally, I'm guessing that when an official answer gets handed down, it will be in line with the vets, option #1.