Backward pass is picked up by the defense on a bounce and handed to the official covering. No whistle. Who do you give the ball to offense or defense?

The official took the ball?

Backward Pass
 

Yes

The official should have put his hands up and quickly backed away. It's clearly B's ball in my mind. There's not quite enough information to tell what to do next. It sounds like the official is holding a live ball...tackle the dummy for taking the ball.

B's ball. They're last in possession of a live ball. Penalize the Ref for Illegal Touching and make him clean and polish the rest of the crew's shoes.

Backward Pass
 

What more information do you need? That is all that happened and the offense was given the ball.

Hugh mistake!!!
 

I would treat it the same as an<b> inadvertant whistle. </b>
Once the official took possession of the LIVE BALL the ball became dead.
Since B was last team in possession, I would give B the option of replaying the down or taking possession of the ball at the spot <b>where the official killed the play by taking possesion of a live ball.</b>

This decision is supported by NFHS Rule 1-6-1

<i>Editors note: Most people would not like their children to be within earshot of my post game discussion with that official.</i>

KWH has it in one.

No BEER and continued source of humor for the rest of the season.

Sounds like you're describing a situation you SAW, not one you were involved in as an official. Is it possible that one of the officials (right or wrong) ruled this an incomplete FORWARD pass? It appears that this is how they treated it. Where was the offense given the ball? Spot of the handoff to R? Or the original spot?

Were you a spectator, coach, player, or official when this happened?

Backward Pass
 

A question that was asked to me by a member of my officiating group. I am an official.

OK. If this is a hypothetical, then I believe the answers you got above are correct.

But it doesn't sound like a hypothetical ... your statement. "That is all that happened and the offense was given the ball" leads me to believe this was an actual situation. If it's an actual situation, my question is really for someone who was actually there - Why did the officials give the ball to the offense? Was there something else here that we don't know (like, the official, right or wrong, felt it was a FORWARD pass, or something along those lines).

We had this situation in GA a few years ago in the playoff quarterfinals.

On a punt, the returner of a team that was in the lead told the BJ that he was planning on fair catching. What happens next depends on the side you hear. People in officiating I've talked to said he never waved fair catch. Fans in the stands say he did, but gave an invalid fair catch signal. He threw the ball towards the BJ, the BJ just got out of the way, and the kicking team recovered and scored to take the lead and won the ball game.

Nevada Zone Championship (Semi-Final) 1998
A leads 35 - 26. I am working the R position.
Three seconds left on game clock. After final B timeout.
4th and 17 for A.
A quarterback takes snap and starts retreating, game clock hits zero and audible horn sounds.
QB tosses (clearly) backwards pass towards me, I jump out of the way and let the ball hit the gound, team A players start jumping up and down and hugging each other while player of team B player scoops it up and takes it to the house. I signal TD.
Final A35 - B32
The B coach was a little upset when we (by rule) denied him the opportunity to attempt the try, however, in a calmer moment, after we had showered and team B was loading their equipment on the bus, the coach of team B said the rule makes sense.

Always expect the unexpected,
but never catch a live ball backward pass thrown to you by a player!!!

My white hat yesterday told me a story similar to the one from Nevada. It was similar in that the kid heard the horn and threw the ball up, and the defense caught it and ran it back for the winning touchdown. Worse part-it was the state championship game in Kansas.

I bet that kid had some psychological problems over that - how do you recover from that kind of thing?

Similar Story
 

2001 Washington State AA Semi-Final
Lynden Christian leads Elma 18 - 14
L.C. Ball 3rd and 10 on the L.C. 45 yard line.
Elma takes a timeout with 5 seconds remaining in game.
L.C. coach instructs his QB to run out the clock by taking the snap and running backward into his own endzone and taking an intentional safety.
L.C. QB takes the snap, runs into his own endzone, drops the ball after crossing the goal line, jumps up and down and starts hugging his team mates. (Time expires during the play)
An alert Elma player bends over and picks up the (live) ball in the endzone.
<b>TOUCHDOWN</b> - Elma wins 20 to 18 and advances to the State Championship game <b>(which ELMA wins)</b>.
Lynden Christian turns in their gear for the season, finishing the year with a great 11-1 record. <b>(Yes, this was their only loss!!!)</b>

Note: Many of you may have seen this as it was flashed on television sports shows all around the nation.

<b>Trivia Quesion:</b>
What do you think they will still be talking about at the Lynden Christian 40 year class reunion in 2041?



[Edited by KWH on Oct 13th, 2004 at 03:54 PM]

Re: Similar Story
 

REPLY: Uh...I don't know...maybe about where the QB's body parts are buried !?!?

What year was this? Don't remember anything like this happening in the last 10 years at least and probably didn't happen in the last 20 years.

Only thing wierd happening in a state championship game in the last 10 years that I remember was a field goal attempt that would have won the game but it hit an upright. This was a college field and only one team was kicking field goals and extra points.

[Edited by Warrenkicker on Oct 13th, 2004 at 05:12 PM]