The safety Rule

[ChaseD03]

I looked up that if you catch a kick-off in the end zone and you do not down it but get tackled in the endzone but you never break the plain that it is ruled a touch back. That is what i have always thought but yet there are some people who believe that it would be ruled a safety in the NFL. But yet the rule book states its a touchback. Please give me some input.

[MJT]

Originally posted by ChaseD03
I looked up that if you catch a kick-off in the end zone and you do not down it but get tackled in the endzone but you never break the plain that it is ruled a touch back. That is what i have always thought but yet there are some people who believe that it would be ruled a safety in the NFL. But yet the rule book states its a touchback. Please give me some input.

In the NCAA and NFL, they must "cover it" by downing it, or it would be a safety.
In NF, if it crosses the goal line and is not in player possession, it is blown dead when it crosses.
Where did you look up and find "if you catch a kick-off in the end zone and you do not down it but get tackled in the endzone but you never break the plain that it is ruled a touch back."

[Theisey]

MJT: (NCAA rules) why are you saying this would be a safety?
If could never be a safety if B were tackled in the EZ after catching or recovering a free kick while in the EZ.
They don't even have to run it out even if it were touched in the field a play and bounced into the EZ.

[Base]

NCAA
After kickoff; it could be safety only after
-impetus added (not a muff) by Team B before the ball enters endzone and ball becomes dead in the EZ
-foul by Team B in the endzone after gained possesion
-something other, what I don´t know:-)

[MJT]

Originally posted by Theisey
MJT: (NCAA rules) why are you saying this would be a safety?
If could never be a safety if B were tackled in the EZ after catching or recovering a free kick while in the EZ.
They don't even have to run it out even if it were touched in the field a play and bounced into the EZ.

You're correct, I was thinking they needed to down it, but it is no diff than an interception. R needs to "cover it" for the ball to become dead but if tackled, you still have a TB.

[mcrowder]

This is another of those misnomers continually perpetuated by horrible announcers. This is a TB at ANY level, in ANY set of rules used south of the Canadian-American border (and I suspect we'll get the same from our Canadian brethren). Announcers screw this one up all the time and it drives me nuts. Even heard one announcer, after it was ruled a TB (may have been Dan Dierdork) go on and on about how the official must have thought the player was going down on his own before he was tackled, and wondering out loud if they should review the play on that basis. Idiot.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally posted by mcrowder
This is another of those misnomers continually perpetuated by horrible announcers. This is a TB at ANY level, in ANY set of rules used south of the Canadian-American border (and I suspect we'll get the same from our Canadian brethren). Announcers screw this one up all the time and it drives me nuts. Even heard one announcer, after it was ruled a TB (may have been Dan Dierdork) go on and on about how the official must have thought the player was going down on his own before he was tackled, and wondering out loud if they should review the play on that basis. Idiot.

Hmm... a kick-off caught in the endzone. If the receiving team is downed in the endzone, score a rouge for the kicking team and R scrimmages from their 35. (This is the infamous 1 point scoring method.) If the player gets out of the EZ, R scrimmages from his forward progress location.

If there's an R foul in the EZ while R is in possession, A can opt for the rouge or decline and let R scimmage at PBD.

[wwcfoa43]

Originally posted by mcrowder
This is another of those misnomers continually perpetuated by horrible announcers. This is a TB at ANY level, in ANY set of rules used south of the Canadian-American border (and I suspect we'll get the same from our Canadian brethren). Announcers screw this one up all the time and it drives me nuts. Even heard one announcer, after it was ruled a TB (may have been Dan Dierdork) go on and on about how the official must have thought the player was going down on his own before he was tackled, and wondering out loud if they should review the play on that basis. Idiot.

Even in Canada, there is no saefty unless a team causes the ball to go into their own end zone.

(We of course allow one point for balls kicked into the end zone as JugglingReferee points out but that is a different story.)

[PSU213]

Originally posted by Base
NCAA
After kickoff; it could be safety only after
-impetus added (not a muff) by Team B before the ball enters endzone and ball becomes dead in the EZ
-foul by Team B in the endzone after gained possesion
-something other, what I don´t know:-)

I apologize in advance that I know almost nothing about NCAA rules, but here it goes anyway.

The kickoff bounces in the field of play. B tries to secure possession, but fails. In NF ball this is a muff..is it a muff under NCAA rules? If the ball then entered the EZ, would this be a new impetus (or to go NF style, a new force), and hence downing the ball in the EZ would result in a safety?

[Bob M.]

Originally posted by PSU213

I apologize in advance that I know almost nothing about NCAA rules, but here it goes anyway.

The kickoff bounces in the field of play. B tries to secure possession, but fails. In NF ball this is a muff..is it a muff under NCAA rules? If the ball then entered the EZ, would this be a new impetus (or to go NF style, a new force), and hence downing the ball in the EZ would result in a safety?

REPLY: No need to apologize. There are a lot of coaches who've been working at the college level for years and a whole lot of announcers who don't really know squat about NCAA rules.

The way you describe your play, assuming that B touched the ball while trying to secure possession, it is a muff, but not a new impetus. What B's muff does is keep the ball alive after it touches the ground in B's end zone. Untouched by B, the ball would become dead as soon as it touched the ground in B's endzone and it would be a TB. Being that B touched it, it remains alive. If A recovers, it's a TD for them; if B recovers, it will be a TB since the impetus is still the kick. So, in summary, B's muff doesn't change the impetus. It only keeps the ball alive even after it touches the ground in B's endzone.

[mcrowder]

A good rule of thumb to remember that is nearly always accurate is that if a player is tackled in his own endzone, that's a touchback unless it was his team's actions that put the ball in the endzone.