4th. down and goal to go. The ball is on the 5 yard line. The ball is snapped and the ball carrier is on the 3, at this time there is a "personal foul, face mask". The ball carrier is stopped on the 2.

My question is if the offense accepts the penalty do they also get to replay the down? This would mean that the offense would get the yardage plus the down over again. If you can, please quote the rule book....my regular friday night crew is scraping over this.

Check the "Penalty Enforcement" section of your rule book. What you have is a foul by the defense during a running play. Basic spot is the end of the run and replay the down unless after enforcement, the suceeding spot leaves A in beyond the line to gain, in which case A would be awarded a new series.

The rule you want is NF 5-2-2 (emphasis mine):

"When a foul occurs during a scrimmage down and ... [other conditions which are met here] ... the ball belongs to A or K after enforcement unless it is a 2-16-2g (post-scrimmage kick) foul. The number of the next down <b>is the same as that of the down during which the foul occurred</b> unless penalty acceptance includes a first down or loss of down, or the enforcement or the advance results in a first down. ..."

Just as if it were 1st, 2nd, or 3rd down, the offense gets the results of the play, the penalty yardage, and the chance to replay the down.

Even if this is an "incidental" face mask, A will get to replay the down. With the ball in this spot the enforcements will be the same, no matter the "type" of facemask foul...half the distance from the 2, still 4/G.