This has probably been asked on the board allready, so if it was, i apologize.

What was the deal with the fumble in the Auburn-Georgia game where the ball was punched out of the Auburn RB's hands at about the 4, and the ball was recovered in the endzone?

Why was this not a touchdown?

NCAA has a rule about fumbles on 4th down... if the ball is fumbled forward and is recovered by the fumbling team, it goes back to the spot of the fumble.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/campu...pt-high13.html

for completeness, same fumble rule applies on TRYs.

So if this was 3rd down, it would have been a touchdown?

Yes sir, 6 points

Their take was that the player was touching OOB when he first touched the ball in the EZ. Were that true, then touchback would be the correct ruling. If I am remembering this play correctly, it did look like that might have happened but after many replays I was satisifed it had not.