Of course it's not an illegal batting in your scenerio. It would be legal whether or not affected by the wind. In my scenerio however the wind becomes the decisive factor. What would you tell to the coach? "see rule 2-19-2-a. The wind is not my problem" ??

"Wind is not my problem" is about the same as "That is not my call" Not gonna say either.

"Coach the impetus of the ball was such that it ended up forward from where it was passed by the runner. That makes it a forward pass and therefore illegal."

Looking at rule 2-30-2

"A forward pass is a pass thrown with its initial direction toward the opponent's end line."

Looking at Rule 2-30-5
"A backwards pass is a pass thrown with its initial direction parallel with or toward the runner's end line."

What rulebook are you using???

NCAA says:

2-19-2-a
A forward pass is determined by the point where the ball
first strikes the ground, a player, an official or anything beyond the spot
of the pass. All other passes are backward passes. When in question, it is
a forward pass rather than a backward pass when thrown in or behind the
neutral zone.

REPLY: Texoma_LJ's post contained the Federation definition of a forward pass.

This is an important rule to know - to put it into English:
It doesn't matter where the pass lands - what matters is the direction it was thrown. So even if the wind blows it forward or momentum takes it forward(and it does happen), it is still a backward pass if its initial direction was backward.

REPLY: In NCAA, it most certainly does matter where it lands relative to where it was thrown from. That's how they define 'forward' and 'backward.' The direction in which the pass was initially thrown is interesting, but of little or no significance when judging a pass as forward or backward. Since this thread began talking about a play in a bowl game, the responses were using NCAA rules as the basis for their discussion.