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Kick Catch Interference
Anybody watch the Auburn/South Carolina games last night?
Remember the short kick in the third quarter after Auburn scored? It looked to me like the ball never hit the ground, yet an Auburn player tried to catch it in the air. Doesn't a free kick have to hit the ground or be touched by R before it can be recovered by K, or it is illegal touching? No flag on the play. Just wondering what the NCAA and NF rulings would be. |
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Although I did not see this play in particular, I'd like to throw something out there to watch.
In our area we have a couple very accomplished kickers that have shown the ability to kick the ball directly into the ground off the tee and have it pop up just like a short pooch-type kick. For NF, somebody had better see that. |
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I'm sure that the ball did not touch ground at the kick. Kicker gave the ball the "sand wedge" pooch and popped it up into the air. Looked like 3-4 Auburn players went 15 yds downfield in a "wall" formation and then let the ball drop behind them. Didn't see play from a good enough angle to see actual contact with SC but with the "wall" no SC players could get to where the ball actually landed.
Should be interesting to see this from more than 1 angle and in slo-mo to determine if there was actual contact and/or interference prior to ball hitting the ground.
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"It's easy to get the players, Getting 'em to play together, that's the hard part." - Casey Stengel |
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Here's quote from ESPN online:
"Then with the Gamecocks feeling good about holding Auburn out of the end zone, coach Tommy Tuberville took a page from Spurrier's book and stunned the Gamecocks with a perfectly executed onside kick. No South Carolina player was within 3 yards of the ball when it landed, and Jerraud Powers recovered for Auburn." The Auburn "wall" that was "screening" the SC players had moved about 15 yds (+/- SC 45) downfield and the ball landed behind them at about the 48. If ball did not touch ground at the kick (and I don't believe it did) It would almost have to be KCI. Has anyone seen this play from multiple angles and in slo-mo?
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"It's easy to get the players, Getting 'em to play together, that's the hard part." - Casey Stengel |
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NCAA: Regardless if it is a FK or SK in flight, as long as Team A does not violate 6-4-1 (Opportunity to catch a kick) then all you have is illegal touching, assuming the other parameters (travel 10 yards, etc.) are still required.
This is unlike NF where team K catching a FK (even if the closest R player is 40 yards away) is always KCI. In NCAA, if a Team A player can somehow run down and catch a FK well beyond Team B's restraining line without violating 6-4-1, we've got 1/10 for A. (see 6-1-3-b) |
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Except what happened (or appeared to happen) on this play is that Auburn players on the right side of the kicker made a "wall" and went down field about 15 yds and "screened" the SC players from the ball as the ball landed behind them - about 12 yds from kick restraining line. Auburn players initially made no attempt to catch ball - just screen out the SC players. I also think that as ball was landing it struck one of the Auburn players in the wall in the back of the leg below the knee.
I saw the play twice last night, once live and 1 replay (same angle) and couldn't really tell if SC player(s) trying to reach ball were actually contacted by the Auburn players in the "wall" but it looked like they were. The SC players clearly never had a chance to get to the spot where the ball landed because 3-4 Auburn players were between them and the "landing spot". This I believe is another of those KCI cases where we need to decide if KCI occurred even though there was no "hard contact", just "interference" by preventing the receiving team from getting to the ball.
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"It's easy to get the players, Getting 'em to play together, that's the hard part." - Casey Stengel |
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Quote:
I've seen this successfully done twice during a FK by the same team in successive years. |
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I think there was no question that this was legal. KCI requires someone to be trying to catch it. SC's players had begun sprinting downfield before the kick even started, and the players supposedly screened could not have gotten anywhere near this ball, even if there were no Auburn players between them and the ball.
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"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson |
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Quote:
I believe in order to call KCI on the wall, the receiving team needs to hold their ground. If the "wall" blocks a receiver before the ball hits the ground, then we'll have KCI. But if the receivers are retreating, no flag. |
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