Illegal kick or USC?

[ljudge]

Someone mentioned a ruling that happened in their playoff game on Friday and asked me about it. Here's the play...

Team K punts the ball. As the ball is **nearly at rest the kicking team kicks the ball out of bounds. The crew gave R the ball and administered a unsportsmanlike foul and gave R the ball 15 yards in advance of the succeeding spot.

There's rules support for calling this USC 9-5-1e (Kicking at the ball, other than during a legal kick).

But there's also sules support 9-7-1 "No player shall intentiaonlly kick the ball other than as a free or scrimmage kick."

When I spoke with this person I told him I would have gone back 15 yards from the previous (assuming R didn't want first touching) and replayed the down as it was an illegal kick during loose-ball play. I explained it was still the kick (a noun) and a kick is a kick until the kick ends.

I would think if the ball was totally at rest and determined dead is when you would go the USC route. Would you guys agree?

First, I believe he said "nearly" at rest. But, let's say it had rolled to a stop in this case and the official hadn't yet sounded his whistle.