Arkansas-Florida Muffed Punt

[The Roamin' Umpire]

If R is, as you say, batting the ball around, then we have a flag for illegal batting. More likely, it was just a bunch of muffs.

But in either case it would be a touchback. Force is not a factor on kicks entering R's end zone, and it remains a kick until possessed or ruled dead.

[kd0254]

Fed Rules that is a Touchback, no questions. A muff does not change the status of a kick, it is still and will be a kick regardless.

[AndrewMcCarthy]

In NF, any kick that crosses the plane of the goal line is a touchback. You can't have a live "kick" in the end zone (other than a scoring attempt).

[BoomerSooner]

I guess using the phrase "batted the ball" was a bit misleading because it was more like a big continuous muff, and I would have likely called a TB had it been HS. Like I said though it sparked some thought in my mind and wanted to get some other perspectives on this type of play.

[Theisey]

Originally Posted by BoomerSooner

I guess using the phrase "batted the ball" was a bit misleading because it was more like a big continuous muff, and I would have likely called a TB had it been HS. Like I said though it sparked some thought in my mind and wanted to get some other perspectives on this type of play.

... and you would have been correct as well under NF rules.
Now if you had ruled there was a bat, the result would still be the same.
However, you would also have a flag to deal with.