Illegal Forward Pass?
 

In last nights meeting we were taking a quiz, and one question in particular is bothering me.
On first and 10, Team A's QB runs beyond the neutral zone, retreats behind the neutral zone, and throws a forward pass from his 40 yard line. B37 interferes with eligible A86 who catches the pass and runs for an apparent touchdown.

(a)double foul for A's illegal forward pass and B37's pass interference.
(b)Team A is penalized five yard from the 40 yard line plus loss of down; second down from the 35 yard line.
(c)the clock starts on the snap
(d)No foul by B37; defensive pass interference cannot be called on an illegal forward pass play
(e)The penalty is obviously declined.
(f)None of the above

Any and all of these answers can either be correct or incorrect.
This was taken out of an officials book that the president of our association has. According to the book the correct answer is---F---.

Now I always thought that once the QB crossed the line of scrimmage it did not matter what he did, if he crosses back behind the neutral zone and throws a forward pass, it is an illegal forward pass.
We argued over this for 30 minutes last night, and could not find anything in our rule book or case book, if anyone has anything to clear this up I would appreciate it.

7-5-1 (Fed) states that if both feet of the passer are in or behind the neutral zone when the ball is released, it is a legal forward pass, as long as the other requirements are met. Whether he was previously beyond the neutral zone isn't addressed, so since it isn't against the rules, it must be legal. So "f" is the correct answer, and A would accept the penalty and probably enforce it on the kickoff.

what he said. :)

NCAA: b, d, and e are correct.

I don't know about that
 

I am not sure that E is correct in NCAA and also I believe C would be correct in the NCAA

I know that there is nothing in the case book or rules book that says this is an illegal play, but it goes against everything I have ever been taught about an illegal forward pass. If the coach's ever figured this out, can you imagine what kind of plays would be drawn up and ran?

Thanks everyone for your taking time to read and post to this bizarre situation.:D

Before they changed the rule a few years ago to make it illegal to throw more than 1 forward pass during a down it would have been possible for:

A12 to throw a forward pass beyond the LOS to A20;
A20 could then throw a backward pass to A40 who was behind the LOS;
A40 could then throw a forward pass 30 yards beyond the LOS to A80.

This was all legal as long as each forward pass was thrown from behind the LOS.

There are versions of the buck lateral pass play in which the middle link man is a lineman who has turned to face his own end line. Because of this rule the officials don't have to determine whether the ball crossed the neutral zone before being handed off to him.

Robert

Canadian Ruling
 

CANADIAN RULING:

QB's running and forward pass actions are legal. Flag on B37 for DPI. The flag will be declined (automatically, by the Referee), and the TD will count.

so the qb can run across the LOS, then run back behind it, then throw a legal forward pass in NFHS but not in NCAA? Am i correct in saying that?

Can't do it in NCAA DOn't have a clue about NFHS

Legal play in Fed rules