LSU - Florida Punt Return

[bisonlj]

Originally Posted by JefferMC

Did anyone see the play near the end of the second quarter. Florida punts to LSU, returner catches the ball apparently landing one foot in and one foot out of bounds at the 13, then runs to the 40. The ball is spotted and LSU is then penalized 5 yards for delay of game. Then Florida requests and is granted a review of the punt return.

After the review, they stuck with the call on the field. The video appears quite clear that one foot was out of bounds with possesion of the ball. Checking the rule book, I'm quite confused. Can someone help me with this rule?

APG is right. This was a kickoff. This is a rule I always thought was a little strange but the crew got it right. The ball became dead when R touched it with their foot out of bounds. Since touching preceeds possession, R technically never possessed it. The kick was out of bounds so the normal options apply (5 yards re-kick, 40 yard line, or spot where ball went out of bounds). They took the 40.

My favorite part of this was the announcer actually knew the rule and explained it very well!! After the official announced the ruling was confirmed, the Florida fans started booing. The announcer said, "Do you hear 90,000 fans booing? That's because they don't know the rule." That announcer is my new hero!!