illegal forward pass

[Bob M.]

Originally Posted by football-1

in this case it is named by nfl line of scrimmage but ncaa say neutral zone.

where and why is there a difference?

REPLY: It's really just a case of semantics. In football there are two lines of scrimmage, one passing through each point of the ball when it's set for play. The roughly 11.5 inches between the two lines of scrimmage is referred to as the neutral zone. The Federation and the NCAA use the word "neutral zone" as the point of reference for determining whether or not the passer threw the pass legally. They could just as easily have used the phrase "defensive line of scrimmage" and gotten the same result. I'm not sure what the NFL use of the phrase "line of scrimmage" means. It may mean either the offensive line of scrimmage (making their rule more restrictive than the Fed or NCAA rules) or they might mean the defensive line of scrimmage (which would be the same point of reference as both the Fed and NCAA use today.

[Robert Goodman]

NFL & Fed inherited their rules from NCAA and so share the term "neutral zone", which goes back to the first decade of the 20th Century. To avoid the locution "beyond team B's line" (or "in advance of team B's line"), which would leave unclear from which team's perspective "beyond" would mean, they refer to the neutral zone in the rules on these provisions, which avoid mention of team B. I still wish they'd write "on team X's side of" instead of "beyond" and "behind", to be really clear.

The only difference in terminology here arises from playing "telephone" thru a sports reporter instead of quoting the rule book.

Robert