BC vs. Vandy muffed punt
 

ncaa rules. did the refs get the call right on the muffed punt that went into the endzone and recovered by vandy for a touchdown? i know in fed rules it would be a touchback.

All I can say is the NCAA Rules are different. Based on what I have read I strongly believe officials got this one right.

Peace

I saw the sketchy replay on espn.com. All it looked like was that the returner muffed the punt and it went into the end zone and the punt team recovered. Is that correct? If so, TD. I don't understand how that could be controversial. P can't ADVANCE the ball, but they can recover it and its dead where they recover.

What is the fed rule that makes this different?

NFHS:
The status of the ball after the muff is still a kick and once it breaks the plane of the GL it is dead and a touchback.

NF Fundamental IV.
 

5. Any kick which is not a scoring attempt becomes dead when it breaks the plane of R’s goal line.

and Rule (definitions) 2-13-
ART. 4 . . . Force is not a factor:
a. On kicks going into R’s end zone, since these kicks are always a touchback
regardless of who supplied the force.

I was having this argument with a buddy. I was saying that the force which put the ball in the end zone was the kick and so it should be a touchback.(in NF) I was not aware of a difference with the NCAA rule.

NCAA: it would be an automatic touch-back if it was untouched by a team-B player in the field of play.

Anytime a team-B player touches the scrimmage kick and subsequently muffs the ball either into or in the end zone, any team-B player must recover the ball before it becomes a touchback. Should a team-A player recover the ball, it becomes a touchdown.

Yes, this is a significant difference between NF and NCAA rules as it pertains to scrimmage kicks into the team-B endzone.
Just one of the over 200 plus categories of differences.

Is it also true that on a free kick that hasn't touched the ground, it can be returned out of the EZ in NCAA?

Yes, its true.

Frankly, the Fed rule here is bizarre.

It is actually pretty simple and makes enforcement simple. A legal kick always retains its status as a kick until it ends (such as the ball being recovered or becoming dead). This leads to the axiom "A kick is a kick until it is no longer a kick."

In Fed, a kick that breaks the plane of R's goal line is ALWAYS a touchback. You don't need to worry about a new impetus being imparted on the ball, or situations regarding when the receiving team may and may not advance the ball out of the endzone. It is all a moot point in Fed.

Correct..

REPLY: And on scrimmage kicks as well. And notice that on free kicks caught in the end zone, the R doesn't start the clock until the runner crosses the goal line coming out.

So a punter, K1, standing at his own 3 gets his punt blocked by R1 and the ball goes backwards into the end zone, it is a touchback?

No, of course not. Your example is a kick that goes into K's endzone. If the ball becomes dead in the endzone it will either be a touchdown or a safety.

You answered your own question. K1 is standing in K's end zone, not R's end zone.

In the International Bowl, there have been two more kicks that were muffed into the end zone, by UConn. On the punt, Buffalo was able to recover for a TD. On the kickoff, the UConn player recovered and ran it out of the EZ where he fumbled inside the 5.