Field Goal Attempt Question
 

A 4th down field goal attempt by K1 from A's 10 yard line crosses the goal line hits the upright and falls to the ground in the endzone.

As an official with 2 years under my belt, I have only worked freshman and youth games and thinking about it have never had a field goal attempted.:D

As I was studying the rulebook, I came upon this scenario.The ruling as I read it, is a touchback.

6-3-3
Art.1 ... It is a touchback if any free kick or scrimmage kick,
b. Which is a three-point field goal attempt, in flight touches a K player in R's endzone, or after breaking the plane of R's goal line is unsuccessful.

I thought A would start a new series from the 10 yard line, but after reading the rulebook it seems to be a touchback. Am I interpreting the rulebook correctly?
Thanks

Yes....
 

and stop watching the NFL until you've gotten a few seasons under your belt:)

Many years ago, I made a similar mistake in a JV game. Home team scores a TD and kids are yanking off their helmet as they run joyously but not excessively to the sideline. I'm hollering at kids to get their hats back on and the WH comes over and admonishes me for trying to enforce a college rule.

Too much Saturday afternoon television.

I feel soooo olllld now that these "attempted field goal" provisions come to mind so automatically for everyone, when it seems so recent to me!

However, even under the USAn codes that have adopted rules differentiating these from other kicks, they always still make it a touchback in the situation discussed. Team R gets at least as favorable a spot (i.e. 20 yard line) under the "new" as they would've under the old rules that Fed still uses.

Robert in the Bronx

Simple rule.

ALL KICKS GOING INTO R'S ENDZONE RESULT IN A TOUCHBACK (excluding successful scoring kicks).

Touchback, as others have stated. And don't let the idiots lined up along the fence convince you otherwise. Each and every one of them will be telling you it goes back to the point where the ball was kicked.

That ain't nothing. Just wait 'til you have a FG attempt that never makes it to the end zone. The sideline "experts" really go nuts on that one.

Now that you mention it, Mike, we did have this last season. K's field goal attempt left the tee at about a 45 degree angle and came to rest at about the 5 yard line near the sideline. The way the spectators were screaming you'd think their hair was on fire.

We had a punt touch players on both teams before going into the EZ and fallen on by K. The guys on the fence (unfortunately there was no fence) thought it should be a TD. You know how much those guys study the rules!

There are very few, "NEVER" or "ALWAYS" situations we can rely on. One of them is that a kick touching R's goal line is ALWAYS a Touchback. (Yes, a successful FG is not a touchback, but consider that different because it's a scoring play and life will be much simpler).

One of the most important definitions in Rule 2 is NF: 2.24.2 which advises us that in the whole world only 2 very direct and clear circumstances causes a kick to end. Someone has to POSSESS (NF: 2.34.1) the kick, or the ball has to become dead, while not in player possession. Forget about "Force" or "At rest or nearly at rest", "Touching" or "Muffing", by either team as many times, in any direction, by either team is NOT possession and DOES NOT end a kick.

A (legal) kick is a kick (covered by all the special rules associated with kicking) until it stops being a kick, and ONLY the above two things can stop it from being a kick.

Lets keep it simple. There are only two types of kicks in the NFHS Rule Book; free kick and scrimmage kick. An attempt to score from a scrimmage kick better known as a field goal attempt is exactly that, a scrimmage kick. Therefore, crossing the goal line the ball is dead.

The caeveat is when a scoring scrimmage kick touches a R player in the endzone and bounds over the goal post between the uprights, it is a field goal. So, 6-3-3 tells you touching a K player does not keep the play alive.

6-3-3 is a rather recent addition to the Rule Book designed to clarify touching in the end zone of a scoring scrimmage kick.

Thanks for all the responses guys.

Simple rule.

ALL KICKS GOING INTO R'S ENDZONE RESULT IN A TOUCHBACK

I like that, easy to remember.

Thanks for all your other comments too, it gives me more to think about.

I've read the rulebook cover to cover a couple times, but now just studying random sections, and after working quite a few games last year I can now finally visualize what I'm reading in the rulebook, which helps quite a bit. I've been especially studying the kicking game, because it seems like I've been told a hundred times by experienced officials. " If something strange happens it's probably going to be in the kicking game".
Thanks Again.

Another thing I use to keep my crew straight on Field Goal attempts is to remind them that a FG attempt that doesn't score is a punt.

Does anyone use a signal on FG attempts to remind the other officials that the ball is live?

Think of it this way. A FG attempt is a punt that can score. If it doesn't score treat it as a punt.

I would hope not! What could you possibly signal that wouldn't incur the risk of doing exactly the opposite of what you want in that case? The only thing they need remember is that it's not a try.

Robert in the Bronx

I believe alot of crews use the traveling signal to let everyone know the ball is live. Ours does.

We do this as well.

Exactly when do they give it?

When the team is setting up for the FG as we are counting players.

In my association we use the "traveling" signal, but only between the ref and ump and it is to remind us that the snapper is protected, we do so any time a team is in scrimmage kick formation and thus the snapper would be protected.
Wing officials and back judges (we use 5 man as a max) do no give this signal.

Jasper

PS According to the new rule change we will probably only use it on situations where the snapper is still protected, I don't know if that portion of the rule has changed.

This is also how our crew uses it, the wings and BJ just notice it, we do not signal.

It's done discretely between officials when it is obvious a FG will be attempted.

Our signal is to grab and hold our whistle in our fist. We hold it out from our chest a few inches. That reminds everyone that it's a live ball and to lay off the whistle.

Intra-Crew Communication on Scoring Kicks
 

Not in the book, but...

Anytime Scrimmage Kick Formation is in use (snapper protected) R and U signal each other with travelling signal just as players are coming to their positions. (Before that its not a scrimmage kick formation)

Between downs when a wing observing substitutions on his sideline sees a kicking tee come in he makes the letter T with 2 fingers in front of his chest, while making eye contact with crew-mates. This signals the crew to get in position for a scoring kick, proper wing move to post, etc.

If it is not a try R pulls his whistle (we don't use finger whistles) in his fist out from his chest. HOLD THE WHISTLE.

We used to have a U who had been around for a long time. Kick tries were the 1 time the game he blew his whistle because when he went to a clinic in 1947 (year approximate) the mechanic was to have the U blow the whistle as soon as the kick try past his head, and no matter how many times we told him to stop he kept it up. He would regularly, 40% of the time, blow field goals dead. He retired before last season. (Thank goodness)

We give the rolling signal for 2 reasons...one to remind ourselves the ball remains live and the other (only on 4th down but this is when most scrimmage kicks occur) as a reminder the clock will stop after the play regardless of what happens.

As white hat I remind the others that this is a field goal as everyone is lining up. This comes as a result of the worst single IW in my career. Our then white hat blew an IW on a blocked FG attempt thinking it was a try. The ball turned into a greased pig with everyone whiffing on its recovery after the block. What made it even worse is that it took a few seconds for him to process what happened so that the play had time to progress before he tweeted. We replayed the down and the next attempt scored.

REPLY: Yes...we use the rolling hands (false start) signal as soon as we see the tee on the field and begin to move to our positions. And we make sure that all five of us see and echo it. If an official hasn't echoed to someone, we'll even yell to him and signal. As the BJ, the wing official under the post and I will remind each other "Ball's live" just before the snap.

We roll the hands also. I knew the answer and it appears that most do the same thing.

REPLY: And there's no real need to be discrete about it. Make sure that all 4, 5, 6, or 7 of you know that the ball's going to remain live if blocked or if it doesn't reach the endzone. And if you need to yell to your partner to remind him, do it.

When I said discrete I meant that we don't make a production of it we just signal amongst ourselves. Some astute coaches have picked up on some of our signals and use them accordingly. When a wing has punched a pass backward I have heard coaches yelling that it was a live ball. Some also know our counting signals and move people up on the line accordingly.

On FG attempts the U and R roll arms for snapper protection reminder but me (HL) R & U just remind each other that "its a live ball, its a live ball" normally.