scrimmage kick play

[ppaltice]

Originally Posted by chymechowder

This is a safety all the way in Mass. (NCAA). Loose ball becomes dead behind Team A's goal line. And A is responsible for it being there. Yes, B touched the ball twice, but neither action took the responsibility away from A.

When B muffs the ball, it's still a Team A backwards pass (the snap). And when B blocks the ball, it's still a Team A kick.

Not to disparage the Fed rules, but honestly, it seems crazy to me if this could be ruled a touchback. To me it gives a major unfair advantage to Team A.

Take the punt out of the equation: bad snap is rolling at the Team A 1 yardline. B55 dives at it (never gains possession) and the ball squirts out thru the back of the endzone. Are you saying it's a touchback? Team A actually keeps the ball (and moves up at the 20 yard line no less)?! All because Team B touched it last when they muffed it?

Say it ain't so.

In NF it really does depend. In your situation, the initial force was the snap. If the ball is still rolling around at the one yard and B muffs it, it will almost undoubtably be ruled that the initial force (snap) was the cause of the ball entering the EZ. If the ball was stationary at the 1 yard line and B muffs the ball into the EZ, then we would rule that B applied a new force and as a result is responsible for putting the ball into the EZ (identical to NCAA). At the 5 yard line almost at rest, in NF we would probably rule that B applied a new force (even though the ball is not stationary).

NF's wording is not as strict as NCAA (we don't need the ball to be completely at rest), but in practice it's application is very similar.