kick off

[NorCalRef12]

There has been a lot of grief lately over rule 10-4-5d and I believe it comes from people reading into the rule.

10-4-5d is there to clarify what the enforcement should be if team A commits a foul during a running play by B that results in a touchback. If A1 throws a pass into B's end zone where B1 intercepts the pass, and B1 is subsequently brought down by the facemask in the end zone, the face mask penalty will be enforced from the succeeding spot, not the end of the run. If B1 chose to run out of the end zone and is brought down by the face mask at the B 2 yard line, the foul would be enforced from the end of the run and it would be first and 10 for B from the 17 yard line.

ABO is meant to be kept simple, don't read things into it. Just answer these questions. What foul was committed? Who committed the foul? When did the foul occur (Loose-ball, running play, which team was in possession)? Where was the foul committed?

10-4-5d isn't a special exception, it just clarifies that for fouls by A or B, the basic spot is the succeeding spot when the foul was committed with B in possession and the play would otherwise result in a touchback.