2 video clips. What do you think ...

[Texas Aggie]

Good video picture, btw. I didn't detect a leading with the helmet in either. Just because the helmet gets there first doesn't mean its a foul.

should the R signaled for a TD on the play even though he was the one who threw the roughing the kicker foul?

Yes. In this example, its obviously coming back but in others it may not plus you want to be clear in what the result of the play was. Again, here, the guy goes into the end zone and no one is within 5 yards of him. If he's tackled, is it short? Is it a TD? Under NCAA rules, it may make a difference on penalty enforcement on a PF where someone scores, so I want to make sure everyone is aware of what happened.

Now, the R is not going to mirror the signal to the press box, but if he's the covering official, he'll give it.

[REFANDUMP]

One more comment on the second video. I noticed that the R is on the non-kicking foot side of the kicker. Shouldn't he be on the other side ?? This may have given a better angle of the contact on the kicker.

[Durham]

I can speak to his being on the side he is. In our group the R is always on the side of the LJ because we have the LJ release down field when the snap is secured and it is apparent that the ball will be kicked. We do not follow Fed Mechanics on a lot of things so I am not sure what the fed mechanics are for a punt.

[REFANDUMP]

Durham, thanks for the response. I just thought it looked odd, but I can see some logic for doing that. On our crew, we always have the back judge on the wide side of the field, and the linesperson opposite the back judge is the one who releases. I (as the referee) always am on the kicking leg side of the kicker. Being new to this forum, I am finding it fascinating that there are so many differences in how some things are done.