Losing a down

[ChickenOfNC]

Don't have my rulebook with me. At what point can losing a down be corrected? The scenerio:

Team A 4th down, they go for it and do not reach the line to gain. After this and before team B snaps the ball, the crew realizes they lost a down during A's series, and it should actually now be 4th down. Correctable?

Rule reference?

[HLin NC]

No rules coverage- only errors mentioned in the rules is for timing error correction. You're staking virgin territory whatever you do.

[mbyron]

I agree that this is not in the rule book. I would fix it if discovered before the next snap (or kick).

[ajmc]

Just like counting players on EVERY down, confirming and agreeing on what down it is on EVERY down should be pure habit. If any one official has a different number, he should be perfectly comfortable in stopping everything, getting together and verifying the correct down.

Simple solution to avoiding looking really silly.

[bossman72]

I can forseeably change it before the team's series is over. Once there's a change of possession, I would have a hard time correcting this.

[Robert Goodman]

OK, so supposing it's discovered before the ball is made ready for play by the other team -- or maybe even a little after, but before they're on the ball -- or even just before they've snapped it -- or even later, if you want to go that far. I do think a correction is called for up to some point, but what fix do you apply?

Do you say that 4th down should've been labeled 3rd, and give a real 4th down? What if one or both teams thought the phony 4th down was really 4th down? They would've played that down differently, I think.

Do you go back to the first mislabeled down? Teams may have shown each other things in the meantime that they were keeping as surprises.

[ump33]

If you look at Case Book 3.5.11A ... 3rd & 8 from A's 45 when A1 throws and incomplete pass. The ball is erroneously spotted at the 50 for 4th down. K snaps & punts the ball into R's end zone. Per the Case Book Ruling, it is too late to make any corrections because the error had to be corrected before the ball was snapped.

If you adapt this ruling to the OP, the "4th down" counted once the ball was snapped and "it is too late to make any corrections because the error had to be corrected before the ball was snapped."

[ppaltice]

The case book situation you are looking for is 5.1.1.A. You can correct a down error up to either a change in possession or a new series is awarded. Dick Schindler defined 'new series awarded' as when the referee signals first down.

So in the OP case, if the referee signaled first down for B, then you can no longer make a down correction.