Punt Near Endzone

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Is that FED? Are you saying that in FED, if the kicking team touches it at the 1, and taps it back, then it's touched again at the 4 and rolls to the 2, the only options are the 1 and the 2? Not the 4? Seems odd if that's what you mean. This would mean that once the ball is tapped back, the next guy to touch it could intentionally cause the ball to roll forward at no cost.

Most of us NF rules here. I know you are from Texas, but most people are not exposed to NCAA rules unless we actually work a college game. And unless they specifically want to talk about those levels I answer all questions in FED. Also the OPer is not a football official and was not asking this as a football official, I was not trying to give a rules clinic or get so detailed that I use terms and things that only football officials would understand. So I do not know why you have a hard time understand what was said.

Peace

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Most of us NF rules here. I know you are from Texas, but most people are not exposed to NCAA rules unless we actually work a college game. And unless they specifically want to talk about those levels I answer all questions in FED. Also the OPer is not a football official and was not asking this as a football official, I was not trying to give a rules clinic or get so detailed that I use terms and things that only football officials would understand. So I do not know why you have a hard time understand what was said.

Peace

It's not at all that I had a hard time understanding it... I was trying to learn - all of my FED knowledge comes from you guys, here. This one surprised me. So i guess you are confirming that in my scenario the 4 is not an option? Would you have to rule differently if it was obvious the player was intentionally rolling the ball back to the 1 (would illegal batting cover that?)

Not trying to be difficult, trying to make sure I understood you correctly.

(And I did mention in my response that it was NCAA only and that I THOUGHT Fed was similar ... apparently similar but not identical!)

PS - if I had to suspect anything, I suspect the OP was actually asking about an NFL game - of which I have very little rules knowledge other (again) than what I learn here. Glad to see that the 3 of us have covered all 3 rulesets for him.

[JRutledge]

I had to read his question again to make sure I did not misread anything that would have affected my answer.

Well the rules on the NF and NCAA level are very similar. Of course NCAA has a different situation as to when a ball is dead in the EZ, but for the most part the rules are the same. I was not trying to get into penalties that are possible with this as well as those are rare and not something you would have to rule on in most plays. You could have illegal batting, but it legal to bat the ball back towards your goal on kick. But just because someone bats the ball does not mean it is illegal either. That is why we have the first touching rule and that spot must be marked and let the play continue for what might result.

Maybe he did think of the NFL, but he is an official in another sport so I suspect that he has some knowledge that most officials here are not pro officials.

Peace