NCAA: out of bounds or TD when ball hits the pylon?

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Yes, but this is only true because the rule regarding a loose ball does not have the OOB rule that a ball carrier does. A loose ball is not OOB when it's airborne until it hits something (player (unairborne, of course), pylon, ground, non-player, chain, etc) and an airborne looseball can be "saved" for lack of a better word.

I don't know that these situations are really all that different though. Consider this, a loose ball (other than a forward pass or forward fumble) that goes out of bounds will be spotted at the point where it crosses the sideline, not where it eventually strikes something that causes it to be out of bounds.

Say you have a punt that bounces and crosses the sideline at the B-3 and due to an unusual circumstance (wind, funny spin, etc), the ball comes back and strikes the pylon on the outward face of the pylon. You are going to have a touchback by rule, even though the ball crossed the sideline at the B-3.

Now we look at a situation where an airborne ball carrier extends the ball across the sideline and touches the same face on the pylon with the ball. Does it stand to reason that this situation is treated the same, that the ball crosses the goal line itself?

I think it does.