FIU-Arkansas St. ruling

[TriggerMN]

This play happened in Tuesday night's game. I am not a football official anymore so while I know the rules are different for 4th down fumbles, I don't know the specifics well. Anyways...

Team A has the ball 4th and 1 at team B's 31 yard line. A1 completes a pass to A2 who runs to B's 27 yard line, then is hit and fumbles the ball backwards to B's 35 yard line. The ball is picked up by A3 at the 35, and carries it to B's 10 yard line before being tackled. (The ball is dead at the point A3 grabs it, right?)

The ruling on the field gave the ball to team A, 1st and 10. I do not remember if A received the ball on B's 27 or B's 35 though.

I found this ruling curious, as I thought B would get the ball. Team A gets a 1st and 10 because they made the line to gain, even though they fumbled it backwards? Any clarification is greatly appreciated.

[HLin NC]

Sounds to me as if forward progress was ruled, particularly if the ball was given to them at the 27.

[TXMike]

Box score says:

Fiu 4-1 at Asu33 Carroll, Wes pass complete to Times, Wayne for 2 yards to the ASU31, fumble forced by Nelms, Nick, fumble by Times, Wayne recovered by FIU Hilton, T.Y. at ASU31, 1ST DOWN FIU.

Fiu 1-10 at Asu31 Carroll, Wes pass complete to Times, Wayne for 6 yards to the ASU25 (Young, Sterling).


If it happened ths way, I don't see the problem. But your description is very different than this

[MD Longhorn]

If it happened the way you describe, it should have been B's ball. But it sounds like it didn't happen exactly that way.

[zm1283]

Originally Posted by TriggerMN

This play happened in Tuesday night's game. I am not a football official anymore so while I know the rules are different for 4th down fumbles, I don't know the specifics well. Anyways...

Team A has the ball 4th and 1 at team B's 31 yard line. A1 completes a pass to A2 who runs to B's 27 yard line, then is hit and fumbles the ball backwards to B's 35 yard line. The ball is picked up by A3 at the 35, and carries it to B's 10 yard line before being tackled. (The ball is dead at the point A3 grabs it, right?)

The ruling on the field gave the ball to team A, 1st and 10. I do not remember if A received the ball on B's 27 or B's 35 though.

I found this ruling curious, as I thought B would get the ball. Team A gets a 1st and 10 because they made the line to gain, even though they fumbled it backwards? Any clarification is greatly appreciated.

A got the ball on B's 35 (Where the A player who recovered the fumble picked it up).

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

If it happened the way you describe, it should have been B's ball. But it sounds like it didn't happen exactly that way.

Should it be B's ball even if A recovered the fumble?

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by zm1283

Should it be B's ball even if A recovered the fumble?

????

Should it be A's ball if they didn't achieve the LTG on 4th down?

[Jim S]

I found the same statistics that TxMike quoted @ three different locations. It semms you may have gotten the yardlines wrong.