Iowa-LSU last play question.

[tsucret]

LSU punted with 8 sec left. Iowa begin passing the ball around deep in their own territory. At one point a player went into the end zone and threw a forward pass, should that have been a safety? They threw a flag but just said "illegal forward pass" If a player who has received a lateral from a punt returner then drifts into the end zone and throws a forward pass (he was about to be tackled) isn't that a safety?

[HLin NC]

I thought the call was an Illegal Bat. I was at a restaurant and couldn't hear but that is what came across the Closed Captioning crawl. Granted that may not have been what was said.

[MD Longhorn]

The flag was for an illegal bat earlier in the play. I don't recall a forward pass on this, but if there was one, it would only result in a safety if Iowa accepted the penalty. Any video of the alleged forward pass?

[Adam]

Iowa was down by 7, LSU punted and Iowa was trying to return.

After about 3 or four passes, the ball ended up in Iowa's endzone. A backwards pass was thrown across the endzone, but it was batted forward rather than caught: and recovered at about the 5 or 10 (IIRC).

The call was illegal batting, not an illegal forward pass. Now, they announced that LSU was declining the penalty and the game was over.

[tsucret]

I don't have a tape but thought at the time that the pass in the end zone was forward. I don't think you can decline a safety. Iowa wouldn't have to kickoff since there was 000 on the clock. But regardless, does anyone know if an illegal forward pass in the end zone is a safety?

[jTheUmp]

Originally Posted by tsucret

I don't have a tape but thought at the time that the pass in the end zone was forward. I don't think you can decline a safety. Iowa wouldn't have to kickoff since there was 000 on the clock. But regardless, does anyone know if an illegal forward pass in the end zone is a safety?

I guess I should've watched the last play of the game instead of turning off the TV after LSU gained possession of the ball with about 2 minutes left...

For what it's worth, the play-by-play on ESPN.com doesn't mention any foul on the final play of the game.

But anyway, to answer your question:
An illegal forward pass is a foul.
An accepted penalty for a foul by Team A in their end zone results in a safety.

If there was actually an illegal forward pass foul, the Referee might've just 'automatically declined' the penalty for LSU because the points wouldn't affect the outcome of the game (well, except for maybe for gambling purposes). Considering a couple of other officiating mistakes I saw during the game, it wouldn't surprise me.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by tsucret

I don't have a tape but thought at the time that the pass in the end zone was forward. I don't think you can decline a safety. Iowa wouldn't have to kickoff since there was 000 on the clock. But regardless, does anyone know if an illegal forward pass in the end zone is a safety?

You can decline any penalty. You would not be declining the safety - but rather the penalty that caused the safety.

Say, for example, someone threw an illegal forward pass out of the end zone, and that pass was intercepted and returned for a TD - they would absolutely decline the IFP penalty and take the touchdown.