Touchdown?

[Cliffdweller]

"It is a touchdown when a backwards pass or fumble is declared dead in the end zone of the opponent of the player who threw the backward pass or fumbled while no player is in possession (other than because of an inadvertent whistle)." NFHS 8-2-1c

Can somebody explain this one to me? Seems to me that it should be a safety and not a TD.

[Altor]

1/G from B1

A10, under center, takes the snap and throws a backward pass to A80 who is undefended near the sideline. A80 bobbles the pass as he walks into the end zone and eventually drops it. The ball stays in the end zone (does not go out of bounds) and nobody from either team attempts to recover it.

[Altor]

Or, how about the Utah fumble going into the Oregon end zone a couple weeks ago. The ball ended up in the end zone. If neither team had attempted to recover it, eventually the ball is dead and according to the NFHS rule you posted would be a TD.

[ump33]

Originally Posted by Cliffdweller

"It is a touchdown when a backwards pass or fumble is declared dead in the end zone of the opponent of the player who threw the backward pass or fumbled while no player is in possession (other than because of an inadvertent whistle)." NFHS 8-2-1c

Can somebody explain this one to me? Seems to me that it should be a safety and not a TD.

If Team A throws a backward pass or fumbles the ball and the ball (some how) ends up in their opponent's end zone (Team B's EZ) and the ball comes to rest with no one attempting to recover the ball, it is a touchdown. This is assuming that no additional force is applied to the grounded loose ball.

[Cliffdweller]

But why is it not A's ball thus giving B a safety?

If this happens at mid field it is still A's ball...

[MD Longhorn]

Cliff ... I think you're confused about which end zone is which. It IS A's ball ... which is why it's a TD.

[Reffing Rev.]

Originally Posted by Cliffdweller

But why is it not A's ball thus giving B a safety?

If this happens at mid field it is still A's ball...

B's end zone is the end zone they are defending.

A's ball in B's end zone = touchdown.

[Cliffdweller]

Derr...got it. Just couldn't figure out how a backwards pass ends up in "opponents" end zone.