(Question From a Fan) IW & Replay

[APG]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Seriously? A recovery that's known to have occurred after the whistle can be honored? That's got to suck as far as administration of the game goes.

Or are you saying that it counts only if the recovery occurred before or simultaneously with the whistle? That the official thought the ball was dead, and whistled for that reason, but the possession of the ball was determined independently of what he thought? I don't see why you'd need any ruling for that. That's just the regular rule on an IW that occurs after a change of possession.

I take it you haven't seen a college or pro game in recent past?

In games with replay, one reviewable play is down versus fumble. If a player is ruled to be down prior to a fumble, yet actually fumbled prior to being down, possession can be awarded to the opponent if replay shows a clear recovery during the immediate action after the play.

In the NFL (and the same may be true under NCAA rules), the same is true for a play ruled to be a forward pass yet replay shows it to be a backward pass and the same is true for a pass ruled to be incomplete on the field, yet replay shows a catch and fumble or in the case of the passer, the ball is knocked out prior to the arm going forward, making it a fumble.

In all of the situations above, if the opponent recovers the ball, they get possession but do not get any yards after recovery.