Two-tier touching

On the way to my game last Sunday, I had a random thought. If an ineligible player is the first to touch a forward pass, it's a five yard penalty. However, if an originally eligible receiver makes themselves ineligible by stepping out of bounds and then touches the forward pass, it's a loss of down.

"Why are the penalties different?", I asked myself. Then it dawned on me - the first foul (the ineligible player touching the pass) nearly always occurs because someone somewhere has messed the play up (for example, a receiver lining up on the line when he should be off it, or the QB coming under pressure and throwing the ball anywhere he can) - it's a technical foul, just like a false start or an illegal motion. On the other hand, the second foul could occur due to the receiver deliberately going out of bounds to avoid a block, and I assume this is what happened before the current rule was in place - it's more of a dishonest foul hence the slightly stricter penalty.

Inadvertent waving your arms around a bit

One rather major talking point from the weekend happened at the Conference USA Championship game between UCF and Tulsa.

From a coaching point of view, this is a perfect example of knowing that a member of the kicking team simply touching the ball on a kick play doesn't kill the play (it must be picked up) - the UCF players make that mistake and the Tulsa receiver nips in behind them, picks the ball up and runs it in for a touchdown.

From a refereeing standpoint however, things are a lot more complicated. On the replays, the back judge can be seen signalling for a timeout -  Rule 4-1-2-a states:

A live ball becomes a dead ball as provided in the rules, or when an official sounds his whistle (even though inadvertently), or otherwise signals the ball dead.

So strictly speaking, this TD shouldn't have stood - by rule the ball is dead while it is loose.

We discussed this in our pre-game on Sunday and the question was asked - What would we do if this happened in one of our games? Keep quiet and hope no-one else saw the signal, or be honest by blowing the play dead and eating a huge portion of humble pie? Naturally, we chose the second option, and thankfully never had to put it into practice (phew!).

So what should've been the outcome of this play? First of all, we have illegal touching by a member of the kicking team, so the receiving team would have the option of taking the ball at that spot. What's more, the illegal touching is actually an illegal bat (you can't bat a loose ball forwards in the field of play), so the end result would be a ten yard penalty from the spot of the foul and a first down to Tulsa.

The longest possible touchdown... or is it?

A high school game in Mission, Texas saw a remarkable play that has gone viral. A young receiver standing under his own goalposts catches a field goal attempt, teeters on the end line and, after remaining in bounds and regaining his balance, proceeds to sprint down the sideline to score a 109.9 yard touchdown, ably assisted by some nice blocking by his team-mates.

Amazing stuff... but should the score have stood? Opinions differ.

At around 0:15, one of his team-mates can be seen throwing a low block at the 25-yard line, making minimal contact. In all forms of the game, blocking below the waist is forbidden during kick plays - however, the contact made in this example was so minimal, it could barely be called a 'block'.

There have been plenty of times in my short officiating career where player have wanted me to throw a flag for a block in the back, except the 'block' was nothing more than a hand on the back. In this play, the 'block' was nothing more than brush. Whereas in soccer you can still be penalised for an attempted foul, the same cannot be said in American football - there has to be an actual foul. Merely touching an opponent isn't enough.

So, well done Sean Landez!

Full story: Sean Landez Touchdown: Sharyland Football Player Returns Missed FG For 109.9-Yard TD (VIDEO)