If you have not seen his rant on Unnecessary Roughness I suggest you check it out. That is exactly how I feel about this whole thing.
Brandon Walker
- Thread starter Ralph Cramden
- Start date
Pretty sure we could watch a hundred videos of downed punts and most would look the same. Touching the ball with a knee down should suffice.
And regardless of whether it was down by rule or not it was signalled down. That's all that matters. You cannot stop a play and then let it continue. The play was signalled over so our guys stopped playing.
We had the equivalent of "Safe-Out" or "Ball-Strike" from the official that mattered on the play. He blew it dead and didn't stick with his call. Waving hands above head means play is stopped. How that official got scared and didn't back his own call up is beyond me. By rule we got hosed.
Forget the onside kick call. That was a 1 in 10,000 use of a completely obscure rule, but it was within the officials' jurisdiction to call it.
The punt return is where the focus needs to be. Was the ball downed? Debatable. Did the back judge wave his hands which is the same as blowing the whistle per the rulebook? Not debatable. Did Memphis have two #4s on the field? Not debatable. Did Memphis have 14 players on the field during the return? Not debatable. Was there any form of legitimate review of the wild play before the PAT? Not debatable
The punt return was a comedy of errors, 17 ups, whatever you want to call them that was not in any way within the rules. That is why heads need to roll
The punt return is where the focus needs to be. Was the ball downed? Debatable. Did the back judge wave his hands which is the same as blowing the whistle per the rulebook? Not debatable. Did Memphis have two #4s on the field? Not debatable. Did Memphis have 14 players on the field during the return? Not debatable. Was there any form of legitimate review of the wild play before the PAT? Not debatable
The punt return was a comedy of errors, 17 ups, whatever you want to call them that was not in any way within the rules. That is why heads need to roll
Completely disagree. The referee blew the play dead. Doesn't matter what the rule is.
I guess the real debate is what constitutes "blowing the play dead". Sure, he waved his hands for about a second and then quickly realized the ball was in play. Nobody heard a whistle because he didn't blow one, which is why the Memphis player didn't hold up for even one instant. There was no whistle so why should he?
Having two #4's on the field is the real mistake here. Our guys need to learn to play until you hear a whistle and pick the damn ball up and hand it to the official. What made that half pathetic was letting a mediocre AAC team back in the game when we should have been soundly beating them, and the scoring droughts that continue to cost us games.
Having two #4's on the field is the real mistake here. Our guys need to learn to play until you hear a whistle and pick the damn ball up and hand it to the official. What made that half pathetic was letting a mediocre AAC team back in the game when we should have been soundly beating them, and the scoring droughts that continue to cost us games.
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This is an honest question. If instead of simply touching the ball, he had batted it backwards toward the goal line and we'd picked it up when it reached the 2 yard line, where would the ball have been spotted? Where it was first touched, or where we picked it up? If it's where it was first touched, then how is it still live for someone to pick it up?
Did the ref do the nevermind signal afterwards? If so I missed it. Once he waves his hands above his head the play is dead, period, whistle or not. The Memphis player can do whatever he wants based on whether he heard a whistle or not, it’s meaningless. That ref shouldn’t be allowed to call a middle school game ever. The other things that contributed to us losing the game are disturbing, but there’s no question that the punt return was called dead.
Which rule? The one that says you aren’t allowed to have two players with the same number on the field at once? The one that says when the ref signals to stop the clock, the play is dead? Or the one that says you can’t have players coming on to the field from the sideline during a live play?
Even if you contend that we didn’t do enough to down the football (I’d disagree), that touchdown should not have counted for at least three other reasons. I’m not sure how any sane person could conclude that the play was competently officiated.
No. Just download the app on your phone and sign up with an email address. Its free on Sling. On your phone it operates basically like a podcast but i think only the most previous show is available. You just have to use the Sling app. You can also download on Apple or Firestick
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Thats a weird mishmash of rules involved. You have to understand how the punt rules work first. When the State player batted the ball at the goal line, that was actually an illegal touching. Refs don't throw a flag for that, but the BJ did mark the spot.
When a member of the kicking team is the first one to touch a punt, the receiving team will have the option of taking the ball at the point of the touch, or wherever the ball is ultimately downed. That option is almost always an obvious choice. If the ball is touched and then rolls into the end zone, take the touch back. In our real life punt, Memphis would take the ball out where Emerson downed it.
But this is why return teams can risk picking up the ball. No matter what happens, the return team can always take the ball at the point of the illegal touch. If the Memphis player had fumbled the ball and State had picked it up and scored, it would be Memphis ball at the point of the original touch.
You asked about one of our players batting the ball back towards the goal line. That would be illegally batting or kicking the ball. If we downed the ball at the 2, then Memphis would get the ball at the point of the illegal batting, plus a 10 yard penalty.
If our players accidentally kicked it forwards while trying to down it, I'm not sure if they would add penalty yards.
Correct, good explanation.
To add to this though, if the ball comes to rest after the illegal touching the play should be dead. I thought the ball pretty clearly came to rest when Emerson touched it down with a knee down. Clearly the BJ did too which is why he waved it dead. If it was still bouncing around then Calvin should have been able to pick it up and run (like he did). This view was confirmed on Twitter by former official and rules expert Terry McAulay. The SEC, however, didn't admit that the ball came to rest.
Good lord, let it go. Punts are routinely placed at the furthest spot up-field the punting team touched it even though it may not be downed until later in the play. Otherwise, if the receiver doesn't field the punt, the punting team could just keep batting it back to the 1-yard line and then down it there.
Brandon Walker says exactly what we all think! Yes, that also goes for you who whine about the language! Still amazed how a pathetic loss in a bowl game changed his life so much. Don’t let up Brandon!
What do the rules say about when a ref waves his hands and starts jogging towards the ball?
If a punt returner raises his hands in the air for fair catch and then decides he wants to return it, does he get to change his mind after raising a hand in the air?
This is a complete non-point. Players pick up balls and take off running after the play is clearly dead all the time.
exactly. The players were going off what the official did. Hell Memphis players were walking on to the field for their possession while #4 was running for a TD.
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