I just felt the need to write about this after seeing what I believe is a greivous rule misinterpretation in the Thurs night Aub/Mississippi State game. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The Bulldogs were going into the endzone for the touchdown (I believe in the late 1st/early 2nd quarter) when the quarterback fumbled the ball at the 1. It was recovered in the endzone by Mississippi State and promptly ruled a touchdown.
Now, please set me straight but I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. An offensive player is not allowed to advance the ball on a fumble. Therefore, the correct ruling (in my opinion) is MSU ball at the 1. Granted, if Auburn had recovered the ball, the ruling would be a touchback. To make matters worse, the play was reviewed and confirmed. Of course, the band of monkeys calling the game (known as Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, and Craig James) never mentioned the incorrect or at least confusing ruling and spent the time saying Auburn recovered (which they clearly did not).
I would sincerely like confirmation that I'm not crazy on this rule interpretation because it always amazes me how a) paid NCAA officials can so blatently miss a call by incorrectly reading the rule and b) people with the best job ever, watching and analyzing college football, can be so poor at the fundamentals of the game. If Joe Fan (aka, me) can do their job better and would be more appreciative, why don't I have that job? ESPN, I'm waiting to hear back with your job offer soon. I promise, I will have more fun with the position than anyone else (and not sacrifice the quality of commentary--might have less USC/SEC homerism...uh oh, shouldn't have said that...).
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Who else but me would be willing to trudge through the NCAA rules to find out exactly which one you could exactly cite to support your case?
But I apologize for what I found...
Rule 7: Snapping and Passing the Ball
Section 2: Backward Pass and Fumble
Article 2: Caught and Recovered
a. "When a backward pass or fumble is caught or recovered by any inbounds player, the ball continues in play.
Exceptions:
2. On fourth down before a change of team possession, when a Team A fumble is caught or recovered by a Team A player other than the fumbler, the ball is dead. If the catch or recovery is beyond the spot of the fumble, the ball is returned to the spot of the fumble. If the catch or recovery is behind the spot of the fumble, the ball remains at the spot of the catch or recovery." (Emphasis added.)
So the rule to which you referred applies only on fourth down. Mississippi State scored on second down. Therefore the fumble advancement and subsequent score were legal.
Here's the link if you want to check out the section (or the rest of the document yourself).
http://www.oficiales.org/A_2009/ncaa/NCAAINGLES/2009-10%20NCAA%20Footbal%20Rule%20Book.pdf
Sorry about this. But Go Bucks today!
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