College Football Rule Question

[Fingolfin269]

Watching Tennessee/Georgia and the following just occurred:

Georgia punts to Tennessee
Tennessee guy calls for a fair catch, screws up the catch, but the ball never hits the ground before the Georgia player catches it.

Should Georgia get the ball?

I'm pretty sure it is considered the receiving team's ball until it hits the ground but I could be getting this confused with the NFL. (I remember the Titans getting screwed on a similar play last season... against the Jets I believe.)

 

[RKS]

On kick-offs the ball is 'live' after 10 or 15 yards, on punts the ball is 'live' (any team can recover it) once it is touched/fumbled by the receiving team. On a punt if a GA player touched the ball before a TN player, then the ball belongs to TN at that spot.

edit: I believe this rule is basically consistent in both college and pro.

 

[Fingolfin269]

On kick-offs the ball is 'live' on punts the ball is 'live' (any time can recover it) once it is touched/fumbled.

Cool. Must be one of those rule variances between college and NFL. Or the Titans really did get screwed last year.

 

[ElFenix]

the NFL that would be interference with the fair catch attempt.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Watching Tennessee/Georgia and the following just occurred:

Georgia punts to Tennessee
Tennessee guy calls for a fair catch, screws up the catch, but the ball never hits the ground before the Georgia player catches it.

Should Georgia get the ball?

I'm pretty sure it is considered the receiving team's ball until it hits the ground but I could be getting this confused with the NFL. (I remember the Titans getting screwed on a similar play last season... against the Jets I believe.)

It's neither college nor the NFL, that rule only exists in your head. On a punt the kicking team can't get possession without a member of the receiving team touching the ball first. It's the same in the NFL, college and high school and I assume also Pop Warner too.

 

[ElFenix]

wiki:

A player signaling for a fair catch is not required to catch the ball; however, after making the signal, he may not initiate contact with any member of the kicking team until the ball is touched by another player. If he does he will be penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. If the ball hits the ground or a member of the kicking team, the fair catch signal is off and rules for kicked balls apply. If the receiver "muffs" the ball (touches it, but then fails to field it cleanly), then the ball can be recovered by the kicking team once the ball touches the ground.

should be tenn's ball

 

[Fingolfin269]

wiki:

should be tenn's ball

Yep, I just double checked that but could not tell if it applied to college, NFL, both, etc. It just refers to American football. Either way, at least we all know the rule is not just something I made up... GagHalfrunt.