“What would you do?” Stolen from the NFHS board for comparison purposes.

[ElvisLives]

“What would you do?” Stolen from the NFHS board for comparison purposes. Don’t know what they’d do, but let’s talk about what we’d do:

2/10, B-40, 0:03 (4), A=21, B=20.

Team A has 5 players in the backfield at the snap. A11 “muffs” the snap, which falls to the ground. B55 recovers the ball on the run and advances to the A-40 where A77 tackles B55 to the ground and the ball becomes dead. During B55’s run, B33 shoves A88 in the back, to the ground, while A88 was about to tackle B55 at the 50. Time in the period expired during the down.

Ruling:

[ilyazhito]

What period is this?

This is important, because the untimed down rules for extending a period only apply at the end of the 2nd or 4th period.

The most favorable outcome for B is declining A's penalty and having the BIB enforced, with B gaining possession 1/10 from the B-40 (and an untimed down, if at the end of the half). If it is at the end of the 1st or 3rd period, the penalty is enforced, then the officials switch the teams around.

Other options are both fouls offsetting, because A and B accept both fouls, both fouls being declined (unlikely), and A accepting their own foul and declining B's foul, resulting in A keeping possession after their penalty is enforced from the previous spot.   

[ElvisLives]

Glad I put this out there for discussion.

(First, check the ‘setup;’ I did set this in the 4th period.)

Technically, there are three possibilities.
1) Team B is free from foul before gaining possession (“clean hands”), so they MAY refuse offsetting fouls (thus, declining A’s penalty, by rule), and then Team A can accept OR decline B’s penalty. If A accepts B’s penalty, then B gets the ball where the penalty leaves it, for an untimed down. The Basic Spot (end of the related run ) is the A-40, and the spot of the foul is behind the Basic Spot, so the B penalty would be enforced from the spot of the foul (50), taking the ball to the B-40, 1/10, untimed down. There is no way Team A would allow this to happen, because (see 2),

2) Team B is free from foul before gaining possession (“clean hands”), so they MAY refuse offsetting fouls (thus, declining A’s penalty, by rule), and then Team A can accept OR decline B’s penalty. If A declines B’s penalty - game over. Team B would not want that to happen.

3) Team B can accept offsetting fouls, and the down would be repeated at the previous spot, with an untimed down in the extended period. Team B MIGHT do this, in hopes that something might happen that would allow them to score. But, all Team A needs to do is take the snap and take a knee - game over. This is the most likely scenario.

So, bottom line is that Team A is really in control of this situation, and they would have to make a monumental mistake to lose this game.

(Don’t know what would happen in other rule sets, but those are what could happen in NCAA.)

[bossman72]

What Elvis said. 

This is an odd scenario, but the best scenario for B is to accept offsetting fouls and replay the down and give the ball back.
If they decline A's foul to keep the ball, A will decline their foul and the game will be over.

There are some odd scenarios like that where the team is screwed any way you look at it.  Here's one I remember.

Team A is trailing by 3 in the bottom of the first OT.  A33 runs to the A5 where he fumbles.  B1 bats the ball backward and it rolls through the back of the end zone.
Ruling:  Safety.  Team A loses 3-2.

[ElvisLives]

What Elvis said. 

This is an odd scenario, but the best scenario for B is to accept offsetting fouls and replay the down and give the ball back.
If they decline A's foul to keep the ball, A will decline their foul and the game will be over.

There are some odd scenarios like that where the team is screwed any way you look at it.  Here's one I remember.

Team A is trailing by 3 in the bottom of the first OT.  A33 runs to the A5 where he fumbles.  B1 bats the ball backward and it rolls through the back of the end zone.
Ruling:  Safety.  Team A loses 3-2.

This is when the old gag applies: “Doctor! Doctor! It hurts when I do this!” Doctor: “Well, don’t do that.” 

[ElvisLives]

What Elvis said. 

This is an odd scenario, but the best scenario for B is to accept offsetting fouls and replay the down and give the ball back.
If they decline A's foul to keep the ball, A will decline their foul and the game will be over.

There are some odd scenarios like that where the team is screwed any way you look at it.  Here's one I remember.

Team A is trailing by 3 in the bottom of the first OT.  A33 runs to the A5 where he fumbles.  B1 bats the ball backward and it rolls through the back of the end zone.
Ruling:  Safety.  Team A loses 3-2.

Did you mean B-5? Methinks so.

[bossman72]

Did you mean B-5? Methinks so.

Correct, B5