Cotton Bowl Onside Kick

[TexLJ]

In the Cotton Bowl, Michigan State attempted an onside kick that appeared to be driven immediately into the ground and then went high into the air.  A Baylor player jumped to catch it, and a MSU player jumped at the same time and challenged the catch.

Should that have been KCI according to 6-4-1-f?  The crew huddled, and I thought they might be discussing it, but no foul was called.  It did not appear to be an unimpeded opportunity to catch the kick.

Perhaps TxMike has a video.

[clearwall]

I think it depends on when it was touched. Smart player would just signal fair catch and wait for it to come down.

[four90]

Yes it should have been KCI; protection applies to fair catch or regular catch.

[TxSkyBolt]

If receiver was in a position to make the catch and was impeded, then KCI regardless of any signal.


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[TXMike]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq1Exm4yMIQ

I don't get it...we see KCI miss time after time after time on onside kicks.  Why?  Forget for the moment that this was a kickoff and imagine it was a punt.  Would we have a flag down for KCI?  So how come we do not get it down for these during onside kicks?

[TexLJ]

Smart or not, he is still afforded an unimpeded opportunity to catch the kick.  This happened right in front of the F.  As an H in 5-man mechanics (used to be LJ, thus the ID), this would happen right in front of me and I'm thinking, "That's KCI," right away.  So I couldn't figure out what I was missing.

Maybe they were thrown off by the fact that it was a "jump ball" sort of play, but the K player clearly interferes with the attempt to make the catch.

[NVFOA_Ump]

I don't get it...we see KCI miss time after time after time on onside kicks.  Why?

The only possible explanation that I can think of if that there has to be quite a few officials who aren't aware of Rule 6.4.1.F that gives KCI protection to the receiving team for airborne free kicks including those that were kicked into the ground first.  How else could you ignore this one?

[Andrew McCarthy]

The only possible explanation that I can think of if that there has to be quite a few officials who aren't aware of Rule 6.4.1.F that gives KCI protection to the receiving team for airborne free kicks including those that were kicked into the ground first.  How else could you ignore this one?

I think many officials are looking at it like pass interference. No foul if they see both players going up trying to catch the ball.

[TexLJ]

The only possible explanation that I can think of if that there has to be quite a few officials who aren't aware of Rule 6.4.1.F that gives KCI protection to the receiving team for airborne free kicks including those that were kicked into the ground first.  How else could you ignore this one?

I'm not sure I want to open that door.  One would hope that officials in a New Year's Day bowl game would not fit into that category.

[NVFOA_Ump]

I think many officials are looking at it like pass interference. No foul if they see both players going up trying to catch the ball.

But the kicking team doesn't have an equal right to the ball like team B has on a pass.  That went away when the rule changed to include the "one bounce" kickoffs.

[Andrew McCarthy]

But the kicking team doesn't have an equal right to the ball like team B has on a pass.  That went away when the rule changed to include the "one bounce" kickoffs.

Like you, I am just speculating how this call gets missed.