In the WSU/Arizona game last night, there was an unusual play.
https://youtu.be/RL2rRPBvh6g?t=86
Now, as an NFHS guy, we are taught a kick is a kick until it is no longer a kick (e.g. possessed or dead by rule). So, a kick that crosses the GL is a touchback. Now, I know the NCAA has an exception for a kick in flight that is caught in the EZ can be returned. But I thought a grounded kick that crosses the GL is always a TB.
What is different about this play? It was first touched by K. Why was this a TD and not a TB?
Since this was a free kick, touching of the ball by the kicking team beyond Team B’s restraining line is legal.
The ball was then touched by the receiving team, before it touched the ground in the end zone, so the ball remains alive and in play. Thus, when the kicking team secured the ball, that’s a touchdown.
Had
this been a scrimmage kick, and the receiving team had not touched the ball before the kicking team touched it, that would have been illegal touching by the kicking team, so Team B would have invoked the illegal touching privilege, and taken the ball at the most advantageous spot of illegal touching.
Robert
