Questionable Safety Scored

Opening weekend of the 2021 College football season had a few select games played in the NCAA Division I. One of them was in a Big 10 tilt where the Cornhuskers of Nebraska traveled to meet the Illini of the University of Illinois. It was in the first half of this game where our play to study occurred, and it was a lot to swallow. I tell you the craziest plays are when the ball is kicked or punted and this is true to the core on this play.

Illinois punts the ball and their punter does a magnificent job of getting its trajectory to land close to the goal line. By the way a few minutes earlier this same punter nailed a coffin corner pinning the Huskers near their own goal line. Why the returner for Nebraska decided to field it I am not sure as in hind sight I am sure he and his coaches wish that he had just let it go.  Perhaps they did not want to start a second series in a row at the one yard line? However he did field it and now watch the play unfold for yourself in the video below.

In the play you see the returner, number 5 field the ball cleanly and then slips backwards from the impact of catching the ball. He then has the first coverage man on him as he is now straddling the goal line. In desperation, evidently to not risk a safety he throws the ball forward out of the end zone. This all happens so fast, it is what we call: Bang-Bang. A flag came flying in and the original call on the field was for an illegal forward from the end zone , resulting in a Safety.

When they slowed the play down we see that the knee hit the ground prior to number 5 throwing the illegal pass, but the ball was behind the goal line. So in other words there was not an illegal forward pass because the runner was down by contact but since the ball was in the endzone when his knee touched they ruled it a safety. I want to add that the officials are under tremendous pressure to get a call made quickly to keep the game moving. As one that wore the stripes before I know how it is. Everyone watching is awaiting your decision and you have a lot of information to process, especially in a play like this. They did a nice job regardless of our findings.

The announcers and the FOX officiating expert Dean Blandino mentioned something interesting though, the momentum rule. According to an article on 247sports.com; 

"A lot of moving parts, the ruling on the field was an illegal forward pass. It's not that, because you can see the left knee is down right there before he throws the ball. So they've got the knee down, the ball in the end zone. There was also momentum here. So is the ball possessed in the field of play and does his momentum take him into the end zone? A lot of moving parts."

The momentum rule creates an exception for the spot of the ball in situations where the ball is loose (fumbles, kicks, punts, interceptions) inside the opponent's five yard line. This exception says that if the player fields the ball inside the five and the momentum of the ball pushes him in to the endzone the ball should be considered at the spot where he took posession. I think this rule should have applied here and there would not have been a safety. I would have ruled that it was Nebraska ball 1st and ten at the one yard line. That's my Ruling on the Play for this week!