Filed under: Auburn, California, Georgia, Iowa, Northwestern, Oregon, Officiating
During the Auburn-Georgia game, there was a punt that was inadvertently touched by a member of the punting team before it had come to rest. As the ball was still bouncing around, the color commentator started screaming at the receiving team to pick the ball up and run because it had "nothing to lose." And he was right.
In a case like this, the receiving team has absolutely nothing to lose (well, assuming it hadn't already committed a penalty).
Technically speaking, the punt team is not permitted to touch a punt until the receiving team has touched it. Now, hear me out before going crazy because of how often you've seen this happen without a penalty flag. It's a violation, not a penalty. With the violation, the stipulation is that the receiving team gets the privilege of taking possession of the football where the punt team touched it. It's one of those formalities we all kind of take for granted in most cases, because it's usually downed at it's furthest point downfield and that's it.
But what about when a punt hits a member of the punt team and bounces much farther toward the end zone? It's not automatically whistled dead, and everyone who watches football knows this. You may also notice the officials mark this spot with a beanbag, and that's for a specific reason. That's the spot of first touching. No matter what happens the rest of the play -- again, assuming there's no penalty on the receiving team -- the return team will have the option to take the ball at that spot.
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