Chad Bumphis's "Fair Catch"

[MSU CS 2004]

Bulldog fans seem up in arms over this call, for some reason. It was not a fair catch, nor was it ruled to be one. To set the record straight:<div>
</div><div>2-8-1-c: "A valid or invalid fair catch signal deprives the receiving team of the opportunity to advance the ball. The ball is declared dead at the spot of the catch or recovery or at the spot of the signal if the catch precedes the signal."</div><div>
</div><div>2-8-2: "A valid signal is a signal given by a player of Team B who has obviously signaled his intention by extending one hand only clearly above his head and waving that hand from side to side of his body more than once."</div><div>
</div><div>2-8-3-a: "An invalid signal is any waving signal by a player of Team B [t]hat does not meet the requirements of Article 2 (above)"</div><div>
</div><div>Approved Rule 6-5-3-V: "Team A’s scrimmage kick is rolling beyond the neutral zone when B17 alerts his teammates to stay away from the ball by a “get away” signal. RULING: Invalid signal. The ball is dead by rule when either team recovers."</div><div>
</div><div>This rule has been in the NCAA rule book for years now. The correct call was made.</div><div>
</div>

 

[drt7891]

and the ball was given to us at the spot the play was blown dead.<div>
</div><div>On a slightly different note, I'm glad they got that call right. I've seen crews, particularly SEC crews not call it like that and blame the player for "not calling a correct fair catch," and have even seen a flag thrown on a play like that. An inadvertent whistle basically says to the coaches and players "we accidentally blew our whistle and blew the play dead. Our bad." It was a good call and I have respect for them making the correct call.</div><div>
</div><div>*Edited to add that MOST crews will ignore the "get away" signals. An invalid signal would be someone not beyond the neutral zone calling fair catch, a player calling fair catch and not catching the ball, or not giving a clear signal (a half-*** wave). The "get away" signals are usually (and should be) ignored and not ruled as invalid signals.</div>

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

Did not look like any of those requirements were met... to me.

Never did he raise his hand(s) above his head, he did waive sided to side before theball reached him.


<div>2-8-2: "A valid signal is a signal given by a player of Team B who has obviously signaled his intention by extending one hand only clearly above his head and waving that hand from side to side of his body more than once."</div><div>
</div><div>2-8-3-a: "An invalid signal is any waving signal by a player of Team B [t]hat does not meet the requirements of Article 2 (above)"</div><div>
</div><div>

</div>

 

[MSU CS 2004]

I just watched it. The referee said,"The receiver gave a signal, therefore the ball is dead where it was possessed."<div>
</div><div>That's exactly what happened. The "get away" signal is not ignored, and the NCAA rule book explicitly states that it is an invalid signal. I freakin' quoted the rule book above. Download it and read it, if you don't believe me.</div>

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

but not that Bump met any other requirement.

 

[MSU CS 2004]

It was not a "fair catch" signal. Waving the arms below the waist is considered an invalid signal. By rule, the ball is dead as soon as it is possessed after an invalid signal.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

...

 

[FlabLoser]

In every game you see a player waving his teammates away from the punt

 

[dawgstudent]

once it's fielded - the ball is dead.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

No matter if it is fair catch or not. You are basically saying "I give up."

 

[MSU CS 2004]

LSU vs Mississippi:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6P7aloc064

 

[MSU CS 2004]

Alabama vs Mississippi State: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWkqQWBCeKQ

<div>
</div><div>(Albeit, with the referee not describing the penalty correctly.)</div>

 

[jwbigcreek]

but if you caught the OU game after ours (3rd Q?), their returner did basically the same thing & advanced the ball. I'm assuming that one should have been blown dead as well?

 

[drt7891]

but then again, I had a hard time hearing anything said in the stadium from where I was sitting. My mistake. <div>
</div><div>Also, I was pretty sure the NCAA rulebook did not include a "get away" signal. The high school rulebook states an invalid signal as "any signal given that is not a legal fair catch signal (laterally waving the hand over the head in a side to side motion)," and a flag would have been thrown for an invalid signal... but that's high school. I guess I would like to think our junior wide receiver knows better than to wave his hands around if it is clearly in the rulebook (also considering he had done it earlier in the game). My guess is he was told by the official prior to the kick "give a good fair catch signal" or something like that. My mistake for getting that wrong, but I thought I heard him say "inadvertent whistle."</div>

 

[lawdawg02]

an "invalid" signal, then shouldn't it just be a "signal"? Apparently there is absolutely no reason to use the legal fair catch signal, since any waving of the hand, whether valid or invalid, accomplishes the same thing.

/but I digress...

 

[Todd4State]

If you can't tell your players to get away from the ball, that's ridiculous. Most officials should let that go because there is a difference between calling a fair catch and telling your teammates to get away from the ball. A big difference.

I think the reason it may be rarely called is because a lot of times when a returner is telling his teammates to get away from the ball, it's because it was not returnable and they need to get away from it before something crazy happens.

 

[falzaergo]

of stressing this rule to the refs prior to the season. A flag was throw on seemingly every punt on every game for the first two weeks before it slowly became ignored by the officials once again. The call was correct, the signal was invalid. The only difference between now and what I remember from 4 years ago, it seems to me the rules used to stipulate that an invalid signal was an illegal procedure and should be flagged and penalized accordingly. We are lucky they didn't penalize us for trying to advance the ball after a fair catch signal, albeit an invalid fair catch signal.