I'm having a hard time finding the difference.
It's been my understanding (haven't paid too much attention the last few years) that the NFL and NCAA had difference versions of what constituted the a "touchdown" in relation to the goaline plane.
The NFL being the side of the white line closest to the field and the NCAA being the side closest to the endzone constituting the "plane" of the goalline, can anyone confirm or deny which is correct or if there is a difference.
I can't seem to find it.
I think there used to be a difference but has changed to the same basic interpretation -
NFL said:Touchdown: When any part of the ball, legally in possession of a player inbounds, breaks the plane of the opponent’s goal line, provided it is not a touchback.
NCAA said:ARTICLE 1. A touchdown shall be scored when: a. A ball carrier advancing from the field of play has possession of a live ball when it penetrates the plane of the opponent’s goal line (Exception: Rule 4-2-4-e) (A.R. 2-23-1-I and A.R. 8-2-1-I-IV).
Page FR-108 here: http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/FR09.pdf
For both, it is when the ball touches the goal line. However, if coming OUT of the endzone, the entire ball must be past the line. In other words, once no part of the ball is touching the line, it is officially in the field of play.
Yeah, I've figured it's the same now, but I could have sworn at one point the the goaline in NCAA didn't constitute the end zone or something along those lines.
I believe the old rule was that the ball had to "grossly" break the plane of the goal line. Just so you didn't get into the painted blade of grass is misplaced therefore it "broke" the plane of the line.
yeah i think back in the day before instant replay, the ball had to get all the way into the end zone or something.
i imagine this topic is due to the two "coming out of the endzone" calls in the two BCS bowl games yesterday? it was funny that it happened in two games on the same day, with the fans booing the refs as a result of the same misunderstanding. was pretty funny to see one stanford player tackle the other in the endzone though.
^That was pretty funny, yeah, we were all watching that game. Wife, me, best friend and his wife, his wife's twin and her husband are all OSU alum.
In reply to z31maniac:
it was a good game, glad that OSU came out on top. it will likely be ignored in favor of the SEC nutswinging contest, but the big 12 is 6-1 so far this bowl season with kansas state still to play Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl later this week.
which brings up another funny thing about this season: the ticketcity.com bowl was played in the Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas this year (U of H won), and the Cotton Bowl game is being played at Jerry's world in Arlington.
the worst rule is the chains and where exactly is 10 years on the chain or stick.
last year during a game, the browns stuffed the run on 4th down. the ball was short of the stick by 4 inches, but the officials gave a first down to the opposing team and the NFL claimed the next day that the chain links or tape mark on the chain is 10 yards, not the stick. however, this year i have seen countless times where officials call it no first down with the ball an inch from the stick but well beyond the chain links.... sometimes i think the officials are told to nudge the outcome one way or another, and sometimes i think they are just stupid and don't know the rules they are supposed to enforce.
