Locked due to no posts in 60 days. Report 1st post if need unlocked Touchdown rule question

[hskrncibolo]

It is a plane, which means it is infinitely wide. Technically, it even extends infinitely down underneath the field. A plane extends infinitely in all directions within two dimensions.

Any time the ball crosses that plane while the player is inbounds, it is a touchdown. Your case above is clearly a TD.

So let's say a WR stretches out to catch the ball and barely gets his toes inbounds at the 1 yard line, then as he's falling down (with toes still touching inbounds) he stretches out the ball to cross the goal line plane out of bounds, but before any part of his body touches out of bounds. That is a TD.

However, let's say another player runs towards the pylon with the ball and dives from the one yard line. So he crosses the sideline in midair at the one and crosses the goal line plane with the ball out of bounds before hitting the ground. That ball will be spotted where it last crossed the sideline (at the one yard line). Not a TD.

I hope that's clear. It's kind of hard to explain without drawing a picture.

depends of the team ......If its OSU or MU, TD !!!!

 

[dkref11]

Another question for you dkref . . .

Why?

Why do they change rules like this? Is there a rules committee that thinks they have to change a certain number of rules each year to justify their existence, kinda like those guys in Washington?

After each season....many different things happen which may have an effect on rule changes for the next year. Every conference has meetings, Athletic Directors meet, Coaches meet, Rules committee members meet, and in those meetings they discuss ways they think the game can improve. Recommendations are then accepted and discussed and if there is enough evidence a rule change is needed they make a change. Most of them involve safety, however there are a few each year where they are just trying to clarify a rule and make it more understood for everyone. There is not a set number of rules that need to be changed each year, some years more than others, but every year there are some rules that change, some for the good, some questionable and then those that make no sense at all to some fans. In the end.....I think the rules committee does a good job of trying to improve the safety of the game. I think most fans are for the changes towards safety, it's how each official handles the enforcement that drives the fans Irate, but judgement will always be a big part of rule changes and how they are applied. I'm sure there are some fans who will become Irate just by reading this post....

 

[Formo]

The OP is a TD...


College went to the NFL rule..High School still uses the indefinate plane as you described. So In High School your examples are TD's.

When did the NFL change that rule then? As long as I can remember the goal-line has always been a plane that wraps completely around the world. Never have I seen an instance where a ball crossed the goal line out of bounds NOT called a TD.

 

[dkref11]

When did the NFL change that rule then? As long as I can remember the goal-line has always been a plane that wraps completely around the world. Never have I seen an instance where a ball crossed the goal line out of bounds NOT called a TD.

This article is from 2007, Referee Ed Hochuli, mentions at the end of the article that this is the year it was changed in the NFL.

http://www.east-coast-bias.com/2007/10/plane-of-goal-line.html