Rules review video: Early celebration, kick catch interference, and college expedited replays

2024 Media video #9

National coordinator of football officials Steve Shaw posted his weekly video breaking down rules and interpretations from week 8 of the college football season.  Shaw started the video with a discussion on the number of targeting fouls this season. 

• Loose ball not recovered.  Shaw starts with a play where an intercepting player, while running the ball into the opponent’s end zone for an apparent touchdown, dropped the ball prior to crossing the goal line.  In the aftermath, neither team recovered the ball, and the call on the field is a touchdown.  Replay reviewed the play and overturned the call on the field to a fumble.  Since no team recovered the ball, replay awarded the intercepting team the ball at the spot of the fumble.
• Kick catch interference. During a punt play, the returner gave a valid fair catch signal but was contacted by a kicking team player.  The back judge, whose key is the returner, properly put down a flag for kick catch interference.  The side judge who is keying on the kick team players, provided the back judge with the information that the contacting player was blocked into the returner.  By rule, this player is not guilty of KCI and the flag was picked up.  Shaw commented on the mechanics of a non-calling official bringing information to the calling official and the decision-making process of the calling official to decide to pick up or leave the flag.
• Coach-to-player communication system. Shaw reviewed a situation where one team’s coach-to-player communication system, or C2P, failed during the game.  No NCAA rule exists on what to do in instances like this, but conferences are allowed to provide guidance to cover these situations.  All FBS conferences have adopted the same policy where if one team’s communication system has completely failed, the other team may not use their system until the defective system has been repaired.  System failures are determined by independent on-field personnel. (In the NFL, this is referred to as the “equity rule” and applies to the C2C, connecting the coaching staff, but not C2P.)
• Targeting. A defender delivered a hard, open-field hit on a receiver that had established himself as a runner.  No foul was called on the play but replay initiated a review for targeting.  Replay examined the hit for leading with the crown of the helmet and ruled that the defender had fouled by hitting the runner with the crown.  This hit with the crown is not limited to the head of the runner, but is a foul if delivered anywhere on the body of the player.
• Roughing the passer. A defender attempted to block a thrown ball by a quarterback, but upon his follow through, he forcibly contacted the head of the passer, who was defenseless at the time.  Shaw indicated that these are roughing the passer calls that they want called because the defender, while making a legitimate play on the ball, must control any hit on the quarterback and avoid the passer’s head.  This was not targeting because there were no indicators of targeting, and the foul is enforced from the end of the run with an automatic first down.
• Expedited replay. Shaw highlighted the NCAA’s use of expedited replay review on a play where the runner was clearly short of the goal line.  The replay official communicated with the referee, who announced that after replay review the call had been changed.  This was done without the need for the referee to head to the monitor and it was clearly communicated that the call had been changed due to replay.  Shaw would like continued use of this mechanic to change clear and obvious errors that do not require a long-form review process.