Rules review video: Kick catch interference, roughing the passer, and fair catch signals

2026 Media Video #4

National coordinator of college football officiating Ron Snodgrass posted his fourth media video of the season, breaking down rules and interpretations from recent games in the college football season.

• Kick catch interference. On a punt, a flag is thrown for kick catch interference, but the crew gets together and determines that a player on the receiving team blocked a kicking team player into the receiver. The receiver then muffs the ball and it is recovered by the kicking team. Since the receiving team caused the contact, there is no kick catch interference.
• Roughing the passer. The quarterback throws a backward pass to a wide receiver, who establishes a passing posture, throws downfield, and is hit hard to the head area after releasing the ball. The center judge correctly flags roughing the passer, as a passer is any player who throws a forward pass, not only the quarterback.
• Positioning. On a punt, a kicking team player has his foot on the goal line, but the ball never crosses the plane of the goal line. In college football, the position of the ball, not the player, is what determines a touchback, so there is no touchback and the ball is downed at the 1 yard line. The back judge has a good angle on the goal line and brackets the play with the side judge, which helps get this call right.
• Fair catch signals. On a punt, the returner points forward with both hands, then picks up the ball and advances. This is legal, since pointing forward below the shoulders is not considered an invalid signal and does not kill the play. A waving signal, the getaway signal similar to an incomplete pass, or a T signal would all be invalid and cause the ball to become dead upon recovery.
• Illegal formation/invalid fair catch signal. On a punt, a flag comes out at the snap from the line of scrimmage official, who rules the right guard lined up too far off the line of scrimmage, making five players in the backfield. If there is a window of space between a player’s alignment and the backside of the snapper, a foul is warranted without a warning. On the same play, a returner makes a slight waving motion while the kick is in the air, which is enough for an invalid fair catch signal, so the ball is dead the moment it is recovered and the official shuts the play down.
• Touchback (muffed kickoff). In heavy rain, a receiver misjudges a kickoff and it goes over his head. He muffs it once in the field of play and again in the end zone before the receiving team finally recovers it, and it is ruled a touchback. This is correct because the ball remains a kick even after being muffed twice by the receiving team. Had the ball continued over the end line after the touching, it would still be a touchback. To avoid a recovery by the kicking team, which would be a touchdown, the receiving team has to get on the ball, but they are not required to bring it out of the end zone.
• Spike or fumble. The quarterback is under center and attempts to spike the ball to stop the clock. He takes a clean snap, but as he raises the ball he loses control, and instead of throwing it to the ground, he pushes the loose ball down. Replay correctly reverses this to a fumble, since to be a pass there must be firm control with intentional forward movement of the passer’s hand. There must also be a clear and immediate recovery to award the ball to either team, which the defense provides.
• Late hit/targeting. A runner goes into a slide. Sliding runners are considered defenseless, and the ball carrier is technically down as soon as the slide starts, so the contact is correctly flagged as a late hit. The crew also adds targeting, so there are two fouls on the play, and the targeting portion is an automatic review. The defender lowers his head and makes forceful contact, but mostly with his shoulder to the runner’s chest, with the crown of his helmet getting to the side and the head and neck area staying clean. With no forcible contact to the head or neck area and none with the crown of the helmet, replay correctly removes the targeting foul, and the late hit stands.