Rules review video: Intentional grounding, illegal batting, and invalid signals on kickoffs

2026 Media Video #5

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

• Intentional grounding. Two plays. On both, the quarterback is in the pocket and under duress, and he throws to an area where he believes his receiver will be, but no one is in the vicinity of the pass. Officials cannot judge intent, only the result. Because the quarterback is in the pocket and under duress, there must be a receiver in the vicinity of a pass that lands in the field of play, so intentional grounding is correctly called on both plays.
• Illegal batting. On a punt, the ball is rolling downfield when a kicking team player bats it forward (in the direction of the punt), and it goes out of bounds at the 3 yard line. This gives the receiving team options. It can enforce the 10 yard penalty from the previous spot and replay the down, or enforce it from the dead ball spot at the 3. The spot of the batting cannot be used to enforce the penalty. The batting is also illegal touching, so the receiving team could instead decline the penalty and take the ball at that spot. Accepting the penalty gives up that option, and here the receiving team is better off with the 10 yards added to the dead ball spot, so it enforces from there.
• Invalid signal. On a kickoff, a returner gives the T signal, which is an invalid signal, and a different player catches the kick. The ball is dead where it is caught, so the receiving team is not awarded the ball at the 25 yard line. Had the player who gave the signal been the one to catch it, the ball would have been placed at the 25 (on a catch behind the 25), even with an invalid signal.
• Fumble. running back catches a short pass, heads toward the sideline, and jumps to hurdle a defender. He is hit in the air and carried over the sideline, but an airborne ball carrier remains an inbounds player until he touches something other than a player or game official outside the boundary. He never touches the ground, and the ball comes loose into the field of play without touching anything out of bounds, so it is correctly ruled a fumble.
• Tip signal. On a punt, a defender makes a strong rush and contacts the punter. The referee and center judge both give the tip signal, and the referee announces no foul for roughing the kicker because the ball was tipped. This announcement matters because whether a kick was touched is reviewable, and it allows the foul to be enforced if replay shows there was no touch. The kicking team coach challenges, but there is no indisputable video evidence that the ball was not touched, so the no foul ruling is upheld.
• Kick catch interference. A receiver gives a valid fair catch signal and muffs the kick. A valid signal gives him an unimpeded opportunity to catch the kick, which continues after the muff as long as he still has an opportunity to complete the catch. A kicking team player invades his space and the ball never touches the ground. This is correctly flagged for kick catch interference.
• Ineligible receiver. The quarterback is flushed from the pocket and a lineman drifts more than 3 yards downfield, drawing a flag. Since the pass is thrown behind the line of scrimmage, there is no foul. However, the receiver who catches it was covered up on the line of scrimmage before the snap, making him ineligible. An ineligible player touching a forward pass is illegal touching, which carries a 5 yard penalty and a loss of down.
• Touchback vs. safety. On a kickoff, the returner muffs the ball near the goal line, and it rolls back into the end zone, where he downs it. The crew initially rules a safety but correctly changes it to a touchback. Because he never had possession, the kick never ended, so downing it in the end zone results in a touchback. Had he caught the ball and then fumbled it back into the end zone, the kick would have ended at the catch, and he would need to bring it out to avoid a safety (in most cases).