The roughing the passer rules in college football and the NFL aren’t the same word for word, but they’re basically the same.
6 components of the roughing the passer rules in college football and the NFL
The two levels use different wording, but the rules are almost exactly the same.
Here are six ways to tell if a quarterback has just been hit illegally.
1. You can’t hit the QB well after he’s thrown the ball.
The NCAA says:
No defensive player shall unnecessarily rough a passer, when it is obvious the ball has been thrown.
The NFL says:
Roughing will be called if, in the Referee’s judgment, a pass rusher clearly should have known that the ball had already left the passer’s hand before contact was made; pass rushers are responsible for being aware of the position of the ball in passing situations.
NFL pass-rushers have to make contact within one step after the ball’s release.
2. Pass-rushers can’t unnecessarily plop onto a QB.
The NCAA says this is prohibited:
Forcibly driving the passer to the ground and landing on him with action that punishes the player.
The NFL:
A rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as “stuffing” a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball ... When tackling a passer who is in a defenseless posture (e.g., during or just after throwing a pass), a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down and land on top of him with all or most of the defender’s weight. Instead, the defensive player must strive to wrap up the passer with the defensive player’s arms and not land on the passer.
This part is a judgment call. You’ll usually know it when you see it.
3. Don’t hit the quarterback in the head.
In college football, pretty much any hit to the head puts a player at risk for ejection under the sport’s targeting rule. The NFL has now adopted a similar rule. But both rulebooks go out of their way to remind us that defenders shouldn’t hit QBs in the head.
The NCAA says “forcible contact to the head or neck area that does not meet the requirements” of the targeting rule is illegal against QBs. It’s pretty much redundant.
The NFL says:
In covering the passer position, Referees will be particularly alert to fouls in which defenders impermissibly use the helmet and/or facemask to hit the passer, or use hands, arms, or other parts of the body to hit the passer forcibly in the head or neck area.
4. When QBs take off running, they lose some of these protections.
The college rule only applies to QBs in a “passing posture.”
In the NFL, when a QB leaves the pocket or takes off running, he loses the protection of the one-step rule for pass-rushers and the prohibition on hits below the knees. He keeps the other benefits pocket passers get, like getting hit in the head or having his arm clubbed after the ball’s gone.
5. Don’t hit a passing player below the knees.
Both levels have exceptions for players who get pushed or blocked into a QB’s feet. But otherwise, it’s a foul to go low on a QB who isn’t running.
The NCAA says:
When an offensive player is in a passing posture with one or both feet on the ground, no defensive player rushing unabated shall hit him forcibly at the knee area or below. The defensive player also may not initiate a roll or lunge and forcibly hit this opponent in the knee area or below. [Exceptions: (1) It is not a foul if the offensive player is a runner not in a passing posture, either inside or outside the tackle box. (2) It is not a foul if the defender grabs or wraps this opponent in an attempt to make a conventional tackle without making forcible contact with the head or shoulder. (3) It is not a foul if the defender is not rushing unabated or is blocked or fouled into this opponent.]
The NFL says:
A rushing defender is prohibited from forcibly hitting in the knee area or below a passer who has one or both feet on the ground, even if the initial contact is above the knee. It is not a foul if the defender is blocked (or fouled) into the passer and has no opportunity to avoid him.
6. The penalty is 15 yards from the previous spot and an automatic first down.
And you can get thrown out. The NFL has a specific eject clause for “flagrant” violations, and if a college roughing call includes targeting, a player’s gone anyway.
This post has featured a bunch of clippings from both the NCAA and NFL rulebooks. You can read the full rules on page FR-92 here (NCAA) and this page here (NFL).
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