College football’s catch rule is complicated. It might even be more complicated than the NFL’s rule, now that the pros have made some changes to their own.
College football’s catch rule is officially more confusing than the NFL’s now
That thing the NFL got rid of after lots of people complained? It’s still part of college football’s catch rule.
Photo by Tom Lynn/Getty Images
This is what constitutes a catch, according to the NCAA:
To catch a ball means that a player:
Secures control of a live ball in flight before the ball touches the ground, and touches the ground in bounds with any part of his body, and then maintains control of the ball long enough to enable him to perform an act common to the game, i.e., long enough to pitch or hand the ball, advance it, avoid or ward off an opponent, etc.
That’s not all. The receiver has to satisfy these three paragraphs, too:
First:
If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass (with or without contact by an opponent) he must maintain complete and continuous control of the ball throughout the process of contacting the ground, whether in the field of play or in the end zone. This is also required for a player attempting to make a catch at the sideline and going to the ground out of bounds. If he loses control of the ball which then touches the ground before he regains control, it is not a catch. If he regains control inbounds prior to the ball touching the ground it is a catch.
Remember how the NFL used to require players to “survive the ground” when making a catch? Whatever that meant? The NFL got rid of that terminology after a couple of controversial plays in 2017, meaning that players who try to make football-like plays on their way to the ground don’t lose their catches if the ball slips out while they’re reaching with it.
College doesn’t use the same words, but it has the rule the NFL used to have. If a college player secures the ball and then loses it while reaching for a first down on his way to the ground, it’s not a catch.
Second:
If the player loses control of the ball while simultaneously touching the ground with any part of his body [except his feet, of course], or if there is doubt that the acts were simultaneous, it is not a catch. If a player has control of the ball, a slight movement of the ball, even if it touches the ground, will not be considered loss of possession.
Third:
If the ball touches the ground after the player secures control and continues to maintain control, and the elements above are satisfied, it is a catch.
Those last two graphs go to the same point: Just because the ball wiggles or comes loose doesn’t mean a receiver hasn’t made the catch.
Let’s watch some close plays that were correctly ruled catches:
As NCAA officiating czar Rogers Redding explains, that touchdown catch by a Florida State receiver counted even though he lost control after landing out of bounds. It was a good catch because the receiver did something “common to the game” — taking a few steps with the ball — after coming down from his jump with the ball in his hands.
Similarly, here’s a catch and fumble — not an incomplete pass:
Again, Redding explains that the receiver secures the ball and does “something “common to the game” before putting it on the ground.
And here’s a non-catch on another close play:
“The player grasps the ball while he’s in the air, but when he comes to the ground, he does not maintain control and then rolls out of bounds,” Redding says.
And he doesn’t. The ball is out just about as soon as the receiver hits the ground.
See More:
