North Texas returned a punt for a touchdown against Arkansas on Saturday that should give officials and the sport something to reconsider.
Keegan Brewer returned a punt 90 yards for the score to put North Texas up 14-0 in the first quarter against the Razorbacks. In watching the replay, Arkansas had excellent coverage on the punt and had four players surrounding Brewer, who acted like the play was over due to a fair catch. The play was never blown dead by the officials, so Brewer decided to run and ended up scoring.
The replay shows that Brewer may have raised his arm before getting the punt, which would have been a sign of him calling for a fair catch. Either he did not wave his arm and I’m seeing wrong (quite possible), or he did wave his arm and intended to call for a fair catch, which the referees missed, allowing a play to continue when it should not have (also possible).
If the refs missed the fair catch, they cost Arkansas seven points. If it was an intentional trick play, as many observers thought, it’s an abuse of the rules that should not be allowed.
The fair catch rule is designed to protect defenseless punt returners from being crushed. If you’re faking a fair catch to get the defense to surrender and stop from hitting you, that’s an abuse of a rule that's meant to protect a defenseless player who truly deserves to be protected. A player should benefit from that. The ball should have been blown dead on the spot from a player giving himself up.
If the NCAA wants to crack down, it should consider a penalty for players faking the end of a play.
There’s a reason why you rarely, if ever, see a fake fair catch trick play: It goes against the intent of the rule.
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