[French Rage]

Question on the whole pylon thing.  When some is going into the endzone along the sideline and the hold the ball out so it hits the pylon, that's enough to say it broke the plane.  So for those purposes it's in-bounds right?  But yeah last night's was definitely out of bounds, and he led with the foot and not the ball, so the foot was out before the ball crossed and all.  For some reason I always thought the pylon is in-bounds, but on the replays it is clearly out.

The answer is that the pylon is out of bounds past the goal line plane.  Thus, if the ball touches the pylon, it has crossed the plane and gone out of bounds, but is presumed to have crossed the plane first.  If the player touches the pylon, he has gone out of bounds, so it depends on whether the ball has crossed the plane before the player's body touches the pylon.  In the Oregon receiver's case, the ball was at the half yard line when the player's foot touched the pylon, so the ball is down within one yard.  On Love's play, his foot did not touch the pylon (nor did it touch the end zone; he stepped out of bounds in the end zone).  Had he touched the ground in the end zone in bounds, the plane would have extended out of bounds and it would definitely have been a touchdown.  But he didn't so, the question was whether the ball crossed the plane in bounds.  I don't think it did, but there wasn't a good angle to know for sure, so the call stood.

BC

OK, that's what I figured.  I don't recall ever seeing a play like the Oregon play so I guess it's something I really never had to consider before.  Usually it's all about the ball hitting the pylon and not the player.

[French Rage]

Question on the whole pylon thing.  When some is going into the endzone along the sideline and the hold the ball out so it hits the pylon, that's enough to say it broke the plane.  So for those purposes it's in-bounds right?  But yeah last night's was definitely out of bounds, and he led with the foot and not the ball, so the foot was out before the ball crossed and all.  For some reason I always thought the pylon is in-bounds, but on the replays it is clearly out.

The answer is that the pylon is out of bounds past the goal line plane.  Thus, if the ball touches the pylon, it has crossed the plane and gone out of bounds, but is presumed to have crossed the plane first.  If the player touches the pylon, he has gone out of bounds, so it depends on whether the ball has crossed the plane before the player's body touches the pylon.  In the Oregon receiver's case, the ball was at the half yard line when the player's foot touched the pylon, so the ball is down within one yard.  On Love's play, his foot did not touch the pylon (nor did it touch the end zone; he stepped out of bounds in the end zone).  Had he touched the ground in the end zone in bounds, the plane would have extended out of bounds and it would definitely have been a touchdown.  But he didn't so, the question was whether the ball crossed the plane in bounds.  I don't think it did, but there wasn't a good angle to know for sure, so the call stood.

BC

OK, that's what I figured.  I don't recall ever seeing a play like the Oregon play so I guess it's something I really never had to consider before.  Usually it's all about the ball hitting the pylon and not the player.