Nick Bromberg
Sat, October 8, 2022, 1:27 PM
Oklahoma State’s Demarco Jones had one of the most heads-up plays of 2022 early in his team’s game against Texas Tech. And he may set off a wave of copycats over the second half of the season. Texas Tech got the ball first and scored a TD on its opening drive. The Red Raiders then tried to surprise Oklahoma State with an onside kick. And it worked. Texas Tech executed it perfectly and got the ball back. Or so it appeared. Watch Jones at the bottom of your screen. He’s No. 22. Look at him wave his right arm. Oklahoma State's Demarco Jones outsmarted Texas Tech on Sunday. (via Fox Sports 1)Officials caught Jones waving his arm for a fair catch. And his action was a great utilization of the wording in the college football rule book. Once Jones called for the fair catch as the ball was bouncing toward him, Texas Tech was immediately prevented from recovering the kick since Jones is allowed an opportunity to possess the ball. And since Tech recovered the kick, the Red Raiders were actually penalized for kick catch interference. Oklahoma State ended up getting 10 free yards along with the ball and started its drive on the Tech 34.
You cant call a fair catch after the ball bounces off the ground, thats why they are all kicked into the ground.
Refs Fd up….
Yes, apparently you can fair catch a ball that bounces once, but not more than once. I did not just make that up, though it reads like it. Brilliant play by the OK State blocker.
this has to be an officiating mistake.
Fair catches have to be on a ball kicked into the air, not one bounced off the turf up in the air. sc
you can't fair catch a ball that has already bounced on the ground. The officials were wrong.
That said, I thought there was a new rule a few years ago that the ball had to bounce at least twice before the kicking team could recover it. This is to prevent the high pop fly (off the initial bounce) approach to let the kicking team get down field while the ball was in the air? Or has this since been rescinded?