Things I'm wondering about....

[SomeBeach]

1. On punts... one one play, the GSU guy caught the ball on a bounce, stood there, and the play was blown dead. On a a later punt, our guy caught the ball on the bounce and got creamed. There was a penalty called, but it was NOT for that hit... it was for some activity after the play?
Did I miss something? Or was it too much Mountain Dew clouding my vision?

2. On our roughing the punter penalty (clearly deserved, IMHO)... who makes that call to go for the block? The player on his own? Does the coach tell them to "go for it"? I gotta believe it's all on the player in this case, but I don't know?

[1st&TennBison]

1. On punts... one one play, the GSU guy caught the ball on a bounce, stood there, and the play was blown dead. On a a later punt, our guy caught the ball on the bounce and got creamed. There was a penalty called, but it was NOT for that hit... it was for some activity after the play?
Did I miss something? Or was it too much Mountain Dew clouding my vision?

2. On our roughing the punter penalty (clearly deserved, IMHO)... who makes that call to go for the block? The player on his own? Does the coach tell them to "go for it"? I gotta believe it's all on the player in this case, but I don't know?

1. #66 on GSU shoved one of our guys to the ground after the ref had the ball in his hands and the play was dead.
2. In my experience it goes both ways, sometimes the coach calls it from the git go and other time specific players are allowed to make the call based on what they see with the formation.

[Civil06]

1. On punts... one one play, the GSU guy caught the ball on a bounce, stood there, and the play was blown dead. On a a later punt, our guy caught the ball on the bounce and got creamed. There was a penalty called, but it was NOT for that hit... it was for some activity after the play?
Did I miss something? Or was it too much Mountain Dew clouding my vision?

2. On our roughing the punter penalty (clearly deserved, IMHO)... who makes that call to go for the block? The player on his own? Does the coach tell them to "go for it"? I gotta believe it's all on the player in this case, but I don't know?

The GSU returner signaled a fair catch.

[BisonNation11]

2. On our roughing the punter penalty (clearly deserved, IMHO)... who makes that call to go for the block? The player on his own? Does the coach tell them to "go for it"? I gotta believe it's all on the player in this case, but I don't know?

I believe Bohl said in the post game presser that it's on the player. They are coached if they are unblocked and let free to go make a play. He wasn't entirely pissed about the play, and seemed somewhat happy that his RFr tried to make a play. He basically said if he blocks that punt and we get a TD, we're all pretty happy about it aren't we... I don't think it was penalty worth, but that's just my opinion. I've heard Polasek say before to the guys to run free and if they get the chance to make a big play, take it.

[IzzyFlexion]

Bison return man (Dudzik, I believe) caught the ball while simultaneously dropping to one knee (by rule at that point is down)..He then stood up and was hammered thus the late hit penalty.

[Tatanka]

Bison return man (Dudzik, I believe) caught the ball while simultaneously dropping to one knee (by rule at that point is down)..He then stood up and was hammered thus the late hit penalty.

pretty sure he was still down with his knee down when he got hammered. Still not sure that was what was called. The stripes were right there and didn't make the call for a LONG time.

[gt_bison]

1. On punts... one one play, the GSU guy caught the ball on a bounce, stood there, and the play was blown dead.

Civil06 is about half right on this. The returner waved his arms low in sort of a "don't touch" signal to his teammates, which would not traditionally be a fair catch signal. However, the NCAA rulebook was revised a couple years ago after an epidemic of players giving signals that did not clearly meet the definition of a fair catch signal so that now there's a proper way to signal fair catch but that pretty much any arm waving by the returner will be deemed a fair catch signal.

[SafeTeeJ]

Watching the game on tv......did you guys do any lip reading of coach Monken when they had to all back to back time outs? Even this drunken sailor was blushing he sure was pissed!

[1st&TennBison]

pretty sure he was still down with his knee down when he got hammered. Still not sure that was what was called. The stripes were right there and didn't make the call for a LONG time.

The call was against #66 of GSU, about 5 seconds after the play was dead and the ref had the ball in his hands, #66 shoved one of our guys to the ground as they were walking towards mid field if I recall.

[IndyBison]

Civil06 is about half right on this. The returner waved his arms low in sort of a "don't touch" signal to his teammates, which would not traditionally be a fair catch signal. However, the NCAA rulebook was revised a couple years ago after an epidemic of players giving signals that did not clearly meet the definition of a fair catch signal so that now there's a proper way to signal fair catch but that pretty much any arm waving by the returner will be deemed a fair catch signal.

And you are mostly right. The "get-away" signal is considered a invalid fair catch signal but it still causes the ball to be dead when possessed by the return team. They are essentially the same but it doesn't have the same restrictions as a fair catch signal. For example, if the players gives a valid fair catch signal and muffs the ball in the air, the kicking team still has to give him the opportunity to catch the kick. If he gave an invalid fair catch signal and then muffed the airborne ball, he doesn't have the same protection. I've never seen a player give the get away signal and then attempt to catch the ball before it hits the ground.

He also doesn't have the same protection from being hit after completing the catch. This rule states "No player of the kicking team shall tackle or block an opponent who has completed a fair catch. Only the player making a fair catch signal has this protection" Since an invalid signal does not result in a fair catch by definition a player who catches or recovers the kick after an invalid signal doesn't have this protection but the ball is still dead so any tackle after that could be considered a personal foul anyway. The difference is the defender will be given no latitude if he hits a player that gave a valid fair catch signal. He may be given some latitude if it was an invalid signal or the ball hit the ground and was recovered after a valid signal.

I need to go back and watch the last punt by GSU. I thought for sure there would be a personal foul on the first hit after the ball was recovered and his knee was down. I'm wondering if he wasn't going down as he was catching so it wasn't reasonably certain he would be taking a knee. I don't believe there was any signal by the returner.