Question about a certain NCAA rule

[DownwardDawg]

The other night during the aTm vs ole miss game, the aTm running back stepped out of bounds as the ball was stripped from his hands by an ole miss defender. It was a very close play and could have been called either way based on the fact that the game announcers and the refs seemed to be focusing only on the ball carrier. When they announced the decision that it was a fumble, the ref stated that the ball carriers foot stepped out before the ball was stripped. That was very debatable. However, what was NOT debatable is the fact that the defender was standing out of bounds when he stripped the ball. One foot was clearly planted well out of bounds and the other foot was in bounds. Can you make a play in bounds when you have one foot in and one foot out? I know you can't catch the ball like that.
Anyway, the announcers never mentioned this because they only focused on the ball carrier. I think the officials did the same thing.

[DownwardDawg]

Bump. Shirley somebody on this board can answer this.

[Jack Lambert]

To answer you question I think if the defender is out of bounds he is ineligible. They must have missed it.

[DownwardDawg]

Yeah, I think it was clearly missed.

[starkvegasdawg]

I thought if you went out of bounds you could just not be the first person to touch the ball but that there were no other restrictions. If the RB still had possession he would not be the first person to touch it. That may just pertain to offense, though. Not sure.

[smootness]

It's a very interesting question that I can't find an answer to. The rules state that a player can't leave the field and come back in bounds to make a play, but the example given is a receiver, and that is an obvious penalty.

I'm not sure exactly how it works. It doesn't happen often, but I would assume it is a penalty to try to make a play at all while out of bounds.

I've often thought of something similar in basketball. When someone is out of bounds and touching the ball, the ball is out of bounds. However, would this apply to defenders, i.e. a defender with one foot out just reaching around to touch the ball? Would that automatically make it out of bounds, thus stopping the play? I don't know what kind of an advantage it would be, since it would give the ball right back to the offense, but it could at least create more opportunities late in games to make them inbound from a difficult area and give you a chance at a steal.

[Jack Lambert]

I justed asked a ref and he said the the rule is different for defensivse players. They can go out of bounds, come back in and be the first to touch the ball but if the defender is out of bounds at the time the ball was striped then the play is over.

[smootness]

I justed asked a ref and he said the the rule is different for defensivse players. They can go out of bounds, come back in and be the first to touch the ball but if the defender is out of bounds at the time the ball was striped then the play is over.

So there's no penalty? What if a defensive player is out of bounds, simply touches the player/ball, but doesn't strip it? Is the play dead then?