Expert: Steve - 12/3/2006

Question
Can you tell me if a muff punt can be returned by the original kicking team in College football...

I believe in high school footbal the kicking team CAN NOT return the muff punt.... they only get possession....

In pro football.. nfl .... i believe the kicking team CAN return a muff punt.... ????

Please give me your input  -- thank you

Kenny

Answer
Hi Kenneth,

I'm sorry that I took a couple of days to get back to you but rules questions are often complicated to begin with and both the NFL and NCAA rulebooks can be very difficult to understand. Here is what I found out.  In college a muffed punt may not be advanced by the kicking team.  However, a blocked punt that does not go past the neutral zone (three yards beyond the line of scrimmage) may be advanced by either team that recovers the kick. Below is a link to the NCAA rulebook.  It takes a long time to load but it all sorts of info.

Kenneth, thanks for asking and I hope this helps.

http://www.ncaa.org/library/rules/2006/2006_football_rules.pdf