College football is full of rules that people have issues with, from targeting and subsequent ejections to what constitutes a catch. Pass interference, especially when it appears to be inconsistently enforced, is also among the rules fans have questions about. So ahead of the College Football Playoff national championship game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 3 Ohio State, we’re here to break it down with the help of the 2020 NCAA rulebook. But especially with these particular rules, things can be incredibly subjective with valid arguments from all sides. Looking at how pass interference and illegal contact are explained, the NCAA rulebook notes that pass interference rules apply only when a legal forward pass crosses the neutral zone and when the pass is deemed catchable. Physical contact is also required for the flag.
Defensive pass interference is contact beyond the neutral zone by a Team B player whose intent to impede an eligible opponent is obvious and could prevent the opponent the opportunity of receiving a catchable forward pass. When in question, a legal forward pass is catchable. Defensive pass interference occurs only after a legal forward pass is thrown[.]
However, the rulebook also explains several examples of when it’s not defensive pass interference. Those examples include:
1. When, after the snap, opposing players immediately charge and establish contact with opponents at a point that is within one yard beyond the neutral zone. 2. When two or more eligible players are making a simultaneous and bona fide attempt to reach, catch or bat the pass. Eligible players of either team have equal rights to the ball. 3. When a Team B player legally contacts an opponent before the pass is thrown. 4. When there is contact by a Team B player that otherwise would be pass interference during a down in which a Team A potential kicker, from a scrimmage kick formation, simulates a scrimmage kick by throwing the ball high and deep.
The “catchable” pass part is key because that adds another level of subjectivity to a rule that some would argue is too subjectively enforced.
Offensive pass interference is contact by a Team A player beyond the neutral zone that interferes with a Team B player during a legal forward pass play in which the forward pass crosses the neutral zone. It is the responsibility of the offensive player to avoid the opponents.
Similarly, the rules also break down what does not constitute offensive pass interference. It’s not offensive pass interference if:
1. When, after the snap, a Team A ineligible player immediately charges and contacts an opponent at a point not more than one yard beyond the neutral zone and maintains the contact for no more than three yards beyond the neutral zone. 2. When two or more eligible players are making a simultaneous and bona fide attempt to reach, catch or bat the pass. Eligible players of either team have equal rights to the ball. 3. When the pass is in flight and two or more eligible players are in the area where they might receive or intercept the pass and an offensive player in that area impedes an opponent, and the pass is not catchable.
Team A’s ball at the spot of the foul, first down, if the foul occurs fewer than 15 yards beyond the previous spot. If the foul occurs 15 or more yards beyond the previous spot, Team A’s ball, first down, 15 yards from the previous spot. … When the ball is snapped on or inside the Team B 17-yard line and outside the Team B two-yard line, and the spot of the foul is on or inside the two-yard line, the penalty from the previous spot shall place the ball at the two-yard line, first down.
However, it’s also important to note what happens when the ball is near the goal line. The rulebook says: “No penalty enforced from outside the two-yard line may place the ball inside the two-yard line”, and the only exception to that is if the snap was at the three-yard line. If the previous spot was on the two-yard line or inside it, then the line shifts to halfway between the previous spot and the goal line. And one last note about pass interference calls in college football is that they don’t always have to be called as pass interference. Per the rulebook:
Contact by Team B with an eligible receiver involving a personal foul that interferes with the reception of a catchable pass may be ruled either as pass interference or as a personal foul with the 15-yard penalty enforced from the previous spot.[jwplayer oXaNWiBk-q2aasYxh]
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