[Quickkickonthird]

I saw a call in a college game a couple of weeks ago that I'd not ever seen called. The ball is on the 40 yard line going in. 4th down and 8 and the team goes for it because they are down and it is late in the 4th quarter. Quarterback goes back for a pass, is hit from behind and the ball is knocked loose while he is still standing straight up, does NOT have his arm cocked for a pass but has the ball out carrying it like a loaf of bread. The ball goes flying forward and without hitting the ground is caught by an offensive tackle who rambles about 35 yards down to the 10 yard line or so. Ball is called back and put where the quarterback lost the ball and the ball changes hands on downs.

The ruling: A ball is not allowed to be advanced on 4th down due to a fumble by a quarterback. It must be recovered by the quarterback and ONLY the quarterback can advance it. I was told that Don Meredith, back in the day, would fumble a ball on purpose before getting tackled near the endzone on fourth down and hope one of his team mates would recover for a touchdown.

They changed that rule in the NFL after the "Holy Roller" play. Oakland QB Kenny Stabler fumbled the ball forward and TE Dave Casper kept rolling the ball along until he finally fell on it in the end zone. They have been debating for years whether Casper did it on purpose or not. Regardless, it won the game for Oakland and this was in the playoffs!