Yet another football stat question ...

Player A has the ball at his own 36, takes a toss left and is hit at the 35, where he fumbles the ball, which is then picked up at the 34 by a teammate who takes it to the house.
Right now I have Player A for a -1 yard rush, but does Player B get credited with a 66 rushing yards and no carry or a 66-yard fumble recovery? How the hell would I write that in a box score?
Like this:
M-Player B 66 yard fumble return

 

Correct. It would be a 66-yard fumble return. Player B gets no rushing yards, no carry and no rushing TD.

The rush attempt ends with the fumble.

If you keep the stat, it would go under return yards in the box score (instead of passing, rushing or receiving yards).

 

But what if Player A carries the ball 10 yards past the line of scrimmage then fumbles?

 

From the NCAA statisticians manual:
Article 3. An offensive fumble recovered by a teammate on or
behind the line of scrimmage is recorded as follows:
(a) If advanced beyond the line of scrimmage, charge the player
who fumbled with a rush. Credit the teammate with no rush
but with yardage, determined from the line of scrimmage.
A.R. 1. team A’s ball on team b’s 20. Adams fumbles at the 26.
Allen recovers at the 25 and advances for a touchdown. Charge
Adams with a rush of zero yards. Credit Allen with no rush but
with 20 yards under “Rushing" and a touchdown. Charge Team
A with a fumble not lost.

 

I'm not worried about Player A. He gets the yardage up to the point of the fumble. Player B was making my head hurt.

 

It'd still be a fumble return for a touchdown.

 

Is it me, or does Player A have a problem with fumbles? Always seems like he gets the ball in that manual, and it's never good things that happen.

 

It's because he playes for Coach A.

 

Sorry, but you can't have an offensive fumble return for a touchdown. Think about it - how, logically, does an offensive player "return" a fumble? It's all part of the rushing attempt.

 

I just think Backup Player A deserves a chance to fumble every once in a while. He's so good in practice.

 

Exactly. If he didn't score, but got enough for a first down, you'd have to credit that somehow. There's no turnover, so the first down has to be earned, and must therefore go in one of the three categories, rushing, passing or penalty.

If it was a lateral, you'd give rushing yardage and no attempt; it's no different if the ball hits the ground first.

 

But if player a fumbled it and it got kicked around 25 yards backward, he shouldnt get hit with that yardage if a teammate falls on it.