re: The 4th down overturn for Bowers. Right call?

When he dove. He only put his hand down for an aid. Edit: Watched it again, it wasn't a dive or a leap, but it was: "etc., in other than normal running action" He left the ground with both feet.. not sure what you would call it.. But he definately went airborne.

Down on what?

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When he dove. He only put his hand down for an aid. Edit: Watched it again, it wasn't a dive or a leap, but it was: "etc., in other than normal running action" He left the ground with both feet.. not sure what you would call it.. But he definately went airborne.

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To get to those examples, such as dove, leapt, etc., in the NCAA definition of airborne, you must first qualify everything before the "because..."

If you can't cross that qualifying threshold, those examples are irrelevant.

An airborne player is a player not in contact with the ground...

Bowers does not lose contact with the ground at any point, so he immediately does not qualify as airborne. If he'd lost contact with the ground, then you could go into the subset of qualifiers. Yes, there are reasons when a player is still not airborne even when the player has lost contact with the ground (which is why the (definition says other than normal running action).

However, under the NCAA rules, the player can never be considered airborne while in contact with the ground.

Yes. Unbelievable athletic play.

That play & Kirby TO before the fake punt won the game for Ga.

“ That is the part that is debatable. He made an other than running move. I have said from the beginning that I don't know whether his hand being down is of any consequence or not. We went airborne on his way out of bounds, does push off the ground with his hand make him not airborne for the short amount of time that the ball crosses the plane?????? And if so, does that change the ruling? can you go airborne, not airborne and airborne again on the same leap? But at least now we are discussing the part that is the crux of call.”

You’re way overthinking it. The split second his finger touched the turf before any part of his body touched out of bounds, the rule book definition of airborne doesn’t apply, therefore, he wasn’t airborne according the NCAA definition in the rule book. Nothing else matters. All the requirements and definitions of the rule were satisfied for forward progress to merit the first down. It’s actually a very simple, clear-cut call, which is why the review didn’t take long.

Watch the video.. There is a moment when he left both feet before his hand contacts the ground. These rules have left a large grey area here. I get the point about his hand being down, but this is also the rule for if he was striding out, in which case his back foot would be down in play. To be honest, I don't understand the reason of the word airborne other than to distinguish from sliding out, in which case the play is dead when the first body part is out, not the ball. Because what other scenarios are there? Maybe being pushed out?

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Bowers does not lose contact with the ground at any point, so he immediately does not qualify as airborne.

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However the forward progress stops when the ball leaves the field of play

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So, if a player’s running down the sidelines and his feet are in bounds, but the ball crosses the out of bounds plane, it’s out of bounds? Nope. The ball should be spotted where the ball was when the player is ruled out of bounds. In this case the ball was across the line to make when Bowers was ruled out of bounds. Do you people think that you know more about the rules than reviewing officials?

I should have been more clear in my wording. Bowers does not lose contact with the ground from the last moment he is established inbounds to the moment he is established out-of-bounds. Crossing the sideline does not make a player out-of-bounds. The ball hanging over the sideline also does not count as out of bounds. Only touching something out-of-bounds, other than another player or an official, makes a player count as out-of-bounds.

The reason for the airborne out-of-bounds ball spot rule is fairness.

When a player in possession of the ball jumps forward (airborne) and crosses the sideline, a the defense cannot impede that player's forward progress, lest they draw a penalty for a late action. Thus the ball is placed at the spot it crosses the sideline.

A player with the ball who is not airborne and still inbounds can have his forward progress impeded, so he still gets forward progress until he is down or out-of-bounds. If an Ohio State player had tackled Bowers while the hand was planted, it would have been a legal tackle. It's the same reason why a player can be hit when making one of those toe-tapping catches with his hands out of bounds when he makes the catch. The ball may be a foot over the sideline, but the player is still legally inbounds and may be tackled.

He was definitely airborne.