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On a punt, if the punt returner calls for a fair catch, but does not catch it, can one of his teammates advance the ball?

2009 NCAA Football Rule 6-5, Article 2 (page FR-93):

No Advance
ARTICLE 2. No Team B player shall carry a caught or recovered ball more than
two steps in any direction after a valid or invalid fair catch signal by any Team B
player (A.R. 6-5-2-I-IV).
PENALTY—Dead-ball foul. Five yards from the succeeding spot [S7 and
S21].

So your answer is no.

The play should be blown dead, immediately following a reception by B. If someone attempts to advance the ball, it is a delay of game foul, taken from the spot of the catch.

grizband wrote:The play should be blown dead, immediately following a reception by B. If someone attempts to advance the ball, it is a delay of game foul, taken from the spot of the catch.

in the instance that prompted the question, or so I'm guessing, (which happened pretty much right in front of my seats), there wasn't a clean catch. The returner signaled a fair catch, but then backed away from the ball, which hit the turf. Then another player on the return team picked it up off a bounce or two, took a few steps, and was tackled.

I suppose the officials could have thrown a flag (actually, I think they might have, but then waved it off after a conference), but given the situation, it was a good no-call. I'm not sure the guy that picked up the ball had seen the fair catch signal.

JayJ79 wrote:

grizband wrote:The play should be blown dead, immediately following a reception by B. If someone attempts to advance the ball, it is a delay of game foul, taken from the spot of the catch.

in the instance that prompted the question, or so I'm guessing, (which happened pretty much right in front of my seats), there wasn't a clean catch. The returner signaled a fair catch, but then backed away from the ball, which hit the turf. Then another player on the return team picked it up off a bounce or two, took a few steps, and was tackled.

I suppose the officials could have thrown a flag (actually, I think they might have, but then waved it off after a conference), but given the situation, it was a good no-call. I'm not sure the guy that picked up the ball had seen the fair catch signal.

I'm not sure how college rules differ from high school, but if this situation happened in high school it is still technically a penalty. Once any player on the receiving team signals fair catch, no team B player may advance the punt.

JayJ79 wrote:

grizband wrote:The play should be blown dead, immediately following a reception by B. If someone attempts to advance the ball, it is a delay of game foul, taken from the spot of the catch.

in the instance that prompted the question, or so I'm guessing, (which happened pretty much right in front of my seats), there wasn't a clean catch. The returner signaled a fair catch, but then backed away from the ball, which hit the turf. Then another player on the return team picked it up off a bounce or two, took a few steps, and was tackled.

I suppose the officials could have thrown a flag (actually, I think they might have, but then waved it off after a conference), but given the situation, it was a good no-call. I'm not sure the guy that picked up the ball had seen the fair catch signal.

I'm not sure how college rules differ from high school, but if this situation happened in high school it is still technically a penalty. Once any player on the receiving team signals fair catch, no team B player may advance the punt.

JayJ79 wrote:

grizband wrote:The play should be blown dead, immediately following a reception by B. If someone attempts to advance the ball, it is a delay of game foul, taken from the spot of the catch.

in the instance that prompted the question, or so I'm guessing, (which happened pretty much right in front of my seats), there wasn't a clean catch. The returner signaled a fair catch, but then backed away from the ball, which hit the turf. Then another player on the return team picked it up off a bounce or two, took a few steps, and was tackled.

I suppose the officials could have thrown a flag (actually, I think they might have, but then waved it off after a conference), but given the situation, it was a good no-call. I'm not sure the guy that picked up the ball had seen the fair catch signal.

I'm not sure how college rules differ from high school in this instance, but if this situation happened in high school it is still technically a penalty. Once any player on the receiving team signals fair catch, no team B player may advance the punt.

It's technically a penalty in college too (see my above post that includes the quote from the NCAA rulebook).
The refs just didn't call it.

I suppose Indiana State could gripe about that, but frankly, I don't think those 5 yards would have changed the game much.

JayJ79 wrote:It's technically a penalty in college too (see my above post that includes the quote from the NCAA rulebook).
The refs just didn't call it.

I suppose Indiana State could gripe about that, but frankly, I don't think those 5 yards would have changed the game much.

You're probably correct, wouldn't have altered the game - also, sorry about the triple post.

The play was blown dead as soon as he touched it. He wasn't given the advance.