By Referee – May 22, 2025
By definition, progress spots are relatively simple concepts. In practice, when airborne players, striding runners, out-of-bounds status, goallines and pylons are introduced, rulings can get quite complicated.
In the PlayPic, assume the runner is in possession of the ball above the goalline extended, airborne and touching the pylon. According to NFHS rules, “when properly placed, the goalline pylon is out of bounds at the intersection of the sideline and the goalline extended” (1-2-4). In NCAA, the goalline and goalline pylons are in the end zone (2-31-3b) and are placed at the intersection of the sidelines and goallines (1-2-6).
For NFHS, the forward progress spot is determined by the location of the ball in player possession when it crosses the vertical plane of the sideline when a runner goes out of bounds (4-3-3). Since the ball is located outside the vertical plane of the sideline in this PlayPic, the progress spot is short of the goalline where the covering official rules it crossed the sideline’s vertical plane.
For NCAA, when a ball carrier is airborne his forward progress is determined by the position of the ball as it crosses the sideline except if the player touches the ground in the end zone or the pylon itself (4-2-4d; 8-2-1a). In those cases, the goalline plane extends infinitely wide beyond the sideline plane and a touchdown would be correctly awarded for NCAA.
In both codes, the ball is immediately dead when a ball carrier touches a pylon and a touchdown is scored if an inbounds player who is in possession of the ball touches the opponent’s pylon with the ball. Likewise, in both codes, if a player is in possession of the ball and touching the field of play or end zone with no body part out of bounds he scores a touchdown when the ball breaks the plane of the goalline extended (NFHS 2-26-3; NCAA 8-2-1a).
