We were watching the game on TV, and one thing kept bothering us in the 2nd quarter. The TSN crew simply does not know the rules of the league. No one realized what a huge mistake the announcers kept on making.
The incident was when the Bombers were 3rd and 30, and need to get to approximately the 4 yard line for a first down. The Bombers sent a man onside to try and recover a kick. The announcers kept on saying that it doesn't matter which team recovered the ball, because it would be Eskimo ball anyway since the Bombers didn't get first down yardage. THIS IS SIMPLE WRONG!!!!!!!!!!! I've actually seen this situation come up before. As long as a kick crosses the line of scrimage, it is considered a change of possession and the first down yardage does not apply anymore. If an onside member of the kicking team recovers the ball, they retain possession, regardless of whether they had enough yardage for the original first down.
I quote from the CFL rulebook on CFL.ca
"Article 7: Recovery of Own Kick
The kicker or an onside player may recover the kick across the line of scrimmage, in which case the ensuing down shall be first down whether or not the original yardage has been gained.
Following such recovery by the kicker or an onside player, a player of the kicking team may interfere with an opponent provided that contact is made only above the waist of the opponent."
The link to the above can be found here:
http://www.cfl.ca/index.php?module=page&id=11Did this bother anyone else? Because we were getting so mad at the announcers because they said about 8 times the WRONG thing. If Winnipeg had touched the ball last, even though they didn't have first down yardage, it would have been their ball since a change of possession happened when the kick crossed the line of scrimage. GET IT RIGHT GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!