Stumble and Fumble Game - Rules Question

My uncle told me this at the time of the game, but I really didn't think much about it.
But I just re-watched the game recently and thought I would ask this:

The Arkansas possession prior to the stumble and fumble possession saw Arkansas lining up to punt, the snap sailed over the punter's head and the punter chased the ball which had hit the ground and was rolling. Punter kicked the ball at roughly the 10 yard line and it went out of the Arkansas end zone.

The result was that Tennessee got 2 points from a safety and Arkansas kicked it off to us via a free kick.

But, shouldn't Tennessee have had the option of declining the play on the filed and taking the 10 yard penalty for an illegal kick and thus getting the ball at the 5 yard line?
I am assuming Fulmer did not make the decision to accept the safety - that the refs just made a mistake and did not throw the flag.
Am I right?

 

Why is it an illegal kick?

 

Yeah, I'm not quite following.

 

I think it is actually illegal kicking not illegal kick as I wrote.

Ball hit the ground and rolled.

A legal scrimmage kick is a punt, drop kick, or place kick. What the Arkansas kicker did was none of the above - hence illegal kicking..

 

just googling it I found this: http://www.timesrecordnews.com/sports/columnists/loss-of-down-fouls-are-often-confusing

Look at play four.

 

I imagine we would have heard a lot more about this had we lost the game.

 

That's my boy right there. My all-time favorite Vol.

 

I heard about this at the time. Arky was really choking on all cylinders there at the end.

 

So there should have been a flag and we had the option of taking the penalty and the ball at the 5 or declining the penalty and taking the safety and the free kick?

 

I feel like I've seen this happen multiple times and can't remember ever seeing it called as a penalty.

 

That is why I am unsure. But I also think I usually see it in the NFL. And I am not sure it is a penalty there.

 

I'll admit that I have not looked but ask if you have any other sources confirming what is said by the first? Surely there's an official rule book available.

Also, this was a long time ago. It's certainly possible the rule was different back then.

 

I tend to recall that you are correct.

 

I recall this also. I'm pretty sure there was another game with illegal kicking on fourth down, where the play was declined and they took a yardage penalty and loss of down. I have FSU/UNC in my head for some reason. No idea of the year. That could be totally off though

 

On second look, my memory works bizarrely better than I think sometimes: http://www.newspusher.com/EN/post/1289088781-2/cfb-north-carolina-florida-state.html

 

Most times you never see it be an issue because the kicker is usually in the endzone when he kicks it. Decline penalty and get a safety or accept it and get a safety because of a penalty in the endzone. Since this happened outside the endzone the penalty should have actually mattered.

 

NCAA rulebook:

Illegally kicking or batting the ball behind the line is 15 yards and loss of down.
Play: A3 is back to punt, the ball goes over his head, and while it’s rolling he deliberately kicks the ball. Spot foul and loss of down. If it’s 4th down, R has a choice of the foul or play. If the ball is kicked while in the end zone it is a safety in any case.

 

Yep. Refs screwed up but fate intervened with the fumble/stumble. Much more dramatic.

 

Only Fulmer and refs know. There is always an option to let the play stand or decline the penalty excluding presnapped violations. Fulmer may have been given the option but chose not to take points off the board and get the ball immediately. Price made a great return to midfield but turned it over on downs. Hindsight Fulmer got lucky when he chose to take the saftey if he were given the option.