# College football - incidental facemask penalty

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-incidental-facemask-penalty/269659>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 17, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-incidental-facemask-penalty/269659 "2004-10-17T13:05:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![igloorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@igloorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igloorex)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-incidental-facemask-penalty/269659/1 "2004-10-17T13:05:34Z")

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While watching the FSU - Virginia catstrophe yesterday, there was a key incidental facemask penalty on a big 4th down play. FSU got 5 yards, but not enough for the first down. But the penalty also included a “replay the down.” Was this a mistake? II didn’t think this penalty included a replay provision. I tried looking it up the NCAA rulebook, but not being a lawyer, I couldn’t decipher it.

So in a nutshell, does the 5 yard incidental facemask penalty also include a replay the down? If so, can a team take the yardage and not replay the down? (if they otherwise had a good play.)

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**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-incidental-facemask-penalty/269659/2 "2004-10-17T13:28:03Z")

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I think all defensive penalties either allow the offense to replay the down or award the offense an automatic first down. Some offensive penalties have a “loss of down” in addition to their yardage (intentional grounding, for example), but most still allow the offense to replay the down.

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**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-incidental-facemask-penalty/269659/3 "2004-10-17T13:32:07Z")

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> [@igloorex](#):
>
> So in a nutshell, does the 5 yard incidental facemask penalty also include a replay the down? If so, can a team take the yardage and not replay the down? (if they otherwise had a good play.)

Usually, if an offense gets more yards than the penalty awards, then they decline the penalty. The exceptions are when declining the penalty brings up a 4th down or a turnover on downs. Then the offense will take the penalty so they can get another chance at the first down. There is no rule that I know of that allows the offense to take the yardage and not replay the down.