quick football stat question

The QB fumbled when he was sacked for -8 yards last Friday. Should he have had 8 negative rush yards for that play?

 

Yes. He got sacked didn't he?

I don't like that you can sack someone and force a fumble, since to me a sack is a completed tackle. But the NCAA statistics manual I found seemed to disagree.

 

Actually, the loss on the play you referenced will depend where the ball is recovered, according to the NCAA stat manual:

Section 13 - Fumbles: .... On any play terminated by a fumble, the yards involved to the point of recovery are credited to the player who fumbled, regardless of which team recovers the fumble.

Article 2. Rushing yardage is measured from the line of scrimmage to the point where the ball is declared dead or is recovered by opponents (in the case of a fumble or backward pass recovery).

But if his own team recovers and advances, it gets more involved (including the dreaded, "no" rush, but rushing yards added to whomever recovered and advanced the ball):

Article 3. An offensive fumble recovered by a teammate on or behind the line of scrimmage is recorded as follows:

(a) If advanced beyond the line of scrimmage, charge the player who fumbled with a rush. Credit the teammate with no rush but with yardage, determined from the line of scrimmage.

A.R. 1. Team A’s ball on Team B’s 20. Adams fumbles at the 26. Allen recovers at the 25 and advances for a touchdown. Charge Adams with a rush of zero yards. Credit Allen with no rush but with 20 yards under “Rushing” and a touchdown. Charge Team A with a fumble not lost.

2011 NCAA stats manual (PDF): http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/Stats_Manuals/Football/2011ez.pdf