I've been reading into the fumbling rules and saw this on Wikipedia. "In American football the offense cannot advance the ball if it recovers its own fumble on fourth down, or in the last two minutes of a half, unless the ball is recovered by the fumbler."
So here's my question to all the rule book veterans, if in the situation described above (4th down attempt or last 2 mins of each half), the center snaps to the QB in a shotgun formation, and if the snap goes awfully wrong, who is the fumbler in the following situation:
a) if the ball never touches the QB and bounces onto the field, is the Center the fumbler here so the QB can advance the ball if he recovers?
b) if the ball touches the QB but he can't control/handle it, is that considered a fumble by the QB as he is the last one to touch so if he recovers he can advance or it isn't a fumble by him as he never has legal possession?
Additional question, if the Center hands off the snap in an I formation, and the ball fumbles, who is the fumbler here? What if the QB hands off or lateral passes to a RB/WR/TE and the ball isn't caught properly, I assume fumble will be counted against the QB and the intended recipient can still recover and advance ?