Fair Catches On Kickoffs

Yeah, there was another post I was responding to that was deleted.

 

Eliminating kickoffs also eliminates onside kicks and any returns. Under the Rutgers proposal, instead of kicking to the other team, you would get the ball at the 35 but would start at fourth down and 12. Most teams would immediately punt but they can always try to convert on fourth down.

The reasoning is that kickoff returns are much more dangerous than punt returns, and the odds of converting a fourth and twelve is about the same as recovering an onside kick.

 

The odds are not the same though. Better teams have a huge advantage on the 4th and 12. Talent differential isn’t that meaningful on onside kicks

 

I regret when jump balls were replaced with alternating possessions in hoops. You would lose on sides kicks and could learn to hate it. Just a thought

 

Although they're now few and far between I would still prefer even the possibility of a kickoff return to eliminating it entirely.

 

It’s so exciting when our guy runs it out to the 9 and we get a block in the back penalty to move it to the 4.5…builds team character!
Just take the damn ball on the 25 and let the full offense have room to work!

 

I wouldn’t want to eliminate it. There are times where it makes sense to run it out (near end of half or end of game).

But our team should fair catch everything. We’ve probably lost 200 yards so far this year due to it

 

I'm unaware of the NCAA rules regarding kick-offs. But...based on results, I think the team should remain on the bench and then come out on the field after it goes through the end zone or rolls to a stop. Just saying...

You can't block in the back or flub it if you you aren't on the field.

Go Gators.

 

And to confuse it further, if the kick goes out of bounds you get it at the 35 for some reason. Seems kind of arbitrary.

 

That's because we suck at it. Go watch Bama do it, it's more exciting than most of our scores.

 

Good point. They are doing everything they can to discourage kickoff returns, but, when you kick it out of bounds and force no return, you get penalized. The whole kickoff system needs to be reviewed and reinvented. The XFL had an interesting approach.

 

We do suck at it. But, wake me up when the play is over. Snooze. Punts are still exciting. Kickoffs are a waste of time, unless you are one of our opponents under the current approach.

 

One of our games had the opposing team get a personal foul after a score and they kicked off from 15 yards deeper. If I remember right we didn't reach the 25 on the return and got a block in the back additionally and started at like the 10. Whoever is coaching the kick return teams is just bad....Urbans head would explode with that level of incompetence.

 

Weve lost on average 10 yards per kick return. The way our defense has been playing there are a lot of kickoffs every game. Probably losing 60 a game (initial kickoff and 7 scores between fg and tds..minus deep kickoff no returns). Its a BIG deal and no one on our team seems to be addressing it for some reason. A fair catch is much better for what we are. On the other end we are losing a similar amount because we cant cover returns worth a crap so add another 80 yards in on that side and you can see our special teams disaster double.

 

I’m still smoldering a bit over the KY debacle. After the safety, up 16-7, I told my wife this could well be the hammer blow. KY has to kick off from its own 25, meaning that we would almost certainly inherit good field position, enhancing the opportunity to pas the lead even more.

We returned the the kick to the what ? 25 yard line ?

 

True, and same with punts. A touchback on kick off goes to the 25, a touchback on a punt goes to the 20. ????

 

Not our punts. Our punts are even worse. After today, we might be the worst punt return team in the NCAA. It all depends if we can match the total so far this season, 1 yard.

 

I saw something in the FSU game that I never noticed before. Wake kicked off and the ball was headed for coffin corner. Might have gone out of bounds, might have made it to the end zone. The FSU kick returner caught the ball while it was inbounds, but had one of his feet out of bounds, therefore the ball was ruled out of bounds, and came out to the 35. Billy should teach this to our players on anything that is close.

 

We apparently have no return stars at all. That makes the current fair catch aversion by this staff evening more questionable. You have to adapt to your talent level. Punts are still fun in the NCAA overall, though.

 

You have an optimistic memory. We actually got a penalty and started even further back