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Ohio Football Topic
Topic: Get kickoff returns back into the game
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Pataskala
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Posted: 10/5/2021 8:27 PM
Kickoffs have become the most boring part of college football. Half or more sail into/through the end zone and are never returned. Many of those that stay in the field of play are fair caught and brought to the 25. In Saturday's game there were 11 kickoffs, with only five returned for a total of 45 yds -- a 9-yd average. I think one of the "returns" was fair caught by Akron in the field of play but fumbled with Akron recovering and the ball was placed at the fair catch spot.

I'd suggest having the "kicking" team line up at their own 40 and the "receiving" team line up anywhere from their goal line to midfield, with the ref placing the ball on the turf at the "receiving" team's goal line. When the whistle blows, somebody from the "receiving" team picks up the ball and runs with it; at the same time the "kicking" team charges downfield. If a team wants to do an onside kick, they notify the refs and do a regular onside kick from their 35 or 40. I think the XFL was experimenting with different kickoff returns and maybe they did something like this, so maybe that's where I got the idea.
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KyleWvr13
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Posted: 10/5/2021 8:59 PM
XFL did a kickoff at the 30, returning team lining up at their own 30, and the covering team at the opponent's 35, eliminating high speed collisions. There were some other nuances with where the ball had to be kicked to (at least to the returning 20 yrd line) and some modified touchback rules to discourage kicking it right into the endzone

It was probably my favorite rule change the XFL did, and I wish some or all of it was adopted in other leagues. Too bad covid folded the XFL before it could really get started, it had some real promise in being an entertaining league.

Nothing is quite a buzzkill like getting the stadium amped up for opening kickoff, only to just see it immediately touchbacked
Last Edited: 10/5/2021 9:00:42 PM by KyleWvr13
Pataskala
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Posted: 10/5/2021 9:23 PM
Some quick research shows that 61% of kickoffs this season have been touchbacks (1,876 out of 3,067). Penn State has kicked off 28 times, all touchbacks.
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OhioCatFan
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Posted: 10/5/2021 10:57 PM
I'm not sure I've seen one kickoff where we called for fair catch this year. We've had many attempts to run it back, and few of these have gotten to the 25 or farther. I think opposing coaches have noticed our tendency and don't want their kickers to kick the ball out of the end zone because they are better off tempting us to try and run it back. I've joked with folks I've watched games with that we don't know the rule about a fair catch in the filed of play resulting in getting the ball at the 25.
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Bobcatbob
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Posted: 10/7/2021 11:27 AM
I would miss run backs more if most of them didn’t result in an illegal block in the back penalty. This is a canard. Players are surely coached to death on this point but it still happens waaaay too much. It’s like the officials feel under appreciated if they don’t look for and call this petty violation at every opportunity.
BillyTheCat
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Posted: 10/7/2021 11:43 AM
Bobcatbob wrote:expand_more
I would miss run backs more if most of them didn’t result in an illegal block in the back penalty. This is a canard. Players are surely coached to death on this point but it still happens waaaay too much. It’s like the officials feel under appreciated if they don’t look for and call this petty violation at every opportunity.
Heaven forbid that officials call a safety foul.
BillyTheCat
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Posted: 10/7/2021 11:53 AM
You people realize that the rules changing kickoffs is for safety reasons. Amazing, in three months we will have a thread complainig about head injuries in football.
Catdude
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Posted: 10/7/2021 12:28 PM
What % of kicking plays result in a penalty or two
Pataskala
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Posted: 10/7/2021 1:39 PM
Catdude wrote:expand_more
What % of kicking plays result in a penalty or two
At least for kickoffs, less than 39% since that's the number that have had returns this season. My guess is that it's much, much less than half of that. I haven't seen any stats on kickoff return penalties, but off-hand I can't remember any penalties on the kickoff returns in our games this season.
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GoCats105
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Posted: 10/7/2021 4:48 PM
I actually think kickoffs are more exciting this way when someone decides not to call the fair catch and it's not a touchback. Nine times out of ten (just being facetious I don't know the numbers) if you call the fair catch or if it results in a touchback, you could catch your opponent off guard with that one that doesn't.
Pataskala
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Posted: 10/7/2021 6:51 PM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
I actually think kickoffs are more exciting this way when someone decides not to call the fair catch and it's not a touchback. Nine times out of ten (just being facetious I don't know the numbers) if you call the fair catch or if it results in a touchback, you could catch your opponent off guard with that one that doesn't.
Or maybe even your own team.
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Brian Smith (No, not that one)
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Brian Smith (No, not that one)
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Posted: 10/9/2021 9:17 AM
BillyTheCat wrote:expand_more
You people realize that the rules changing kickoffs is for safety reasons. Amazing, in three months we will have a thread complainig about head injuries in football.
Agreed. The rule change has had its intended effect…and saved a lot of teams from being pinned back at its own 10 after the inevitable holding call.
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