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In gridiron football, the safety (American football) or safety touch (Canadian football) is a scoring play that results in two points being awarded to the scoring team. Safeties can be scored in a number of ways, such as when a ball carrier is tackled in his own end zone or when a foul is committed by the offense in its own end zone. After a ...
In American football, a touchback is a ruling that is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead on or behind a team's own goal line (i.e., in their end zone) and the opposing team gave the ball the momentum, or impetus, to travel over the goal line, but did not have possession of the ball when it became dead. [1]
Because football is a high-contact sport requiring a balance between offense and defense, many rules exist that regulate equality, safety, contact, and actions of players on each team. It is very difficult to always avoid violating these rules without giving up too much of an advantage.
In that same 2018 season, college football (and the NFL come 2023) made a further change to its touchback rule; any fair catch on a kickoff (or free kick following a safety) between the receiving team's goal line and 25-yard line is treated as a touchback, with the receiving team taking possession on its own 25.
Why was Will Howard's fumble ruled a touchback? Here's an explanation of the play in Ohio State's game against Penn State on Saturday:
In gridiron football, a safety is scored when the ball becomes dead behind the goal line of the team in possession of the ball (unless the ball arrived in the end zone due to impetus from the other team). In most instances, a safety is scored by the defensive team when the ball-carrier of the team in possession of the ball retreats into his own ...
In the NCAA and NFL, the ball is moved to the 20-yard line following a punt, and to the 25-yard line following a kickoff, or free kick after a safety. Under NCAA and NFL rules, a kickoff or free kick after a safety that ends in a fair catch by the receiving team inside its own 25-yard line is treated as a touchback, with the ball moved to the 25.
Had the ball gone out of bounds at the half-yard line, as was initially ruled, the Vikings would've gotten possession there. But a replay showed that Jefferson’s fumble actually went right over ...