Football Q: interception on extra point

[Hirka T'Bawa]

My roommate and I were having a discussion while watching football today, and have a question. Figured I would post it here since it is about a sport.

What would happen if after scoring a touchdown, during the extra point attempt, if the defense were to intercept the ball?

[dgrdfd]

They could run it back for 2 points (like a safety) in college and it's blown dead in the NFL.

Cite: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/If_a_two-point_conversion_is_intercepted_can_it_be_ran_back_for_a_touchdown

[astorian]

I actually saw this happen when Lou Holtz brought Notre Dame here to Austin a decade ago. On a missed extra point, Notre Dame ran the ball back 100 yards, and got 2 points out of it.

In the NFL, a blocked extra point is just a blocked extra point- you don't get any points for returning the blocked extra point all the way, though you would if you returned a blocked field goal all the way.

[dalej42]

This just happened today in the Texas Tech/Texas A & M game today.

[Ponch8]

It's technically possible for a college team to score one point in a game. This is because a safety on an extra point attempt is worth 1 point.

Say Team A scores a touchdown and goes for an extra point. The attempt is blocked/intercepted, and Team B runs it back ALMOST all the way to the other goal line. Team B fumbles the ball around the 3 yard line. A player on Team A picks the ball up, but decides to get fancy and backtracks into the end zone in an attempt to find a running lane. He gets tackled in the end zone. Team B scores 1 point.

I'm not sure if this has ever happened.

[Ponch8]

It's technically possible for a college team to score one point in a game. This is because a safety on an extra point attempt is worth 1 point.

Say Team A scores a touchdown and goes for an extra point. The attempt is blocked/intercepted, and Team B runs it back ALMOST all the way to the other goal line. Team B fumbles the ball around the 3 yard line. A player on Team A picks the ball up, but decides to get fancy and backtracks into the end zone in an attempt to find a running lane. He gets tackled in the end zone. Team B scores 1 point.

I'm not sure if this has ever happened.

According to Wikipedia, this has never happened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_(football_score)

[dgrdfd]

It's technically possible for a college team to score one point in a game. This is because a safety on an extra point attempt is worth 1 point.

Say Team A scores a touchdown and goes for an extra point. The attempt is blocked/intercepted, and Team B runs it back ALMOST all the way to the other goal line. Team B fumbles the ball around the 3 yard line. A player on Team A picks the ball up, but decides to get fancy and backtracks into the end zone in an attempt to find a running lane. He gets tackled in the end zone. Team B scores 1 point.

I'm not sure if this has ever happened.

I didn't even know that was possible. Thanks.

[Really Not All That Bright]

I didn't even know that was possible. Thanks.
It could also happen if an extra point attempt was blocked out the back of the (other) endzone. Obviously, that's almost phsically impossible, unless the kicking team had at least three personal fouls assessed against it between scoring and attempting the extra point...

[John DiFool]

...and there's a gale blowing in that direction. I think the NFL should implement the college rule, frankly.

[Really Not All That Bright]

...and there's a gale blowing in that direction. I think the NFL should implement the college rule, frankly.
That too.

I don't think it matters that much. I can't find an actual statistic, but I'm willing to bet there are fewer than 3-4 conversions which could be returned for TDs per year.

[flex727]

...it's blown dead in the NFL.
This is true and I saw it just recently, but that seems premature to me. What if the interceptor fumbled the ball and it was picked up by the kicking team and run to the endzone? Would that not be 2 points scored for the kicking team? It seems to me that the officials should wait for the play to conclude before blowing it dead. Of course, the defending team should immediately go down or out of bounds rather than try to run it back.

[Really Not All That Bright]

This is true and I saw it just recently, but that seems premature to me. What if the interceptor fumbled the ball and it was picked up by the kicking team and run to the endzone? Would that not be 2 points scored for the kicking team? It seems to me that the officials should wait for the play to conclude before blowing it dead. Of course, the defending team should immediately go down or out of bounds rather than try to run it back.
If it's a dead ball, it's a dead ball. There's no opportunity for the intecepting team to advance the ball; if you let the play continue, you're effectively penalizing the team that makes the pick, since nothing good can happen for them and nothing bad can happen for the other team.

[lieu]

It's technically possible for a college team to score one point in a game. This is because a safety on an extra point attempt is worth 1 point.I'd always maintained 4 to 4 was the most improbable score possible in a game. Perhaps I spoke too soon.

[Freddy the Pig]

It seems to me that the officials should wait for the play to conclude before blowing it dead.They have no choice. By rule, the ball on an NFL extra point is dead when the defense gains possession, or after a kick is unsuccessful. Note the ramifications on a blocked kick--the kicking team can't recover it and run it across the line, as they can in college.

[Wargamer]

So, would that make 4-1 the Most Unlikely Football Score Ever?

[Really Not All That Bright]

So, would that make 4-1 the Most Unlikely Football Score Ever?
Nah. 1,000,000 to 1,000,001 is less likely. :D

[Labrador Deceiver]

So, would that make 4-1 the Most Unlikely Football Score Ever?

No, that would be the most impossible score ever. You can't get 1 point on a safety unless the other team has scored a TD and is going for the extra point.

[Drygon]

So, would that make 4-1 the Most Unlikely Football Score Ever?

4-1 is not unlikely, it's impossible. The only way for a safety to be scored on an extra point attempt (or a 2 point conversion) is for a team to have scored a touchdown. Thus, 6-1 would be the Most Unlikely Football Score Ever.

Of course the 3-2 Auburn v Mississippi State score would have to have an honorable mention in there somewhere.

[chappachula]

if it's not a hijack...may I ask a question about extra points:
Why the hell do they exist?

In any sport, scoring (whether counted in points,runs,laps,goals,etc) is supposed to be fun and exciting-- not a boring afterthought.
The point-after-touchdown is just dumb.

[Really Not All That Bright]

if it's not a hijack...may I ask a question about extra points:
Why the hell do they exist?

In any sport, scoring (whether counted in points,runs,laps,goals,etc) is supposed to be fun and exciting-- not a boring afterthought.
The point-after-touchdown is just dumb.
It's a carryover from rugby, whence came the great sport of (American) football. In modern rugby, though, the conversion attempt (which is worth two points) must be taken level with where the try was scored, meaning you may have to kick it from the sideline - so they aren't as automatic.

[Robot Arm]

4-1 is not unlikely, it's impossible. The only way for a safety to be scored on an extra point attempt (or a 2 point conversion) is for a team to have scored a touchdown. Thus, 6-1 would be the Most Unlikely Football Score Ever.How about 10-1, then? You have to get to 6-1 and then score two safeties.

[aktep]

if it's not a hijack...may I ask a question about extra points:
Why the hell do they exist?

In any sport, scoring (whether counted in points,runs,laps,goals,etc) is supposed to be fun and exciting-- not a boring afterthought.
The point-after-touchdown is just dumb.

Originally, touchdowns did not score points, they only awarded you a chance to kick the ball out from the point where you touched it down behind the goal line (there were no endzones until after the forward pass was introduced) to your teammates, who could then fair-catch the ball and have an opportunity to free-kick for a goal.

Eventually, the players decided they liked scoring touchdowns more than kicking for goals, and started assigning scoring values for a touchdown, from 1/4 of a goal for tiebreaking purposes only, up to the 6 points today. The rules allowed a team to decline to take the free kick and instead continue open play after the punt-out, so some teams would score a TD, punt out, score again, punt out, rinse, repeat. Rules were tweaked to compel the team to kick for points until we ended up with the familiar PAT we have today.

[Ponch8]

Has there ever been a game where the only scores were safeties (e.g., 2-0, 2-2, 4-2, etc.)?

[RaftPeople]

if it's not a hijack...may I ask a question about extra points:
Why the hell do they exist?

In any sport, scoring (whether counted in points,runs,laps,goals,etc) is supposed to be fun and exciting-- not a boring afterthought.
The point-after-touchdown is just dumb.

There are enough misses and enough 2 point conversions to make it pretty interesting IMO. Along with field goals it increases the complexity of possible scores which in turn changes strategy, I like 'em.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Has there ever been a game where the only scores were safeties (e.g., 2-0, 2-2, 4-2, etc.)?
Packers @ Bears, October 16, 1932 (http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/results.nsf/Teams/1932-gb)

Final score: Green Bay 2, Bears 0.

[Ponch8]

Packers @ Bears, October 16, 1932 (http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/results.nsf/Teams/1932-gb)

Final score: Green Bay 2, Bears 0.

There was also another Bears-Packers game that ended 2-0, this one won by the Bears: http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/results.nsf/Teams/1938-chi

I wonder if there have been any games with nothing but safeties in the last 50 years or so.

[Sauron]

In the late 80s, Alabama had a safety named Lee Ozmint. Lee wasn't the fastest player on the team, and he definitely wasn't the fastest person on the field at any given time -- many of the referees could have probably outrun him. He just had a knack for knowing where the ball was going.

At any rate, during one game the opponent scored and went for two. They passed into the end zone, and Ozmint stepped in front of it at the goal line and took off the other way. What resulted was probably the longest 100-yard dash in the history of sports. He eventually crossed the goal line, earning two points for Alabama, but it seemed to take about four minutes.

Ozmint, talking about the play after the game, said, "The first fifty yards I was praying nobody would catch me. The last fifty yards, I was praying somebody would."

Bill Curry, the Alabama coach at the time, said, "I was scared to death we'd get a delay of game penalty while Lee was running the ball back."

[Freddy the Pig]

I wonder if there have been any games with nothing but safeties in the last 50 years or so.Probably not in the regular season, but the Bears beat the Packers 2-0 in an exhibition game on August 7, 1971.

In one of the most famous games in college football history, the University of Chicago, coached by the great Amos Alonzo Stagg, defeated Michigan 2-0 on Thanksgiving Day, 1905. It was Michigan's first loss in five years.

[Northern Piper]

They could run it back for 2 points (like a safety) in college and it's blown dead in the NFL.
Canadian Football League also allows the run-back, but it's pretty rare. I remember Saskatchewan doing it in a playoff game against Calgary back in 97, but that's the only one that comes to mind.

[fusoya]

Has there ever been a game where the only scores were safeties (e.g., 2-0, 2-2, 4-2, etc.)?

Yes. My college (WPI) lost against Coast Guard Academy 2-0 when I was a student there. Nobody at my school gave a crap about the team, but the probability of rare scores in a sport with so many variations was the talk of campus for the next months......