So, with about 9 seconds left on the clock, the Montreal Alouettes and the Toronto Argos are tied, 30-30. The Als are in field goal range, and in goes their kicking team.
Duvall’s in for the Als; he kicks; and it’s wide! No field goal! End of regulation time, right?
But no - it lands in the endzone, which would result in a point for the Als, unless the Argos get it out. The Argos were prepared for this and have their kicker, Prefontaine, in the end zone. He recovers and kicks it out. No point scored!
But…
Prefontaine’s aim was off, and he kicked it straight back to Duvall, who fields the ball and kicks it back in! Point scored, right?
No! Prefontaine fields it for the second time and kicks it out. No point scored, right?
Except it’s a squib kick this time and one of the Als manages to bat the ball down in the end-zone. Live ball! Als and Argos both scramble for it. Finally an Al falls on it, ending the play.
Touch-down Als! With the convert, final score: Als 37, Argos 30.
Due to Life getting in the way, I wasn’t able to watch this game, though my husband was kind enough to text me updates throughout. His final text was “30-30, kick…kick…kick…WTF? YAY!!!”
Only in the CFL indeed, and only for the Als…kind of like their Grey Cup win last year. Weird stuff happens to this team, man!
Seriously, though, I’ve enjoyed CFL football since I was in high school in the early 1980s, and we first got cable. Back then, ESPN didn’t have rights to any of the major U.S. pro sports, and so, they ran a lot of other stuff, including the CFL and Aussie football. I’ve been thrilled that, in the past few years, we can again see CFL games in the States (first on Comcast Sports Net, and now on NFL Network).
Isn’t it true that no matter who had recovered the ball at the end, Montreal wins. They score either a TD if they recover or a single it Toronto does.
Somewhat related. If a Toronto player had managed to grab that last kick cleanly, he still could not have advanced it as he wasn’t onside. If he had taken it and run out of the endzone, would a safety have been imposed as a penalty for an illegal action in the endzone?
That’s true - if the ball didn’t leave the end-zone, which of course is how it ended.
An Argo falling on the ball would have not been enough, since he likely would have been touched immediately, down by contact, and that would be it - Argos would have surrendered a single point to break the tie.
But in all that scrambling after the last kick, if an Al touched the ball and didn’t control it, the ball would be live. If an Argo had managed to scoop it up, he could still have carried it out. Possession rules in the CFL are very fluid - a touch on the ball is enough to make the ball live.
Yes I understand though it’s been a while since I watched a lot of CFL football (back when it used to be on ESPN).
My question was what happens if a Toronto player grabbed that last kick cleanly (didn’t fall on it) without it being touched by Montreal and ran it out of the endzone? That would be illegal assuming he wasn’t onside (behind the kicker). Is the penalty a safety for an illegal action in the endzone or is the ball declared dead there and Montreal awarded it presumably with some penalty yardage (as I think would be the case in the field of play) which would score a TD, or would they award a single?
Could another Toronto player have kicked it out of the endzone or do the same onside rules apply to a subsequent kick as to recovering the ball for possession?
That’s a good question - I don’t know. I would think it would be a single, because as you say, unless he was on-side, it would be illegal, so I would think that would be the end of the play, and the Argos would not have taken it out of the end-zone. I don’t think you can ever get a touchdown as a result of a penalty - you always have to do it yourself.
After reading the rules (thanks mnemosyne), it appears that if an offside Toronto player first touched the last kick in the endzone, it would be an illegal touching and Montreal would take possession on the 10 yard line and be entitled to one play if time had expired (which it certainly must have).
However, they could decline the penalty scoring a touchdown or single depending on who recovered. So, though this is not specifically covered, if a Toronto player had been first to touch the ball and had batted, kicked, or run it out of the endzone, Montreal would have taken possession on the 10 yard line and be entitled to one play on which they’d almost certainly have kicked a field goal or single unless Toronto blocked the kick.
Or Damon Duval flubs it again, and Noel Prefontaine kicks it back out to Duval, who kicks it back in, and we end up in an infinte loop of examining footage for no-yards calls on kicks and the game never ends.
