# Football Q: interception on extra point **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 19, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602 "2008-10-19T02:57:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/21 "2008-10-20T19:58:23Z")
> [@Drygon](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/22 "2008-10-20T20:09:01Z")
> [@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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/23 "2008-10-20T21:21:19Z")
Has there ever been a game where the only scores were safeties (e.g., 2-0, 2-2, 4-2, etc.)? ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/24 "2008-10-20T22:39:06Z")
> [@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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/25 "2008-10-20T22:48:22Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/26 "2008-10-21T01:40:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > [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: [1938 Chicago 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. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/27 "2008-10-21T16:09:40Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/28 "2008-10-22T00:48:55Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/29 "2008-10-22T05:27:20Z")
> [@dgrdfd](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602/30 "2008-10-22T06:19:06Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > 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… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-q-interception-on-extra-point/468602.md?page=1)