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Originally Posted by Scrapper1
You can't ignore it in the football scenario, because if you simply ignore it, the kicking team is so far downfield that there's no chance for a return. They'll beat the ball to the return man. So you have to penalize it somehow.
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True enough. Same thing with the delay of game, it's possible the players doing it will go so far you can't ignore it; then the direction from NFHS is to go straight to the T.
I think the similar penalty against Wisconsin would have been to put time back on the clock. Or, for Penn State to not make them rekick. Bielema was probably pinching himself when he got to do kick it a second time. The thing is, JoePa has a ready-made fix on this. Take the kick and the extra 5 yards. Granted, there may not be much of a return, but it's better than not getting a play off.
The rules allow for this, just as they allow for the safety I mentioned, or the delay of game penalty on 4th and 1.
If the NCAA doesn't like it, they need to change the rules. I'm sure they will; probably by changing the clock rule in the last 2 minutes; or adding a provision to add the time back on the clock and rekick.
How's this? The penalty for offsides on a kickoff is three fold: 10 yard penalty, put the time back on, and don't start the clock until the receiving team touches it on the 2nd kick. This adds an incentive for doing it right the first time.