Theory behind the muffed punt...?

[JamesBond]

Originally posted by EricSeattle
I'm trying to understand why the kicking team can gain possession yet not advance it. It would seem like the two options would be 1) possess/advance or 2) no possession at all.

Why did they create a rule to stop advancement by a team with possession of the ball?

Thanks,
Eric

Because at the high school level, unsafe things happen on kicks and adding the ability to advance by the kicking team just adds to the confusion and potential for injuries. (That is just my hypothesis.)