Onside kicks

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Following the safety near the end of the Missouri/Kansas game, Kansas was required to kick from the 20 now trailing by 8 points and only 17 seconds remaining.

Why did they not attempt an onside kick? Is it not allowed per rule?

Must've been "a crazy coaching error".

I don't officiate football, but do have some friends that do and know that there is a difference between a free kick and a scrimmage kick. I don't know which is which though.

That one should be easy. A scrimmage kick is made during play from scrimmage (i.e. put in play by snap). A free kick is an awarded kick, "free" in the sense of not interfered with; the ball starts out dead and is put in play by that means. NFL didn't apply that term to kickoffs until recently, and so was the last USAn code to not consolidate all awarded kicks as "free", albeit with some rules differences.

Robert