safety in OT
 

Just doing some thursday night review prior to friday. looking at rulebook page 88 second full para. "If a safety is scored by the offensive team, the succeeding spot will be the 10 yard line in possession of the team that was on defense...and the score will be A-2, B-0"

Trying to imagine this scenario in a game situation. B somehow forces the ball into their own EZ, and recovers..safety. OK. Now it is Bs ball for their OT series as A leads 2-0..if I follow this correctly. So now B scores a TD and they win the game right? Isn't A being punished by having to end their possession/series due to B having a safety scored against them? it seems that instead of A being able to go ahead and finish their series and possibly score a TD, they have to settle for 2 points instead of 7 or 8...can someone clarify this for me...

Why would they be punished if they scored? They should have held onto the ball and maybe they get a TD or a FG to get more than two points. Again this might be based on how your state runs OT, but I see nothing wrong about this as if you do have a safety then the team that has the ability to stop the other team somehow.

Peace

not sure I'm following. how is it unfair to A? they turned it over. they're incredibly fortunate to come away from their OT series with any points.

say in the first series of OT, team A throws a pick at the B-5. B22 begins to return the ball, but fumbles it backwards, where B20 falls on the ball in B's endzone. 2 points for A.

the series is over. would you say that A should be able to "decline" the safety? where would you give A the ball? at the spot of B's fumble? with a fresh set of goal to go downs? :confused:

In NFHS OT procedures, the ball is dead as soon as B gains possession.

I started a thread about this very same topic just a few weeks ago...
overtime rules question

How team A could score a safety in overtime, courtesy of one of the replies to my post:
As for the "unfair" thought... I don't see how it's unfair at all. Yeah, A loses the ability to score a field goal or a touchdown, but if they wanted to retain that ability they shouldn't have turned the ball over in the first place. Since B must gain possession for there to be a safety, you have two options on this play:
1) award A with 2 points for the safety, continue with B's series.
2) award A no points (as we would if the fumble was recoverd by B outside of the end zone), and continue with B's series.

At least in #1 B is required to score points of their own via a touchdown or field goal if they want to win the game.

True. The only way for A to score a safety in OT is for B to force a loose ball into their own end zone and cause it to become dead there.

Or to have the play end in A's end zone with A in possession.
Not likely, but a series of penalties could possibly push the balll back toward A's goal.

In your scenario, B would score a safety if the ball was in possession of the ball in their own end zone when the ball became dead.

(fixed a couple of typos in MNBlue's post).

And the game would be over.

I knew what I meant. :p :D

I am a little confused if you are talking about the hypothetical or the original situation. Why would the game be over?

Peace

Not the original situation, but the one in which the safety was scored against team A. Fortunately the rules do not require the team that would be awarded a series and is ahead in score to take a knee 4 times!

I was referring to they hypothetical situation of B scoring a safety on A's possession.... it would almost be a Tecmo Bowl play come to life.

In the original situation, if Team A scores a safety against B, then it's B's turn with the ball (assuming, of course, that B hasn't already had their possession in this OT period).

If it is nf this is not possible since the ball becomes dead upon b gaining possession

I feel pretty confident that B has to gain possession of the football in order for B to score the safety or the touchdown as described on Page 88 section 8-1 of your 2011 Rules Book...

If B scores in OT, the game is over... Why???
 

Why would the game be over???
Simply put Rut, Because B would be ahead in the score, and, since A has had its possession, during which, B has accumulated more points, the outcome has been decided, and, therefore the game is over.

If you do the math, their is not a scenario where, when B scores in OT, they are not ahead in points....


Reference: 2011 Rules Book Page 88, 8-1

If B gains possession in an end zone the score counts.

Thanks for the discussion guys. As it pertains to my OP and being "unfair:" not sure, just reading it caused me to try to think it through as if on the field trying to sort it out and explain it to a coach. Yes, "A" did turn the ball over, but B committed the greater blunder by getting tagged for a safety in their own EZ and now they get the ball as a "reward." If this happend in regulation B would not get the ball but A would after B kicks off from the 20...Yet in OT B gets the ball...if I am B, I line up and kick a FG and win and don't have to worry about scoring a TD (the unfair part)...IDK, just sounds a bit squirrly ;-)

Hope you guys had good game last night. Had a dandy, good, clean, close ball game with two big schools. great weather too. nothing like football in the fall :-)

blessings