safety in OT

[whitehat]

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...

[JRutledge]

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

[chymechowder]

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?

[MNBlue]

Originally Posted by chymechowder

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?

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

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by MNBlue

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

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.

[Ia-Ref]

Originally Posted by mbyron

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.

[jTheUmp]

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:

Originally Posted by tomes1978

If A fumbles the ball at the 5. It rolls to the 1 and stops there. Team B then muffs the ball into the endzone, creating a new force. Team B then recovers the ball in the endzone where it immediately becomes dead. This is the same way the offense can score a one point safety on a try.

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.