It was Texas A&M/Texas in '04. A similar thing happened, except the kick wasn't blocked in that game. The snap was mishandled and the ball kicked anyway -- which should have been a foul, but wasn't called -- and the defense recovered, and the rest of the play was similar to what happened last night.

I also appeared to be an illegal forward pass in the end zone, but the result would have been the same.

Yup. With the LJ crashing the line as the ball is still in play, not easy to see.

That woulda been a hell of a call.

I agree, it was definitely an illegal forward pass. Thought that as soon as I saw it.

The result would not have been the same under current rules. The penalty would be declined by rule. I sent this play situation to Rogers Redding a month ago and he confirmed it would be declined by rule so no 1 point safety if they would have had an illegal forward pass. Penalties are declined by rule after a change of possession on a Try.

Exactly right, thanks for chiming in and reminding me. There were numerous case plays that covered exactly that scenario this year. Most involved a turnover (typically an interception) in the end zone followed by an IBB/clip/BBW.

I love ignorant announcers. I contend that they need a real official in the booth, not to be on the air but to tell them the rules.

In the Texas game I noticed from the video that Texas kicked off as normal as if it was after a TD and not a 2-pt. safety.

I think that makes it less likely to happen, because they don't get a chance to run the ball out of the end zone. Of course they don't get a chance to run it into it either, but I don't think that's as likely to happen as supplying impetus to a loose ball in the field of play that puts it into your own end zone.

Wow, now there's a real loophole! If you're ever in danger of giving up a safety in such a situation, just intentionally ground the ball forward -- while pulling the face mask of the player tackling you!

Some fouls are still enforced:

Fouls During a Try After a Change of Team Possession

ARTICLE 4. a. Distance penalties against either team are declined by rule (Exception: Penalties for flagrant personal fouls, unsportsmanlike conduct fouls, dead-ball personal fouls and live-ball fouls treated as dead-ball fouls are enforced on the succeeding kickoff or at the succeeding spot in extra periods. See Rule 8-3-5.) (A.R. 8-3-4-I and II).

b. A score by a team committing a foul during the down is canceled (A.R. 8-3- 2-VII).

c. If both teams foul during the down and Team B had not fouled before the change of possession, the fouls offset, the down is not repeated, and the try is over.

Huh? You mean B could prevent A from scoring a one-point safety by committing an illegal act?

That just doesn't make good sense.

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It's the rule. Any distance penalty after a COP on a try is declined by rule with narrow exceptions. This isn't one of them.

It's one of those situations that doesn't happen but once in probably a 40 year career. We had been discussing this play a month or so before it happened on another discussion board and none of us could come to make sense of it based upon our own reading of the rule. I decided to send it in to Rogers Redding and he confirmed that the penalty is declined, no score. Many of you know Rom Gilbert, or have used his website for a rules resource, he sent this situation in to Rogers as a suggested rule change to prevent this from happening.

Does "distance penalties" mean the distance portion of a penalty enforcement, as I think they meant? Then the illegal forward pass from the end zone would still result in a safety, because 0 distance from the spot still leaves the spot behind their goal line.