Every offseason, a college football rules committee gets together to discuss various tweaks to the game. For this season, a reduction in suspension for first time targeting offenders got the headlines, with a reduction in offensive pass interference from 15 yards to 10 mentioned as a footnote. One rule change that could add even more quirk to the game didn’t get as much attention: College football will now have the “fair catch kick” that has been legal in the NFL for many years. For the unitiated,
here are the details:
The Fair Catch Kick is being introduced into the NCAA playing rules and will allow the receiving team to attempt an uncontested field goal place kick and score three points under certain conditions.
To trigger the Fair Catch Kick, a fair catch of an opponent’s scrimmage kick or free kick must be completed.
Following the fair catch (or awarded fair catch) the ball shall be put in play by a snap by the receiving team at the spot of the catch if the ball is caught. Optionally, the ball may be put in play by a Fair Catch Kick by the receiving team at the spot of the catch.
This selection for a Fair Catch Kick must come from the head coach before the dead ball is next ready for play and the decision is irrevocable. Following the ready for play, there is no option of selecting a Fair Catch Kick.
If a Fair Catch Kick is selected by the receiving team, the ball is put in play at the spot of the catch or the succeeding spot after penalties.
If the catch is in a side zone, the ball is transferred into the nearest hash mark. There is no option for Team A to otherwise relocate the ball.
The play clock will be set to 25 seconds, and the game clock starts when the ball is legally kicked.
If the fair catch occurs as time expires in a half, the team is allowed to make the Fair Catch Kick as an untimed down.
The Fair Catch Kick line for the kicking team is the most forward point of the spot of the fair catch (or awarded fair catch), or the succeeding spot after penalties.
The Fair Catch Kick line for the receiving team is the yard line 10 yards in advance of the kicking team’s Fair Catch Kick line.
The formation requirements for a Fair Catch Kick will follow Free Kick rules.
The kick must be a field goal place kick with a holder (no tee) or a drop kick, and if the kick passes over the crossbar and through the uprights, a field goal is scored, and three points are awarded to the kicking team.
In the NFL this has happened exactly once in the last 30 years, and Alabama great JK Scott got to play a supporting role.
There are many more games in college football, of course, and the college game tends to be weirder so maybe we will see one this season. In the instance above, the penalty made the kick only 57 yards so Dicker took his normal setup, but since there is no one to block the kick, a full kickoff-style run up is possible. Many college kickers would be able to reach 70+ yards with a full run, though the accuracy would obviously be compromised. Alabama’s Lorcan Quinn is known for having that type of leg.
This seems like the kind of thing you might see in Jordan-Hare, doesn’t it?
