TIME OUT: Safeties and Touchbacks - What's the Difference?

Periodically, Rogers Redding, the national coordinator of College Football Officiating, will provide insights about rules changes and the mindset of college football referees. The CFO is the national professional organization for all football officials who work games at the collegiate level.

The rules of the kicking game are not as familiar as those for running and passing plays. Here we look at some of these rules. There are two kinds of kicks: free kicks and scrimmage kicks. This week we look at the rules for free kicks, and we’ll take up scrimmage kicks next week.

Each half starts with a kickoff, which is a free kick, and a kickoff also follows an extra point or a field goal. A kickoff is usually at the 30-yard line--it’s at the 20 following a safety--and it must be either a place kick (that is, kicked while the ball is placed on the ground or on a tee) or a drop kick. The drop kick, wherein a player drops the ball and kicks it just as it touches the ground, is nearly obsolete. Following a safety the kicking team may also punt the ball.

When the ball is kicked the kicking team must not be beyond it (offside), and the receiving team has to stay at least ten yards away. Once the ball has gone ten yards or has touched an opponent, the kicking team may get it, but they may not advance it. The ball is dead when the kicking team gets possession.

If the ball goes out of bounds before the receivers touch it, this is a foul, and the receivers may snap the ball from their 40-yard line--i.e, thirty yards from where it was kicked. But if the receivers touch it before it goes out, they get the ball at the out-of-bounds spot.

Finally, if the ball hits in the end zone before a receiver touches it, it is dead. This is a touchback, and the ball is brought out to the 20-yard line. However, if the receivers touch the ball and it then goes into the end zone, it is a live ball; a receiving team player has to pick it up or down it but he doesn’t have to bring the ball out of the end zone. The player who gets possession may simply down the ball and this also gives a touchback.