Texas/OU Game - Kickoff/Punt Back

Discussion in 'On The Field' started by DRAG69, Feb 28, 2008.

  1. DRAG69

    DRAG69 1,000+ Posts

    Okay this is going to sound crazy to some of you but.....

    There was a game against OU back in the 60's where we received the kickoff and during the return we punted the ball back to them and ended up pinning them deep in their own territory. I think it resulted in points for us too...somehow.

    Anyway I was just trying to remember what year that was.
    I am thinking it was 1962 in Texas' 9-6 win.
    Or maybe it was later when Bill Bradley was here.
    My old feeble mind cannot recall things like I used to.

    Does anyone else remember this ?
    Bill in Sinton maybe ?

    I know it sounds strange but you can punt the football from anywhere on the field at anytime, even beyond the line of scrimmage (although today's announcers are clueless about this). You can also still drop kick from anywhere on the field as well.
     
  2. TornACL

    TornACL 250+ Posts

    Imagine if a coach tried that today.

    He'd be fired before the end of the quarter.

    The internet tubes would melt from all the furious posts from fans and alums.
     
  3. Statalyzer

    Statalyzer 10,000+ Posts

    It be hilarious to try at the end of a blowout. Have like a 48-3 lead, get a good return out to near midfield and then punt to pin them deep and try to get a safety and hit 50.
     
  4. gyokie

    gyokie < 25 Posts

    I would like to see a writeup about this game. Google gets me nowhere. I have not had any success at OU sights. Must have been close to the end of the Bud Wilkinsin reign and the beginning of the Royal years.
     
  5. DRAG69

    DRAG69 1,000+ Posts

    For some reason my feeble old mind wants to place this in 1962. I remember that my mom took us to the State Fair while the game was going on, for some reason, but we did not have tickets. I remember at one of the exhibits they had a wall of new televisions and she almost never got me to leave there because the game was on and I was much more interested in it than anything the fair had to offer.

    I also remember riding that enormous ferris wheel right next to the stadium during the game with my sister. I distinctly remember seeing a brief moment of the game in the tunnel end of the stadium as we were stopped at the top.

    I am pretty sure it was the game that had that punt in it.
     
  6. goat

    goat 250+ Posts

    This is a "fair catch free kick" not sure if it is still legal in NCAA (paging mish)

    but explain to me why you think you can punt the ball beyond the line of scrimmage?
     
  7. Olehornfan

    Olehornfan 2,500+ Posts

    I don't believe Drag is talking about the fair catch free kick rule. My old brain remembers the punt also and I could be wrong but believe you could make a forward pass after receiving a kickoff. I have never seen a punter called for being beyond the line of scrimmage after scrambling and then kicking the ball. I am sure someone will find the rules.
     
  8. J.R.69

    J.R.69 250+ Posts

    There was one game (don't remember when or against whom) when the UT punter mishandled the snap and took off running when he saw the defense closing in. After he had passed the LOS by a little, he changed his mind and kicked it on the run. There was some controversy, but the play was allowed.
     
  9. gyokie

    gyokie < 25 Posts

    I remember something called a spot pass but it had to be be a lateral. You could do this on KOS.
     
  10. DRAG69

    DRAG69 1,000+ Posts

    The rule in football has always been that you can punt the football from anywhere at anytime. Same as a drop kick for a field goal. Once a kicked ball goes beyond the line of scrimmage the kicking team cannot recover it for possession.

    But you can kick it from anywhere including on a kickoff return and if you do you are giving up possession of the ball.
     
  11. goat

    goat 250+ Posts

    ok....i was just being a smartass and actually wanted to hear what your explanation was. too lazy to write it out....this hasnt changed either since 2006 just had no desire to download the 07's.

    No...you are wrong. Rule 6 Article 10. The Link

    let me know if you have any ?'s.
     
  12. DRAG69

    DRAG69 1,000+ Posts

    I wonder when that became the rule because in the old days guys could run down the field beyond the line of scrimmage and drop kick the ball for a field goal and they did it a lot back then.
     
  13. gyokie

    gyokie < 25 Posts

    I found this. See ya! Oct. 13, 1962: Texas 9, Oklahoma 6
    Heroes: Longhorns guard/linebacker Johnny Treadwell disrupted a pitchout to OU halfback Paul Lea in his own end zone, and Texas' Perry McWilliams recovered the fumble for the lone UT touchdown and a 9-0 lead.

    Notable: Tempers flared in the fourth quarter when Texas sustained a drive in the final four minutes to preserve the victory. Texas end Tommy Lucas and Oklahoma's Rick McCurdy got into a fight after the game that ended with police charging onto the field. The Longhorns, who came into the game ranked No. 1, held OU to 71 yards rushing.
     
  14. Little Earl

    Little Earl 100+ Posts

    I don't remember a specific college game, but I do remember several occurrences of punting beyond the line of scrimmage by Danny White with the Dallas Cowboys. His first couple years as a starting quarterback (after Roger's retirement), he still performed the punting duties. I can remember several instances of him tempting the defense by running and then punting at the last second. He also kept the ball quite a few times and picked up the first down. Any way...several of these punts were beyond the line of scrimmage, and every time it happened the announcers would talk about the old left over rule from the rugby days about punting from anywhere on the field.
     
  15. DesertBigHorn

    DesertBigHorn < 25 Posts

    I don't remember the incident you describe. I checked Robert Heard's account of the '62 game in When Football Becomes War, and see nothing about that. The book has detailed accounts of all the games from the '50 to '80, so that would be a good place to look.

    Interestingly, we won the '62 game by three points, and the field goal that provided the winning margin was kicked on fifth down. The guy handling the down marker got distracted and failed to flip the marker from second to third down!
     
  16. Hornible

    Hornible 25+ Posts

  17. Hornible

    Hornible 25+ Posts

    Note the Paragraph on the Dallas News story
    "The Kicking Was Excellent".
    Koy must have punted on the run following a botched snap.
     
  18. Bob in Houston

    Bob in Houston 2,500+ Posts

    I saw this once at the end of a CFL game when I was very young. It happened late in the game, the final seconds, more than a couple, when one team tried a long field goal to win. I think it was a one-point game.

    The other team put its punter into the end zone. When the FG missed, he punted it back, using up the remaining time. This avoided the risk of being caught in the end zone for the tying point.
     
  19. mishatx

    mishatx 1,000+ Posts


     
  20. mishatx

    mishatx 1,000+ Posts

    And free-kick-after-fair-catch hasn't been in the NCAA rules since like the 1940s, to answer goat's question.
     
  21. beencounting

    beencounting 500+ Posts

    what a great thread! Very interesting reads.

    also, thanks Hornible for the incredible PDF link about the old TX OU game. Wow, what a find. The research powers of posters here is just amazing.
     
  22. goat

    goat 250+ Posts

    Thanks mish....although i was being a bastard smartass at the time.....i was just trying to see what other "rules" explanations i could get out of the masses.
     

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