What did we learn? (The Illinois edition, sponsored by Stickum brand adhesive)

Not just sneaking it on 1st down inside the 1 was utterly moronic. Overall a good game was called but that was ridiculous.. O definitely  took a step in the right direction in terms of moving the ball, now we just have to hold on to the damn thing 

DeWitt needs to go, ST's are a joke.

D struggled at times but the score doesn't tell the story. Illinois had a short field all freaking night. Without turnovers and crap kick coverage Illinois puts up 24 at most

 
If it were a fumble and the guy trying to recover the ball were out of bounds, the ball would be declared to go back to the team with the last possession.  But since this is a kick off the ball is declared to go back to the kick off and the kick off going out of bounds. 


The difference is in the letter of the rule versus the spirit of the rule. The rule wasn't intended to allow a player to purposefully run out of bounds to simply reach into the field of play to touch an in-bound kickoff to solicit a penalty on the kicker. Thats the "loophole" that player smartly exploited. 

 
690 yards of offense and really no sacks and people are complaining about the line, hold onto the ball and the game is a blow out. 

I am confused how that isn’t considered illegal touching.
It is, isn't it? He went out of bounds and became ineligible, then came in to touch the ball.

 
Not just sneaking it on 1st down inside the 1 was utterly moronic. Overall a good game was called but that was ridiculous.. O definitely  took a step in the right direction in terms of moving the ball, now we just have to hold on to the damn thing 

DeWitt needs to go, ST's are a joke.

D struggled at times but the score doesn't tell the story. Illinois had a short field all freaking night. Without turnovers and crap kick coverage Illinois puts up 24 at most
Special teams (other than kicking) have been good/fine all year. Punt return for TD against USA. Forced fumble against CU with 6 minutes left in the game. Multiple block punts against NIU. NU has the top 2 kickers injured. I don’t think many teams in college football go 3 deep in place kicker. Also, the Blocked PAT was done by a rusher against the deep snapper. That’s against the rules, and should have been a penalty. 

 
Nebraska kicked the ball near the sideline and the player which established possession was out of bounds. Thus, the kick is declared out of bounds. 
I understand the rule but I also think I understand why they penalize a team for kicking the ball OOB. You don't have to explain anything or agree. I just feel in that situation it would be a more fair outcome to spot it at the 25. My opinion is the receiving team, in those situations, in effect causes it to be OOB and therefore the kicking team should not get the extra yardage tacked on. It's not a biggie as it doesn't happen often but it doesn't and never has seemed right to me.

 
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As a receiver it is illegal to go out of bounds then come back in isn't it? I think this is similar and calls for a rule change on kickoffs.
But it’s not “illegal” for a player to touch the ball on a fumble when he’s out of bounds. It just makes the ball OOB. When there is no established possession like during a kickoff, the first touch of a player who is out of bounds, establishes the ball as out of bounds. 

 
There absolutely should be an exception to the rule when the ball is laying dead in the field of play before anyone touches it (for instance, if a ball was established as in-bounds before an out-of-bounds player touches it, the ball is dead at that point the out-of-bounds player touches it).
How would it be established as in bounds? 

 
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