A Rules Question

[DrDave]

If a team wins the coin toss and defers till the second half, must they receive the ball or can they kick off to start the second half?

I don't think I've ever seen it happen, but is this allowable?

 

[utvolpj]

You defer the choice until the second half so yes they could choose to kick

 

[JoAllan]

If a team wins the coin toss and defers till the second half, must they receive the ball or can they kick off to start the second half?

I don't think I've ever seen it happen, but is this allowable?

They defer their decision to the second half......whichever they want kick or receive.

 

[GAVol]

If a team wins the coin toss and defers till the second half, must they receive the ball or can they kick off to start the second half?

I don't think I've ever seen it happen, but is this allowable?

Definitely allowable. I've got a friend who is a Sunbelt back judge and he says he's seen it once in his career where a team kicked to open both halves, and it actually worked for them.

 

[Crazy Ivan]

Definitely allowable. I've got a friend who is a Sunbelt back judge and he says he's seen it once in his career where a team kicked to open both halves, and it actually worked for them.

It would have likely worked better for us against LSU in that monsoon, which is what I assume the OP might have been thinking about.

 

[MSCE09]

There was a game years ago I remember where the kid that won the coin toss, said kick instead of deferring, which meant the other team got to choose after half and picked receive. I imagine that probably happens a lot but the refs correct them instead of going to the letter of the rule but it can happen.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

I don’t know if the rule was worded in precisely the same way in Neyland’s era, but he probably would have deferred with regularity and, then, kick off to begin both halves. That is, of course, unless we trailed by a large margin to begin the second half, which did not happen frequently on his watch. As any Tennessee fan worth his salt knows, Neyland placed great emphasis on defense, field position, the kicking (i.e. punting) game, and playing for turnovers.

You can be certain that the General was whispering in Hoke’s ear just before the 3rd quarter kickoff, “Give them the ball, make them deal with these terrible weather conditions on offense and force a turnover.”

 

[movinonup]

"You can be certain that the General was whispering in Hoke’s ear just before the 3rd quarter kickoff, “Give them the ball, make them deal with these terrible weather conditions on offense and force a turnover.”[/QUOTE]



Instead of whispering, he should have yelled !

 

[Crash1984]

There was a game years ago I remember where the kid that won the coin toss, said kick instead of deferring, which meant the other team got to choose after half and picked receive. I imagine that probably happens a lot but the refs correct them instead of going to the letter of the rule but it can happen.

Remember that happened in 2014 with Texas and UCLA. Texas chose to kick and as a result UCLA got the ball to start both halves.

 

[nash101]

The 3rd option is to choose which goal to defend. That has happened a few times as well (take the wind advantage) and then the other team chooses to kick or receive.

I can even remember one game that we punted on first down. Totally flipped the field — could have been a good strategy last week

 

[winsec]

majors kicked both halves against auburn years ago in the rain. hoke was too dumb to kick saturday. terrible mistake.

 

[bamawriter]

Remember that happened in 2014 with Texas and UCLA. Texas chose to kick and as a result UCLA got the ball to start both halves.

I remember that. The ref even gave the Texas captain a chance to think about it and he still insisted that they wanted to kick.

 

[tennesseepride84]

Yes you can

 

[Volosaurus rex]

The 3rd option is to choose which goal to defend. That has happened a few times as well (take the wind advantage) and then the other team chooses to kick or receive.

I can even remember one game that we punted on first down. Totally flipped the field — could have been a good strategy last week

This happened frequently in the Neyland era. In one of the early 'bama games, perhaps '29, the game was played in a driving rain and became a battle of punters. Tennessee punted 21 times and 'bama, 18 times (or vice versa). Finally, Alabama fumbled a punt, turned it over deep in their territory and Tennessee was able to capitalize with, I believe, the only score of the game.

 

[glhal2814]

There was a game years ago I remember where the kid that won the coin toss, said kick instead of deferring, which meant the other team got to choose after half and picked receive. I imagine that probably happens a lot but the refs correct them instead of going to the letter of the rule but it can happen.

I remember in High School captaining a few times in JV, and the JV coach would spend 5 minutes every game making sure we were going to say "Defer" instead of "Kick". He was well aware of the likelihood of 15 year old kid handing a possession over accidently.

 

[AM64]

The 3rd option is to choose which goal to defend. That has happened a few times as well (take the wind advantage) and then the other team chooses to kick or receive.

I can even remember one game that we punted on first down. Totally flipped the field — could have been a good strategy last week

You are probably talking against Auburn in 1973. We were up when the rain started, and just gave the ball back to Auburn when we got it. The rain was terrible, and we played field position and Auburn errors with a wet ball. It was both a miserable experience in the stands and one of the most entertaining games I've ever watched.

 

[VolStrom]

How many thumbs ups do I have? Can I use them all in one thread?

 

[AM64]

How many thumbs ups do I have? Can I use them all in one thread?

They seem to be limited and go away if you give too many thumbs up, but I've never found any info about how it works. It appears that they get reset overnight. It would be interesting to know for sure.

 

[Volosaurus rex]

After consulting my trusty copy of Third Saturday in October, the game that I referenced earlier was the 1932 Alabama game, which Tennessee won, 7-3. Beattie Feathers punted 21 times for an average of 48 yards. ‘bama’s punter, John Cain, averaged 43 yards on 19 punts. One of Cain’s punts travelled only 11 yards and was the turning point in the game.

After a Tennessee punt rolled dead at the ‘bama 1-yard line, Cain attempted to punt on first down but shanked the ball out of bounds on the Tide’s 12-yard line. Three plays later, Feathers took a pitchout and scored the game’s only touchdown. Incidentally, both Feathers and Cain also led their respective teams in rushing for the game.

To avoid handling the wet ball, both teams punted frequently on first or second down. Neyland later said, “It was the most magnificent kicking show my eyes have witnessed. Never will I see another like it.”

William deShazo, a longtime Alabama fan who attended the game, stated that “It was the only game I can recall attending when my shoes were filled with water. Mud was ankle deep on the playing field.” See Third Saturday in October by Al Browning, pp. 44-45.

 

[DrDave]

If a team wins the coin toss and defers till the second half, must they receive the ball or can they kick off to start the second half?

I don't think I've ever seen it happen, but is this allowable?

My thought was put LSU deep in their end of the field and have them play in the downpour. It might have helped. :rock::rock::rock::rock::rock:

 

[82_VOL_83]

Good thread

 

[orangeluvr]

If a team wins the coin toss and defers till the second half, must they receive the ball or can they kick off to start the second half?

I don't think I've ever seen it happen, but is this allowable?

Rules are made to be broken.

 

[MountainDooley]

In all honesty, if Hoke had chose to kickoff to start the second half with us losing 99% of us would have lost our minds. Hindsight is 20/20 but I'm not going to complain about this. The luck we have had this year if we had kicked off to LSU they would have took it to house...