by Travis Normand

I feel like a cryptozoologist.  I am constantly searching for a creature that is so rare it is considered mythical.  Most people have never heard of this “monster” and when I tell them about it, they give me a funny look as if they don’t believe me.  Despite the crazy looks I keep getting, I have continued to keep a watchful eye open, hoping to someday catch another glimpse of this strange creature.

A one-point safety — college football’s Loch Ness monster.

Before last nights Fiesta Bowl on January 3, 2013, between Oregon and Kansas State, most people were unaware of the obscure rule that allowed a team to score a one-point safety.  However, after Oregon became the newest member of a small fraternity of teams to score such a point, awareness of the rule hit what appeared to be an all-time high.

How do I know this?  Because traffic to this blog exploded within hours of Oregon’s one-point safety against Kansas State.  I also received several messages on twitter from people discussing the rule (who found my blog) and I saw that someone started a twitter account called @OnePointSafety.

All fascinating stuff, but I feel like the big foot hunter that has been searching for years, only to find the beast at the same time as several thousand other people.  When I saw the one-point safety happen in last nights game, I sat straight up in my seat and shouted “WOW!  That is a one-point safety!”  A few minutes later the refs confirmed that I had indeed had another big foot sighting, yet only this time, so did everyone else.

If you want to know more about the one-point safety, here is a list of information that I have accumulated over the years, as well as recent articles from last nights game:

See Oregon score their one-point safety in last night’s Fiesta Bowl versus Kansas State

• The one-point safety in the NCAA rule book.
• A one-point safety has only been scored four times in college football history — two FBS games, one junior college game, and an NCAA Division II game (not an NAIA game, as commonly mentioned before).
• The two FBS games were (1) Texas A&M vs. Texas on November 26, 2004 and (2) January 3, 2013, Fiesta Bowl (Oregon vs. Kansas State).
• Huffington Post article on Oregon’s one-point safety (article mentions this blog)
• [Fiesta Bowl, January 3, 2013] “We got a safety for one point today, and I had no idea what that was,” Oregon Coach Chip Kelly said after the game. “When they told me they were going to give us one point, I said, ‘We’ll take it.’”  — LATimes.com
• [2004 Texas vs. Texas A&M] “I’m a little embarrassed,” Texas coach Mack Brown said, according to the Associated Press game story from that day. “I didn’t know that was a rule.”  — Dr. Saturday, Yahoo Sports
• The one-point safety from the Quirky Research Blog
• A one-point safety can be scored by either team (the team attempting to kick an extra point, and the team attempting to prevent the extra point).  In the 2013 Fiesta Bowl, Oregon (the team trying to kick the extra point) scored the one-point safety.  However, had Oregon recovered the blocked kick, then retreated 97 yards into their own endzone, and then been tackled by Kansas State, K-State would have scored a one-point safety.  This second way of scoring a one-point safety has never happened.
• Some have argued that the one-point safety that occurred during the 2004 Texas A&M vs. Texas game was incorrectly called.  The claim is that the PAT kick by Texas was illegal and play should have stopped.  Regardless, this was not called by the refs and thus an A&M player was able to recover the ball and get tackled in the endzone for a one-point safety.

The one-point safety from the 2004 Texas A&M vs. Texas game

Oh well, at least the Huffington Post gave me a mention in their article about the one-point safety.  That was pretty cool.