Touchdown rules?

Question

The other day I was watching a college football game between the Wisconsin Badgers and Minnesota Gophers. In the 3rd quarter, Wisconsin was trying to make an extra point to make the score 42 to 3. When the ball was snapped, the football deflected off of the holders hands and a Minnesota Gopher defensive player intercepted the deflection and ran 90 yards for the touchdown. Minnesota was only awarded 2 points instead of 6 for a touchdown. Why was the interception only worth 2 points instead of 6? Are there three ways to score 2 points? Because I only thought there were 2 ways to score two points... A safety or a 2 point conversion. Is this rule the same in NFL?

Answer 1

Returning a blocked, fumbled, or intercepted PAT is worth two points in college, but there's no equivalent rule in the NFL where a blocked PAT isn't worth anything.

I'm not sure why they only award two points instead of six, but my guess is that it's because the PAT itself is only worth one point. If you made a returned kick in that situation worth six points, in my opinion, it would be putting too much value on the play. Considering a successful try is only worth a single point, then stopping it defensively should only be worth a couple.

The answer below is incorrect - an NFL team CAN NOT score on a blocked PAT. Check the rules here - it's number 2 on this page:

http://www.nfl.com/fans/rules/try

Answer 2

A touchdown is the primary method of scoring in American and Canadian football, in which the ball carrier causes the football to break the plane of the end zone, or an eligible receiver catches a forward pass in the end zone, thus earning 6 points for his team (in both codes). The scoring team is also awarded the opportunity for an extra point or a two-point conversion.

After scoring a touchdown, professional football players will generally celebrate by doing some sort of move or dance. These can include a high-five, backflip, spiking the ball, dunking or shooting the ball through the goal post, or a dance. Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, Steve Smith, and Joe Horn (just to name a few) are players known for flamboyant touchdown celebrations. On the other hand, some football greats such as Barry Sanders never celebrated, instead simply handing the ball to the referee. Despite touchdown celebrations being popular with fans, touchdown celebrations are not allowed in high school and college football (and "excessive" ones are penalized in the NFL also), and will result in a fifteen yard penalty. In high school, this results in the conversion being taken from the eighteen yardline, while in college the kickoff must now be fifteen yards from its original position.

A touchdown is analogous to a Rugby try, with the major difference being that for a try the football has to be placed on the ground, a requirement abolished decades ago in gridiron football.

The term touchdown is also used in rugby union and rugby league to refer to the physical act of placing the ball down on the ground past the goal line.


NFL Rules:
Try
1. After a touchdown, the scoring team is allowed a try during one scrimmage down. The ball may be spotted anywhere between the inbounds lines, two or more yards from the goal line. The successful conversion counts one point by kick; two points for a successful conversion by touchdown; or one point for a safety.

2. The defensive team never can score on a try. As soon as defense gets possession or the kick is blocked or a touchdown is not scored, the try is over.

3. Any distance penalty for fouls committed by the defense that prevent the try from being attempted can be enforced on the succeeding try or succeeding kickoff. Any foul committed on a successful try will result in a distance penalty being assessed on the ensuing kickoff.

4. Only the fumbling player can recover and advance a fumble during a try.

Answer 3

Yeah thats the same rule in the NFL as well....any return for a touchdown on blocked extra point or in this case an interception is only worth 2 points...would be the same if they went for 2 and funmbled or something

Answer 4

It's only worth 2 points because returning the extra point for a touchdown is technically a safety, and therefore worth just 2 points.
and for the record, people need to not copy paste stuff off of wikipedia and pass it off as their own. Half of the first answer has nothing to do with the question anyway.

Answer 5

This is the rule even in the NFL. The play was for the extra point so the defensive team scored the extra point by running or passing the ball rather than kicking it.

Answer 6

It does no longer be a landing. this is the area of the ball that determines the landing, no longer the area of the participant's physique. your finished physique could be in the top zone, yet while the ball never crosses the airplane of the objective line, there remains no score. by way of the comparable token, if your physique never gets into the top zone, yet you stretch your hand out far adequate to get even a factor of the ball over the airplane of the objective line, that ought to be a landing. Yep, if somebody knocked the ball out of your palms formerly you delivered the ball in, that ought to be a fumble, provided you had already generic possession.