Kicking into the wind!

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MinnyGopherfan

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Check out this video from Tuesday night's playoff game between Lakeville North and Farmington. North's kicker knocks one into the wind, which takes it about 30 yards in the wrong direction once it crosses midfield. Imagine this wind at TCF Bank Stadium. Note, later in the game, the same kicker with the wind sent the kickoff through the uprights.
http://www.farmingtonindependent.com/event/videos/vidid/20804/
 

I didn't see if it landed in bounds or not, but if so thats a live ball that the kicking team could recover.
 


What would have happened if the kick had been blown so far back that it went through the end zone? I think it would have to be a safety. Has anything like that ever happened? It could if due to penalties, the team had to kick off from near their own goal line.
 

Here is what I think...#1, a free kick must travel 10 yards to be a live ball. If the ball touched nothing beyond that 10 yards, (meaning it went into the air only, then blown back), it hasn't gone 10 yards, hence if recovered by the kicking team 12 yards backwards the ball would be awarded to the receiving team at that point. Gotta admit, this is a unique situation though.
 


Dr.Don said:
Here is what I think...#1, a free kick must travel 10 yards to be a live ball. If the ball touched nothing beyond that 10 yards, (meaning it went into the air only, then blown back), it hasn't gone 10 yards, hence if recovered by the kicking team 12 yards backwards the ball would be awarded to the receiving team at that point. Gotta admit, this is a unique situation though.
Click to expand...

You are correct, it is not a live ball. Either way, you don't see that everyday.
 






Hmmm... Imagine this, seconds to go, and a team is lining up for an onside kick. Their opponents commit penalty after penalty, and now the ball is spotted inside the 1 yard line for the kickoff. If the kicking team recovered it, it would be a TD, but they would either have to recover it at the very back of the end zone because it would have to go 10 yards, or hope it bounces off a member of the return team. Of course, the kicking team would probably start declining penalties at some point.

You don't see it often, but with a wind like that at your back, there is the possibility of making a free kick after a fair catch; if it goes through the uprights, it's three points.
 

In HS football, once a kicked ball crosses the opponents goal line, it is a automatic touchback. Therefore that could never happen.
 

Tuesday night was REALLY bad weather. The National Weather Service reported the barometric pressure so low that the storm system would have been classified as a Class 3 Hurricane if it would have been over water. You probably would have been better off on Tuesday just squib kicking it or an onside kick just to keep it on the ground when you went into the wind and even calling time outs to keep the wind at your back so you could punt/kick with the wind if time was running out.

If there is one condition that is not fun to play any sport in, it's a ferocious wind like that but hey, it's football!!
 

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