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This obviously didn't actually come up during this game, but since to compensate for the 80 yard field, teams were moved back 20 yards upon crossing the 50 yard line, what would have happened if there was a long play for a score? If on a play, the runner crossed the 50 yard line, and ran down to the 1 yard line, the ball would have been moved back to the 21 yard line, but if the runner had instead crossed the goal line, I presume that would be a touchdown. Also, was moving back 20 yards upon crossing the 50 only used once in each drive? For example, let's say one team was at their own 49, and gained two yards to the opponents 49 yard line. They would have been moved back 20 yards to the 31 yard line. but what if on the next play they gained 21 yards, crossing mid-field again? It would only make sense to have the 20 yard move only apply once per drive, but it's not quite clear from the article.--RLent20:43, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]
First of all, there was no "50-yard line"; midfield of an 80-yard field would be the 40-yard line. When you take that into account, it becomes obvious that the moveback would occur only once per drive; if you started from your 20-yard line, then crossed the 40, backed up 20 yards and then scored a touchdown, the drive would cover 80 yards just as in a regular game. I don't know what would have happened on touchdowns from beyond the 40, but those were rare in the early days of American football due to fewer passes and tackling rules which favored the defense (i.e., for many years only the defense could use their hands in tackling); that obviously would have been a problem if this had happened more than this one time.
This isn't an issue in modern arena football because the shorter field (50 yards) is "regulation", so there's no "backup rule"; that, the modern style of play, and other issues (no punts) mean arena-football scores run much higher than they did in this game. --RBBrittain (talk) 13:40, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
