When you think about it, safeties should be worth more than two points

Hi everybody! I feel so fortunate to have been invited to contribute a guest editorial by the staff here. I know how passionate everybody here is, and we all love college football right? Boy, week 1 had something for everybody. Alabama and Georgia looked like their dominant selves. Florida and Utah gave us a classic. Here in B1G country, Penn State/Purdue and Illinois/Indiana gave us two great conference games. If you like offense, that Appalachian State/North Carolina game really was something, wasn’t it? And if you love sound defense, Iowa and South Dakota State had you covered.

Speaking of that game, I want to float an idea here. I know it’s going to sound strange at first, but I really think I’ve got a good argument here.

Safeties should be worth more than two points.

Before you object, realize I’m not saying they should count for 10 points, or anything wild like that. But what about four? To me, four points makes a lot of sense. Let me explain.

First, safeties are really rare. They’re difficult to earn. By scarcity alone, they’re totally undervalued. Heck, in the CFL, you get a point if the other team can’t bring the ball out of the end zone on a kick or interception. But if you force the other team from the field of play into the end zone, it’s only worth two? I don’t think so. Four is more like it.

Second, there’s no reason a safety should count the same as a conversion after a TD. Penn State and Illinois spent multiple OTs last year trying to score two points by running/throwing the ball three yards. No matter how many times they failed at that, it’s still easier than getting a safety. And don’t get me started about short field goals. The defense does its job, and the other team can kick a glorified extra point and rack up three points, but sacking the QB in the end zone is only two? Doesn’t make sense, I tell you.

And, honestly, not every team is an offensive powerhouse. Some teams make it look easy by passing all the time, but coordinating an offense is REALLY hard. Most fans just aren’t patient enough with their team’s offensive coordinator. Teams that contribute to winning football in all three phases of the game deserve to be rewarded too. If your defense gets a safety, and you block a punt out of the end zone, that should count more than one TD, shouldn’t it?

Finally, if you want to grow the popularity of the sport, you have to increase the value of the safety. College football is seeing an explosion of punters from Australia who are really good at placing punts. Some of these players are so good they enhance the likelihood of safeties by keeping the other team pinned deep on their offensive possessions. Making safeties worth four will only increase the value of Australian punters, thereby making the game more popular in that great country.

So, as you can see, for so many different reasons, the safety is an undervalued part of football and really should count for more points.

Thanks for reading!