Two-point Conversion - Defensive Two-point Conversion

Defensive Two-point Conversion

In American college and Canadian football (as well as, for a significant period of time, the Arena Football League, where missed extra points are rebounded back into the field of play), an intercepted two-point attempt, or one otherwise recovered by the defense, or a blocked extra point kick, can be returned to the other end zone to give the defensive team two points. The team that scored the touchdown then kicks off as normal. This is rare because of the infrequent use of the two-point conversion and the rarity of blocked extra points, and also because of the difficulty in returning the ball the full length of the field. It has proven the winning margin in some games. Only once has an individual player scored more than a single defensive two-point conversion in a game: Tony Holmes of the Texas Longhorns in a 1998 game against the Iowa State Cyclones.

The NFL and high schools that follow the rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations (all U.S. high schools except those in Texas and Massachusetts, which use NCAA rules instead) do not allow this, and a two-point attempt resulting in recovery of the ball by the defense is immediately blown dead and ruled merely as 'no good', although it can, on rare occasions, result in a one-point safety. This one-point safety is the only way a team can have a score of just one point during the course of an American football game. (College and high school football assign a 1–0 score for a forfeited game.) Canadian football, however, allows another one-point play called the single, or rouge.