Definition of a football safety?
A safety occurs when a team which had possesion of the football
outside its endzone during a play is tacked in its own endzone. If
a punt or kickoff is touched outside the endzone, rolls into the
endzone and then downed by the receiving team in the endzone there
is no safety, because the ball was not posessed outside the
endzone. The rule is often misunderstood - in an NFL regular season
game in the '90s, the Giants were awarded a safety when the ball
was touched outside the endzone by the receiving team and then
downed by the receiving team after the ball rolled into the
endzone. The next day the NFL announced that there was no safety.
The college rule is the same - possession outside the endzone, and
not a mere touching is, is necessary in order for there to be a
safety