Did the safety and the touchback positions in football have opposite definitions at one time?
Safety and Touchback are not "positions", they are the results
of a play, and they do have opposite definitions at this time. A
Safety is scored when the offense is tackled in the endzone and
awards the defense two points, and the ball. A touchback is
declared when the defense takes possesion of the ball (by
interception, fumble recovery, punt, or kickoff) in their own
endzone and elects not to try to return the ball upfield. A
touchback awards the ball to the receiving team at their own 20
yard line. Own in football describes the side of the field the team
is defending. You score points in the opponents endzone.