And just when you thought you’ve seen every football play imaginable, those damn Canadians create the punt-punt-touchdown. One of the wackiest things you’ll ever see in a football game.
Pep Rally provides an explanation of the rules.
Unlike American football, Canadian football holds that once a punt travels more than 10 yards downfield, the kicking team can recover the free ball and regain possession. In this way, Canadian punts are essentially just like American kickoffs.
However, in a nod to rugby, Canadian football holds that on scrimmage kicks (i.e., punts and missed field goals), the returning team can respond by immediately punting the ball back to the other team, creating a free-for-all where whichever team gets to the ball first will retain possession.
Yes, American football should adopt this rule immediately. And yes, Les Miles is already coming up with ways to run an unsuccessful fake trick play.