Opening score of the 2021 NCAA season is a punt return safety

Big Ten football is back, and it’s weirder than ever! A punt return safety to start the 2021 season off is living proof.

In case you were missing Big Ten football… well, it’s back, folks. And it’s given us the weirdest opening score of a college football season… well, maybe ever.

Let’s set the scene. With 4:20 (how appropriate) left in the first quarter of the contest between Nebraska and Illinois, the Fighting Illini punted to the Cornhuskers. Punter Brendan Franke got off a 55-yard bomb, and cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt tried (in a manner of speaking ) to return it. Instead, butted up against his own end zone as he was, Taylor-Britt tried to throw the ball out of said end zone, which is a no-no. It’s also a safety.

It’s the first two points of the Bret Bielema era in Illinois, and a rough start for Nebraska head coach Scot Frost, who is already on several hot seats.