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92-590: The game featured the division champions in the North and the South who had posted perfect regular season records of 14–0. For Schwäbisch Hall this was the eighth appearance in the final in their club history - all having come since 2011 . Braunschweig meanwhile avenged their semifinal defeat from the previous season in this year's semifinal against Frankfurt Universe to return to the Championship Game after

184-428: A place kick or drop kick , because punts are illegal in that league. Arena football also has the advantage in that it features rebound nets surrounding the goal posts; thus, unlike in the outdoor game, a potential onside kick receiver does not have to outrun the speed of the kicked ball, and the kicker can carom the ball off the net in hopes of it landing in his teammate's arms. The XFL , in its 2001 season, allowed

276-413: A "hands team" of players skilled at catching or otherwise securing the ball. This is so they can make sure of securing possession once the ball has traveled the necessary 10 yards—the receiving team cannot simply refuse to touch the ball, as the ball is live once it has traveled 10 yards and can be claimed by either team; thus, if the receiving team does not make a play on the ball, it makes it far easier for

368-468: A 11–0–0 perfect record en route to winning the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League , the first team to do so. The competition's format was reformulated in a single elimination match since the quarterfinals due to COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and its following lockdown . Many teams have achieved an unbeaten domestic season with zero losses, but with several draws. In women's football, English club Arsenal won

460-537: A free kick) who is "onside" may recover the ball and retain possession for his team. This includes the kicker himself and anyone else behind the ball at the time it was kicked, other than the holder for a place kick. The form of onside kick available at a free kick in American football is also available in Canadian football for a kickoff as well, although it is referred to as a short-kick, as all players are onside for

552-432: A kickoff; however, the kick may well be chipped high instead of bounced, because the players of the receiving team have no particular first right to the ball as in American football (due to the fair catch rule); both sides may play the ball equally, even in the air. In 2024 NFL rules, onside kicks are only allowed in the fourth quarter of games and if the team doing it is losing. The losing team additionally must declare it

644-488: A normal kick. The onside kick has a low success rate, though its chances of success increase in a situation where the returning team does not expect it. In American football, it is generally only seen late in a game when a team has just scored but is still trailing by 8 points or fewer (the most points that can be scored on a single possession) and needs to regain possession in order to score again before time expires. Gridiron football originates in rugby football and so does

736-525: A one year absence. It was their sixth appearance that decade and eighteenth overall, the latter being a league record. Prior to the Bowl, Schwäbisch Hall had posted a 50 game winning streak in league games (playoffs and regular season) which coincided with the tenure of Head Coach Jordan Neuman who had taken over for Siegfried Gehrke after the 2016 season. After Hall's Quarterback Marco Ehrenfried, who had led his team to championships in 2017 and 2018 and also led

828-539: A perfect home-and-away season, finishing with a record of 18–0; the club won the premiership, but did not complete a perfect season after losing the second semi-final against Richmond . The SANFL has existed since 1877 within South Australia, and until the latter part of the twentieth century was of equivalent standard to the VFL. The only perfect season to be completed was by the 1914 Port Adelaide team, known as

920-478: A perfect season in 2024. English first-class county cricket has existed as the top tier of domestic cricket in England since the middle nineteenth century, and until the 1950s it was up to the highest standard of the game. Seasons have varied in length: before the 1880s, they were generally less than ten matches in length and some "first-class" counties played only against one or two different opponents, so that

1012-481: A perfect season in the European League of Football with 12 wins in the regular season and 2 wins in the playoffs including the final of the league. No association football team has ever achieved a perfect season across all competitions entered, but some have achieved a perfect record in their respective domestic league competitions, although that feat itself is rare. The earliest known perfect league season

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1104-485: A perfect season in the 2023–24 Women's Basketball Super League by winning all 28 season games. The team also won all the championships that they competed in during the 2023–24 season: Turkish Women's Basketball Cup , FIBA Europe SuperCup Women and EuroLeague Women . Potawatomi Fire had a perfect season in 2024 as members of The Basketball League . The Raleigh Aces of the Women's American Basketball Association had

1196-554: A perfect season. Basketball leagues outside the NBA tend to be shorter than the NBA's 82-game season, thus making a perfect season more achievable. As of 2023 , the 2015–16 Golden State Warriors have the best ever regular-season record in the NBA, with a record of 73–9, breaking the 1995–96 Chicago Bulls record of 72–10. However, the Warriors would end up losing in the 2016 NBA Finals to

1288-582: A post season exhibition match. The 2018 Subiaco team was the second team to complete a perfect season, winning all of its 18 games in the minor round before winning both their second-semi-final against South Fremantle and the Grand Final against West Perth. The Victorian Football League, known until 1996 as the Victorian Football Association, began in 1877 and was Victoria's premier football league until 1897, and has been

1380-540: A punting team to recover its own kick if the punt went at least 25 yards past the line of scrimmage. The 2020 revival of the XFL did not revive this rule. The idea of the early 20th century, XFL, and Arena rules allowing kicking side recovery on grounded balls was generally to force the receiving team to play the ball, encourage surprise quick kicking , and thereby loosen the defense. However, kicks have rarely been employed as offensive tactics even when these rules were present;

1472-612: A record 72 straight games between 1977 and 1984. There have been no perfect seasons (or even perfect regular seasons) in the American Association , World Football League , United States Football League , original XFL , the Arena Football League or the Alliance of American Football , all of which are now defunct. The United Football League has had two perfect regular seasons, but neither qualify for

1564-426: A record of 15–0–1, and the draw came by agreement when a match which Geelong led 1–0 was abandoned due to inclement weather. Four other teams have completed perfect home-and-away seasons, but subsequently lost finals matches: Onside kick In gridiron football , an onside kick is a kickoff (under American and Canadian rules) or punt (under Canadian rules only) deliberately kicked short in an attempt by

1656-605: A season unbeaten, but none have managed to win every single game outright: Since the National Football League began in 1920 , only one team has played a perfect season (both regular season and playoffs): the 1972 Miami Dolphins , who won all fourteen of their regular season games and three postseason games, including Super Bowl VII , to finish the season 17–0–0. The next year the Dolphins extended their winning streak to 18 before losing their second game to

1748-448: A team remains undefeated and untied; it is less rare than a complete perfect season but still exceptional. A perfect season may be part of a multi-season winning streak , or even a streak of perfect seasons. Exhibition games are generally not counted toward standings, for or against. For example, the 1972 Miami Dolphins (below) lost three of their preseason ("exhibition" games in 1972 NFL vernacular) games but are considered to have had

1840-527: A team winning all its games was not implausible. Between 1887 and 1929 , seasons were gradually increased in length to a standard twenty-eight matches for all counties. However, because of the development and popularity of one-day cricket, seasons have been reduced to twenty-four games in 1969 and twenty in 1972 , though this was increased by two in 1977 and 1983 . With an increase to four days for all games, sixteen or seventeen games have been played since 1993 . Also, because of improvements to pitches via

1932-418: A touchdown, a team could opt to try an onside conversion from its own 28-yard line. After giving up a safety, a team could opt to try an onside conversion from its own 18-yard line. In both cases, the team had to gain at least 12 yards on that play to maintain possession. Otherwise, the opponent gained possession at the final spot of the play. The Denver Broncos proposed adding a slightly modified version of

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2024-535: Is a sports season , including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, but has occurred more commonly at the collegiate and scholastic levels in the United States. A perfect regular season (known by other names outside the United States) is a season excluding any playoffs, where

2116-401: Is attempting the onside kick, thus eliminating the surprise factor prior to the rule change. Starting in 1923, the following additional constraints in most forms of American football are relevant to the onside kick: Unlike during a punt —when if the kicking team catches or recovers the ball, it is "downed" and the receiving team possesses the ball—during a free kick, a ball that has crossed

2208-531: Is that of Rangers F.C. of Scotland who, in 1898–99 , won all of their 18 Scottish League Division One matches. Other football clubs to have achieved perfect league seasons since then are: Racing Club of Argentina in 1919 (13 wins out of 13), Al-Arabi of Kuwait in 1961–62 (12 wins out of 12), Ferencvárosi of Hungary in 1931–32 (22 wins out of 22), Dresdner SC of Germany in 1942–43 (23), Sunrise Flacq United of Mauritius in 1995–96 (22), and Nacional of Uruguay in 1941 (20). FC Bayern Munich managed

2300-406: Is that, in the usual case where the receiving team does get possession of the ball, it will have better field position and will need to advance the ball fewer yards in order to score. However, in the desperation situation, initial field position becomes less relevant, as the receiving team may focus on running the clock out and ending the game. If the kicking team succeeds in retaining possession, then

2392-783: The 1934 NFL Championship Game against the New York Giants . Despite losing several players and head coach George Halas to military service in World War II, the 1942 Bears finished 11–0–0 but again lost the NFL Championship Game , this time against the Washington Redskins . The 2007 Patriots became the first and only team under the 16-game schedule used from 1978 to 2020 to finish the regular season undefeated. The Patriots then won their divisional and conference playoff games, but were upset by

2484-564: The 2006–07 FA Women's Premier League with a perfect record (22–0–0) in their 2006–07 season , alongside the FA Cup, Premier League Cup, Community Shield, London FA Cup, and UEFA Women's Cup, with their only draw a goalless one in the second leg of the UEFA Women's Cup final, an unprecedented feat. Italian club Juventus become the first to win the Serie A with a perfect record (22–0–0) in

2576-678: The 2009 Indianapolis Colts , who started 14–0 before losing their final two regular season games to the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills to finish 14–2, and the 2015 Carolina Panthers , who went 14–0 before losing to the Atlanta Falcons and going on to finish the regular season 15–1. The 2009 Colts, having clinched the top seed in the AFC, sacrificed their chances at a perfect regular season and instead rested their starters

2668-451: The 2018 NFL season , only four of 52 onside kicks ( 8%) were successful, a figure that had dropped to 6% (two of 32) through the first eleven weeks of 2019 . Furthermore, for the 2024 season , the NFL adopted a new kickoff procedure that banned surprise onside kicks. Teams are now required to announce any onside kick attempts to officials before the play, and these may only be attempted by

2760-693: The 2020–21 season , an unprecedented feat in Italian men's or women's football history. The following season , FC Barcelona did the same in Spain's Women's Primera División with 30 wins from 30 matches. The likelihood of a national team in the FIFA World Cup winning all its matches in regulation time to become the champion is much higher than most clubs in their domestic league, as the finals tournament in its current format lasts only seven games. This feat has been achieved three times, by Uruguay in

2852-610: The BIG6 European Football League which is a different competition. They crowned the season with another German Bowl triumph. Similarly in the 2016 German Football League the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns achieved a perfect regular season with a 14–0 record, similarly their lone defeat came in the BIG6 European Football League which is not considered for league standings. However, unlike Braunschweig before them, Schwäbisch Hall ultimately lost

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2944-570: The Buffalo Niagaras went 5–0–0 (6–0–0 including a forfeit) in a league that consisted of teams entirely from the city of Buffalo in 1918. In 1920, the Union Club of Phoenixville , in eastern Pennsylvania, played in a league mostly consisting of local teams and earned a perfect season, claiming for itself a mythical national championship . In western Pennsylvania, the 1900 and 1901 Homestead Library and Athletic Club teams, as well as

3036-488: The Clemson Tigers , which led to a touchdown that gave Alabama the lead and eventual victory. An onside kick is considered successful if the kicking team regains the ball. Between 2001 and 2010, surprise onside kicks were successful 60% of the time, while expected onside kicks were successful less than 20% of the time. Another study of just the 2005 and 2006 seasons also found similar disparities depending on whether

3128-559: The Cleveland Cavaliers . Khimik won the 2014–15 Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague by winning all 30 regular season games, and winning all playoff games, for a 36–0 overall record. The American Basketball Association has seen three perfect seasons: the Shreveport-Bossier Mavericks ( 2013–14 and 2014–15 ) and Jacksonville Giants (2020–21). Fenerbahçe Women's Basketball team scored

3220-459: The FIFA Women's World Cup was slightly greater than in the men's version. The Women's World Cup began in 1991 with 12 teams and expanded to 16 effective in 1999 . Under both structures, the winning team only had to win six games (three in group play and three in the knockout stage) to win the title unbeaten. The tournament expanded to 24 teams in 2015 , at which time the number of games that

3312-887: The German Bowl , in this case to Braunschweig. In the 2017 German Football League season, Schwäbisch Hall once more compiled a perfect season (14–0) but this time also won the German Bowl , again against Braunschweig. Interestingly, their opponent in the final had also entered the game with a 14–0 regular season record. Overall the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns posted five consecutive perfect regular seasons (GFL games only) between 2016 and 2021 (both inclusive) — their only losses in that span coming in German Bowl XXXVIII (2016), German Bowl XLI (2019), and German Bowl XLII (2021). In 2023 Rhein Fire managed

3404-586: The German national team to the 2014 European Championship , retired from his role as starting Quarterback at the age of 27 to focus on his day job, the Unicorns hired Jadrian Clark as his replacement, who had played for Braunschweig the previous season. Braunschweig meanwhile decided to put Brandon Connette under Center who had played for the Dresden Monarchs in the 2016 German Football League , losing

3496-731: The Providence Steam Roller and the Salinas Packers ), the team went 16–0, with 8 of those wins coming against AFL teams. The Bulldogs’ dominance is cited as one of the key factors in the AFL's demise, and the next season as an independent with a 10–2–2 record including a 2–1–2 record against NFL teams, several of the team's players were invited to play on the "Pro All Stars" team in the NFL's first Pro All-Star Game in Los Angeles. The Bulldogs are considered to be one of

3588-614: The Spanish flu and the First World War , restrictions that also prevented the two teams from playing each other. Thus, it was much easier to earn a perfect season than it would become in the NFL. The Los Angeles Bulldogs were a member of the second American Football League , who joined the league in 1937 after the Cleveland Rams defected to the NFL. Playing a combination of AFL teams and independent franchises (such as

3680-505: The heavy roller and covering to protect from rain, the proportion of games "drawn" (not finished) has steadily risen since the 1870s. Since tables of results have been kept in 1864 , the only team to have competed a true perfect season—winning outright every game—was Yorkshire in 1867 when led by George Freeman's and Tom Emmett 's deadly fast bowling on uncovered and unrolled pitches, they won all seven county games. Since 1868 numerous county teams in longer schedules have finished

3772-520: The "Invincibles". Port won all four of its pre season matches. It finished the minor round with a 12–0 record, before winning both finals to finish with a 14–0 record and a perfect season. They also won the Championship of Australia against VFL premiers Carlton , to extend that record to 15–0. In addition to this the club played a combined team from all the other SAFL clubs and won to extend the record to 16–0. The closest any team got to Port Adelaide

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3864-510: The 1903 Franklin Athletic Club , all had perfect seasons. The caliber of talent was neither as high nor as consistent between teams at the time, the seasons were generally shorter (7 to 11 games), and it was not uncommon for top teams to play all their games at home while lesser teams played all of their games on the road. In 1918, Dayton and Buffalo had the additional advantage of having its strongest competitors suspend operations due to

3956-522: The 1947 and 1948 title games. Overall, the Browns won all four AAFC championship games and were accepted into the NFL when the two leagues merged after the 1949 season. Since the NFL expanded to a fourteen-game regular season in 1961 (being expanded twice since then), eleven teams have had regular seasons with one loss and no ties (or better) while failing to achieve a perfect season: Most of these teams above suffered their only regular-season loss early in

4048-415: The 1972 Dolphins noting that they "never got their White House visit". Until the development of a playoff system in the NFL in 1932 , there were four teams who completed seasons undefeated, but with one or more tied games: the 1920 Akron Pros , the 1922 Canton Bulldogs , the 1923 Canton Bulldogs , and the 1929 Green Bay Packers . According to the 2012 NFL Record & Fact Book, under NFL practices at

4140-463: The AAF's onside conversion rule to the NFL rules for the 2019 NFL season . The Broncos' proposal would make the attempt a 4th-and-15 from the attempting team's 35-yard line. Additionally, this proposal would have allowed each team to run this play only once per game, and only in the fourth quarter. When first proposed, the NFL's competition committee voted 7–1 in favor of the change, but it failed to receive

4232-720: The Broncos and Saints recovered to win the Super Bowl. The 1953 Cleveland Browns and 1969 Los Angeles Rams started 11–0 in twelve- and fourteen-game seasons respectively; both lost their only playoff game. The following is a list of teams in minor or alternate leagues that compiled perfect seasons of six games or more, including postseason games, with no ties: In indoor football , the following teams have had perfect seasons: At least twenty-three other semi-professional football teams have had perfect seasons, seven of them being at least 17 games long. The Chambersburg Cardinals won

4324-545: The Lions in the previous season after the Lions had managed to narrowly knock them out in 2017's semifinal. Frankfurt and Braunschweig's GFL playoff head-to-head at 1–1, Braunschweig also had to prove the continued dominance of the North over the South beside their own ambitions. The Unicorns meanwhile hosted the Dresden Monarchs for the fifth semifinal in six years. Dresden had last managed to best Schwäbisch Hall in

4416-627: The New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII in dramatic fashion , giving them a final record of 18–1. NFL predecessors such as the Ohio League , New York Pro Football League and Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit had many perfect seasons. In Ohio, the Massillon Tigers (1904, 1905), Akron Indians (1909), Shelby Blues (1911), and Dayton Triangles (1918) all had perfect seasons during this era. In New York,

4508-567: The Oakland Raiders on September 23, 1973. It has often been reported that the surviving members of the 1972 Dolphins would, every season, either gather to drink champagne when the final undefeated team earned its first loss of the year, or send a case of champagne to the team who beat this final undefeated team. The head coach of the 1972 Dolphins, Don Shula , denied this in a 2007 interview with ESPN. On August 20, 2013, four decades after their accomplishment, President Barack Obama hosted

4600-502: The United States . The 1933 Providence Huskies (possibly a successor to the Providence Steam Roller ) played arguably the most perfect season ever recorded by a professional or semi-professional team: a ten-game season in which they won every game and did not concede a single point during any game. In the 2014 German Football League the Braunschweig Lions compiled a perfect season (12–0 postseason 3–0), losing only in

4692-422: The United States in 1999, had a knockout match go to extra time—specifically the final against China , which ultimately went to a penalty shootout . Germany won all of its matches in the 2007 final tournament without giving up a goal, becoming the first team in either the men's or women's World Cup to accomplish this feat. The United States' third championship team in 2015 had one draw in the group stage; in 2019 ,

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4784-461: The United States won all seven games in regulation, by a combined score of 26–3, en route to their fourth title. As of the 2019 tournament, four undefeated, untied Women's World Cup champions also went through their qualifying stage without a loss or draw: Of the other two teams to win the Women's World Cup without a loss or draw in the finals: The Australian Football League (AFL) began in 1897 as

4876-529: The Victorian Football League (VFL); initially based entirely in the state of Victoria, it expanded through the 1980s and 1990s to become the highest-level national competition in the sport of Australian rules football. The length of a complete season (including finals matches) has typically been between 18 and 26 games. Throughout the history of the league, no team has ever completed a perfect season. One team, Collingwood in 1929 , completed

4968-424: The air. The oblong shape of an American football makes it bounce unpredictably, increasing the possibility that the receiving team will muff the catch. An alternative is to kick the ball with great force directly at an opposing player. If the ball touches the player, but he cannot secure it, it becomes live regardless of whether it has traveled 10 yards. When the receiving team expects an onside kick, it often fields

5060-416: The ball, at least two players must be between the sideline and the numbered yard markings, and at least two must line up between the numbers and hashmarks. At the same time, the NFL also required that at least eight members of the receiving team line up within the 15-yard "setup zone" (between 10 and 25 yards from the kickoff spot). In 2018, the NFL also mandated that no member of the kicking team, apart from

5152-513: The champion must play increased to seven (the same total as in the men's World Cup). The 2011 event, won by Japan , was the first in which the champion lost in group play; the other finalist, the United States , had also lost in group play. Each previous team to have won the title — the United States in 1991 and 1999, Norway in 1995 , and Germany in 2003 and 2007 — won all of its group stage matches. In fact, only one of these teams,

5244-427: The clock does not automatically stop as it would if the ball were transferred between teams (though it may stop for other reasons). Occasionally, football coaches attempt surprise onside kicks to catch their opponent's players off guard and without the "hands team" on the field. Notable examples from championship games include Super Bowl XXX , when Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher called an onside kick early in

5336-472: The defense expects an onside kick. Accordingly, some analysts have suggested that the surprise onside kick is underutilized. In 2014, the Indianapolis Colts routinely used the onside kick, with three in the first six games of the season, often at the start of the game. Each of these was successful. Overall, the success rate of the onside kick has dropped considerably since these rule changes. In

5428-536: The few independent teams to have ever achieved parity with the NFL. The Browns were a member of the All-America Football Conference , a professional football league that played from 1946 to 1949. In 1948, the Browns won all fourteen regular season games and the 1948 AAFC championship to post a 14–0–0 record. Cleveland's perfect 1948 season was part of a longer string of 29 straight wins, which stretched from 1947 to 1949 and included both

5520-443: The field before missing another Field Goal attempt from 39 yards, giving the Unicorns a last chance at scoring with 5:08 remaining on the clock. Finally more productive offensively the Unicorns now used passes to drive down the field, but time was running out and the truly long bomb would elude them. More time was lost when Clark failed to convert on goal to go downs at the 1 yard line with running attempts before finally finding Haas for

5612-473: The field before sputtering out with a fourth and two at the Unicorns 9-yard line and this time the ensuing Field Goal attempt from 28 yards split the uprights making it 10–0. Hall again failed to produce much of note offensively for the rest of the quarter and produced a turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter when Clark was sacked at fourth and two around mid field. Getting the ball back with 10:34 left to play, Braunschweig now chewed up clock and marched down

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5704-468: The final two games to protect them for the playoffs, on orders from then General Manager Bill Polian. The Colts faced immense criticism from their players, their fans, and the media for letting their chances of a perfect season slip away. The Colts would go on to Super Bowl XLIV but lost to the New Orleans Saints . The 2015 Panthers were not resting their starters at the time of their loss (at

5796-417: The forward pass remains the more effective (and substantially less risky) tactic to loosen and surprise the defense. The Alliance of American Football , which played a partial season in 2019 , eliminated all kickoffs, including onside kicks. The AAF's substitute for onside kicks was an "onside conversion", essentially an attempt to convert a 4th-and-12. This was allowed in only two situations: After scoring

5888-510: The fourth quarter when trailing 20–10, which was successfully recovered, and Super Bowl XLIV , where the New Orleans Saints executed an onside kickoff to start the second half and successfully converted the possession into a touchdown. In the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship , with the score tied at 24–24 in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Alabama Crimson Tide successfully executed an onside kick against

5980-473: The games they played to become champions. In 2010, the Netherlands came very close achieving the same feat as Brazil did in 1970. The Netherlands won 8 out of 8 qualifying games and went on to win the next 6 World Cup matches in regulation time only to lose in extra time to Spain in the final, ending with a 14–0–1 record. Through 2011 , the likelihood of a national team winning all of its matches in

6072-414: The half – this time from 44 yards. After the break Schwäbisch Hall produced a quick three and out before Braunschweig responded with the first points of the game when McClendon capped off a 5 play 39 yard drive with a ten yard rush to the endzone. Now down 7–0, Schwäbisch Hall only achieved one First Down in their next drive before turning the ball over back to Braunschweig. Connette now led his offense down

6164-471: The inaugural 1930 tournament, and by Brazil in 1970 and 2002 . This is not counting the qualifying round of the tournament, which lasts over a year and has had a varied format since 1934 . Only the Brazilian team of 1970 has won every game in the qualification and final rounds of a single tournament, a total of 13 games. As there was no qualifying phase for the 1930 tournament, Uruguay also won all

6256-424: The kicker, could line up more than one yard from the spot of the kickoff. Previously, all members of the kicking team could line up as many as five yards from the kickoff spot, allowing that team to make a running start toward an onside kick. An onside kick is usually a desperation technique used when the kicking team trails in the game with little time left, in order to regain the ball and score again. The trade-off

6348-402: The kicker. To combat this, some teams (including the Buffalo Bills , who pioneered this strategy ) developed a "cluster formation" in which all of the players line up behind and immediately next to the kicker in what is effectively a moving huddle . The NFL eventually banned this, too, with a 2009 rule change that states that "the kicking team cannot have more than five players bunched together";

6440-416: The kicking team as possible. The kicking team generally attempts to make the ball bounce early (to remove the possibility of being charged with interfering with a catch) and be available around 20 yards in front of the spot of the kick. One technique, useful especially on a hard or artificial surface, is to kick the ball in such a way that it spins end-over-end near the ground and makes a sudden bounce high in

6532-535: The kicking team to do so and regain possession. Traditionally, the onside kick had its own formation, in which the other ten players of the kicking team would line up on one side (left or right) of the kicker, in an effort to get as many people as possible into one area of the field. This is still popular in high school football; however, the NCAA (and later the NFL) now require that at least four players line up on each side of

6624-418: The kicking team to regain possession of the ball. This is in contrast with a typical kickoff or punt, in which the kicking team kicks the ball far downfield in order to maximize the distance the receiving team has to advance the ball in order to score. The risk to the team attempting an onside kick is that if it is unsuccessful the receiving team gets the ball and usually has a much better field position than with

6716-416: The latter part of the 20th century was of equivalent standard to either the VFL or SANFL. The 1946 East Fremantle team was the first club in senior WAFL football to have managed a perfect season, winning all twenty-one of its games; it is noted that the playing lists of many of its opponents had been seriously depleted by World War II. The only loss for the season came against Victorian club Collingwood in

6808-458: The list: the 2009 Florida Tuskers finished 6–0, but that team lost the subsequent championship game ; the 2012 Las Vegas Locomotives had a record of 4–0 when the league abruptly suspended operations halfway through the season. Likewise, the 2020 Houston Roughnecks of the second incarnation of the XFL were undefeated at 5–0 at the time the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in

6900-410: The losing team in the 4th quarter. There have been versions of American football in which the kicking team could recover the ball once it hit the ground, regardless of onside or offside, and not only for free kicks. Any such kick recovered by the kicking team is often referred to as an "onside kick," even if the recovering player was in front of the kicker at the time of the kick (and thus, according to

6992-489: The onside conversion; teams must gain 10 yards from their own 10-yard line. The 2022 version of the USFL has kickoffs, but also offers the onside conversion, with teams required to gain 12 yards from their own 33-yard line. Most kick-offs in rugby union are similar to the onside kick: the kick-off is directed a minimum of ten metres forward and both teams attempt to recover the ball. In both codes of rugby during live play,

7084-461: The onside kick. In rugby, while the forward pass is prohibited, a team in possession may legally kick the ball downfield and recapture possession, provided that the receiver of the kick was onside when the kick was made ( i.e. , abreast with or behind the kicker.) This form of onside kick is still legal in Canadian football , just as in rugby. A player of the kicking team (for any kick, not just

7176-508: The original definition, offside). One such scenario remains legal at all levels: any player on the offensive team can recover a kick anywhere on or behind the line of scrimmage. These were also referred to as "onside kicks from scrimmage." Vanderbilt coach Dan McGugin was a prime innovator in this field, and in fact in 1921 tied Georgia for the Southern crown on such a play. Saint Louis University coach Eddie Cochems described

7268-442: The play after the 1906 season: In these early years and into the 1920s, all players of the kicking team except the kicker were permitted to recover the ball once it hit the ground beyond the neutral zone. Later, the rules were modified to require it be at least 20 yards downfield, before recovering one's own kick was eventually eliminated outright. One such version, Arena football , is current; however, it must be taken from either

7360-577: The playoffs in 2010 and the Saxonians were anxious to reverse their fortunes this time. However, in the end the home teams again had the better luck on their side and thus Braunschweig and Schwäbisch Hall would meet for the fifth German Bowl in six years. Frankfurt was also denied the rare treat of a Championship Game "at home" as the game would be held in Frankfurt am Main after a seven year stint at Berlin's Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark . The game

7452-420: The receiving team's restraining line is normally a live ball, such that if the kicking team catches or recovers the ball it retains possession. "Onside" is therefore now a misnomer in American football; an onside kick is simply any free kick that is kicked in a particular way to give the kicking team the best chance of regaining possession—typically in a diagonal direction and as close to the advancing players from

7544-449: The required two-thirds majority approval from the league owners at their March 2019 meeting. The proposed rule change was revisited at the next NFL owners' meeting in 2020 but was not approved. For the 2020 Pro Bowl , the NFL announced a special onside conversion rule, essentially using the Broncos' proposal above, except the 4th-and-15 is attempted from the team's own 25-yard line. Fan Controlled Football , which has no kicking, offers

7636-417: The rule change has been considered a gratuitous targeting of Bills special teams coach Bobby April , as the ostensible reason for the ban (injury risk) had negligible evidence to support it. Effective with the 2018 season , the NFL requires that the kicking team line up with five players on each side of the ball. Additionally, the kicking team's players must line up in a specified configuration—on each side of

7728-474: The season and, other than the 2007 Patriots (started regular season and playoffs 18–0), only the 1962 Packers (10–0), 1985 Bears (12–0), 2011 Packers (13–0), and 2015 Panthers (14–0) were on track for a perfect season when they lost. Coincidentally, the 1985 Bears’ lone loss came to the Miami Dolphins. The best start from an NFL team who failed to complete a perfect regular season is shared by two teams:

7820-465: The second-tier league in the state since. Perfect seasons have been completed on five occasions in VFA/VFL history, but only twice in full-length seasons: There were also cases of teams going undefeated through the season in the nineteenth century, but none completed perfect seasons because some of their matches were drawn. Of those, Geelong could be interpreted as having been perfect in 1879 ; it had

7912-664: The semifinals to Schwäbisch Hall. Connette had played the previous two seasons with the Helsinki Roosters of the Vaahteraliiga (Maple League) winning the Maple Bowl both times. While the quarterfinals were won by the home teams, as expected, the semifinals saw two rematches with not only advancement to the German Bowl but also considerable rivalry bragging rights on the line. Frankfurt Universe had upset

8004-481: The time, from 1920 to 1971 tie games were not included in winning percentage (there was also no overtime to settle ties in the regular season until 1974) so, these four teams were recorded with perfect win percentages of 1.000. The 1921 Buffalo All-Americans were controversially denied a similar type of near-undefeated season, when they believed that their final game, a 10–7 loss to the Chicago Staleys ,

8096-682: The time, the Arizona Cardinals were 13–2 and still had an opportunity to surpass the Panthers for the top seed in the NFC). Four other teams have started 13–0 before losing in their fourteenth game: the 1998 Denver Broncos , 2005 Indianapolis Colts , 2009 New Orleans Saints and 2011 Green Bay Packers (Of those near-perfect seasons, the 2005 Colts and the 2011 Packers did not win a single playoff game). The 1998 Broncos, 2005 Colts and 2009 Saints lost at least two of their final three games but

8188-431: The two yard touchdown pass. With only 1:43 remaining, Hall had to take their chances with an onside kick , but Braunschweig recovered the ball. While the Unicorns still had two timeouts left, Braunschweig converting on third and six with a 19 yard quarterback run after the Unicorns had used their remaining timeouts to stop the clock sealed their fate and made the final score 10–7. Perfect season A perfect season

8280-574: Was North Adelaide , losing by 21 points in Round 10. This is the only instance in the big three Australian football leagues (VFL/SANFL/WAFL) where a club has gone undefeated in the pre-season, season main and post season. In 1912, Port Adelaide had a perfect minor round and then beat West Torrens in its semi-final but lost both the final and Grand Final to West Adelaide . The WAFL has existed since 1885 within Western Australia, and until

8372-533: Was an exhibition game which would not count in the final standings; the NFL records that game as official, and Buffalo's record as 9–1–2. Apart from the 1972 Dolphins, three NFL teams have completed undefeated and untied regular seasons: the 1934 Chicago Bears , the 1942 Chicago Bears , and the 2007 New England Patriots . In 1934, the Bears played a 13–0–0 regular season and became the first NFL team to complete an undefeated regular season without tied games, but lost

8464-509: Was incredibly defense heavy with the Schwäbisch Hall offense only achieving 4 net yards rushing and both teams combining for 9 punts and four field goal attempts – three of which missed. The game remained scoreless at the half with Lions kicker Tobias Goebel missing a 49 yard Field Goal attempt late in the first quarter. In the second quarter both teams traded interceptions and punts before Goebel missed another Field Goal attempt to end

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