So there has been much annoyance and consternation expressed at the kickoffs out of bounds. So I decided to look up what the starting field position looked like for Virginia Tech and Hawai'i. I pulled this information from the play-by-play pages on the ESPN website ( http://espn.go.com/college-football/playbyplay?gameId=400756905 and http://espn.go.com/college-football/playbyplay?gameId=400763505 ) for Ohio State's first two games.

Against the Hokies

Opening Kickoff (0-0) -- Touchback

First Score (7-0) -- 18 yard return to the 18

Second Score (14-0) -- Penatly starts at 35

Third Score (21-17) -- Touchback

Fourth Score (28-17) -- 16 yard return to the 16

Fifth Score (35-17) -- 24 yard return to the 26

Sixth Score (42-17) -- 17 yard return to the 17

Versus the Rainbow Warriors

Opening kickoff (0-0) -- Starts at 14

First Score (7-0) -- OB drive starts at the 35

Second Score (14-0) -- 22yard retrn Starts at 30

Third Score (17-0) -- 13yard retrun starts at 15

Fourth Score (24-0) -- 12 yard retrun to the 15

Sixth Score (31-0) -- Touchback

Seventh Score (38-0) -- OB drive starts at 35

That's three penalties giving the opponent the ball at the 35. Three touchbacks giving the opponent the ball at the 25. Two returns past the 25. One brought back to the 26. One back to the 30. Six returns stopped behind the 18 yard line. So not being football stat gurus what can we take away from this?

If we consider a touchback as zero and consider starts behind the twenty-five as negative and ahead of the twenty-five as plus field position. Against the Hokies the kickoff strategy resulted in 0, -7, +10, 0, -9, +2, and -8. Adding that up results in -12 - a net negative starting position.

Against the Rainbow Warriors the kickoff strategy resulted in -11, +10, +5, -10, -10, 0, +10. That adds up to -6 again a net negative starting field position.

Despite three kickoffs out of pounds resulting in thirty yards of penalties the kickoffs into the corner have overall resulted in opponents over the course of the game starting their drives after Buckeye scores behind the 25 yard line. So while the penalties are annoying and it seems like they are giving away "free yardage" the kickoff strategy is overall causing the opponent to start behind the twenty-five.