<P> Unlike the NFL, but like the World Football League and Arena football before it, the XFL allowed one offensive player to move toward the line of scrimmage once he was outside the tackles . </P> <P> The heavily hyped "no fair catch" rule (announcers tended to mention it on almost every punt / kickoff) was paired with a five - yard zone excluding players of the kicking team around potential returners before the ball touched them or the ground, similar to rules in Canadian football, rugby football, and contemporary NCAA rules (where the term "halo" was applied, though the XFL called it instead the "danger zone"). But instead of making punt returns more exciting, it often had the opposite effect, since the XFL players' inexperience with the rule caused a high number of game - delaying penalties . </P> <P> The fair catch had previously been abolished from Canadian rules, NCAA rules (but only for the 1950 season), and Rugby League . </P> <P> Another difference was that after touching ground 25 yards or more beyond the line of scrimmage, punts could be recovered and advanced by all players of the kicking team . This led to more quick kicks being taken on third - down - and - long situations in the one season of the small league than had been seen in the NFL over several preceding decades of longer seasons . XFL's "innovation" was similar to a rule that had been in effect in American football in the 1910s and part of the 1920s . </P>

When are you considered down in college football