Vanderbilt's illegal punt (!) led to an easy Iowa touchdown

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The ReliaQuest Bowl looked like one of the better games in the non-Playoff lineup this winter. Vanderbilt was coming off the best season in program history. Iowa was... well, Iowa, riding a dominant defense to eight wins with a smattering of smart, efficient offensive plays.

One thing the Hawkeyes do exceptionally well, however, is special teams. The program that gave us Tory Taylor and All-American returner Kaden Wetjen is not to be trifled with in the kicking game. But when Commodores punter Nick Haberer lined up to punt from Vandy's 15-yard line with 44 seconds left in the first half, he trifled. Despite getting a clean kick off, he handed Iowa the ball with a goal-to-go situation.

All because, somehow, he managed to punt the ball from beyond the line of scrimmage.

Haberer, looking to give his gunners enough time to prevent a Wetjens return, rolled to his right for a rugby-style punt. And kept rolling. And rolling. A Limp Bizkit amount of rolling led him beyond the line of scrimmage, leading to the first "illegal kick" call I've ever seen -- and a call so rare the official ESPN gamecast shrugged and called the penalty "intentional grounding."

A five-yard penalty and loss of down gave Iowa the ball at Vanderbilt's 10-yard line. One play later, a 7-3 game was 14-3.

The Commodores had been bullied by the Iowa defense throughout the first half, but the defense snapped shut just in time to keep things from getting out of hand. Handing the Hawkeyes the ball halfway into the red zone through sheer doofusry, however, was a bridge too far. Vandy couldn't do anything with the final 31 seconds of the second quarter and headed to the locker room down 14-3.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Vanderbilt's illegal punt (!) led to an easy Iowa touchdown

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