There were two landmark rules changes in 1906 that had significantly changed the game. The forward pass is one that exists still today, but one that created great interest at the time, and which was later changed, was the on-side scrimmage kick.

A scrimmage kick that touched the ground could be recovered by a member of the kicking team. The on-side kick lives today on free kick situations. But in 1906, it was legal to try to recover a scrimmage kick as well. The fight for this grounded ball was similar to attempts to recover fumbles today. As you can imagine, studies showed this new rule did little to make the game safer.

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