Can anyone explain to me why this is generally accepted as the smart thing to do? We had 34 seconds and a timeout, we were losing, and we were kicking off to start the second half. Yeah 34 seconds isn't a ton of time, but it's enough to possibly make a few plays and at least get within field goal range. I never understood why this is done. Is the idea that you don't want to turn the ball over? Well (1) Iowa was winning, so they would probably take a knee if they end up with the ball anyway, and (2) anytime you are on offense, you have a higher chance of scoring than the other team does, and (3) if you're not even going to try to score because you think a turnover is more likely, then why not just punt on every first down? This makes no sense to me.