I thought that play was well executed and crafty in it's timing. That said, exploiting a rule that is designed to keep players safe is on the darker side of the gray area. I would imagine changes will stem from this. Something like if the player doesn't immediately return the ball after the catch with no fair signal, the ball shall be blown dead at the point of the catch.

Impossible for players trained to pull up, when a returner stands still, to avoid injury to all of the sudden go full tilt on the guy when he takes off. There's something to be said for the spirit of the rule. UNT didn't do anything wrong the way things are. I just think the way things are should be less ambiguous. As some mentioned in that Arky thread, if he'd stood still like that and they took his head off would they have been flagged for unnecessary roughness or some other personal foul, maybe ejected? If the answer is remotely a yes then the play was indeed an unfair exploitation of the rules. If they go out and kill the next punt returner who doesn't signal a catch then that will be learned experience from this incident that negates all of the good the fair catch rule does to prevent injury. Very complex situation.