Heres a pretty good idea to try during a college football game.
I think the following idea might be good when you have 4th and long (more than 5 yards, in my book), and on the opponents side of the field, maybe the 44 yard line. Too long for an attempted field goal, and a traditional punt would risk a touch back, especially if your traditional two-step punter has a trebuchet for a leg.
My idea has the following advantages:
1- Little risk for a touch back.
2- Fair, to good chance of regaining the ball in fine field position.
3- Enlarging the recruiting pool for D1 talent.
4- Increase the number of players on offense to 12, given an extraordinarily talented young man.

Everyone lines up in a traditional punt formation. 7 fellows on the line of scrimmage with a more or less normal punt-spacing, 3 up backs, ready to execute the swinging gate once the ball clears them, and 1 punter. 11 in all, the maximum allowed in the rule book. (Patience lads, the 12 man caveat is just around the corner).
At the agreed upon signal, the long snapper with hike the football through the gate into the waiting hands of the punter. The punter will then position the football prolate (the narrow ends of the ball pointing up and down), and then leaping into the air, perform a volleyball serve down field towards a spot on the field, per the designated call in the pre-snap huddle, or via an audible. Technically, this is a fumble, and so the football remains live, eligible to be recovered and advanced (if possible) by the punting team. If recovery is not possible, then with an adequately capable punter, field position no worse than a resulting touch back is a very likely outcome (73% in my estimation). Serving a prolate football into the end-zone for a touchback is less likely, as it would have to travel out the back of the end-zone, requiring the football to travel an additional 10 yards. Note: It would be required to travel longer than 10 yards if traveling a direction not orthogonal to the back of the end zone, thereby making it more advantageous. I therefore recommend a prolate football serve whose trajectory is not orthogonal to the back of the end zone, just to guard against this situation.

There is a very important wrinkle to this play. Im sure you have all noticed that there is a member of officiating crew who is positioned in the center of the field, 5 or 6 yards (I dont have the officiating manual handy) beyond the line of scrimmage, just beyond the line backing crew. This fellow will have a sharp eye for finding a holding being committed by an interior lineman, and as such, hell be down on his haunches, eyes scanning to and fro along the line of scrimmage, with little attention being paid to the goings on with the punter. The punter is being watched by another member of the officiating crew, and hell have a sharp eye for infractions that might occur on that part of the playing field. This is where a very skilled punter can really shine. If the punter where to serve the prolate football just in front of this member of the officiating crew, who is not really paying attention to the goings on of the punter, the member of the officiating crew would in truth, become a 12th offensive player, acting as a screen to defenders behind him. This screen could be the critical fraction of a second required by the offensive players to gain the all critical time advantage, resulting in a recovery and possible advancement of the football.

Of course, I have only listed two "options" in this formation. There are others, which I will elucidate in due time.