[Husker] Rules Change

[Mike Nolan]

> Mike, you could have just said "JON DOESN"T KNOW WHAT HE'S TALKING 
> ABOUT" or maybe you did that, but in a more diplomatic fashion.

I deal with complex rules all the time in my chess work, attempts to
interpret, simplify or paraphrase a rule almost always wind up creating 
situations where the interpretation and the official rule don't match
on a specific situation.  So, I've learned the hard way to cite the
rule THEN give your interpretation of it.  

I believe there's also another pre-existing rule that says a team 
cannot have two players on the field with the same number at any time,
regardless of position.

As I rcall, there was a bowl game this past season where that
inadvertently happened on a special teams play.  (Or at least
most people think it was inadvertent, unlike the USC game.)  And 
I think that play even resulted in the winning points of the game.  
But the officials didn't call it.  I suspect that will be a point
of emphasis in 2013.  

I have friends in Tennessee, Kiffen is still a swear word down there.  

Of the rule changes that made it through the NCAAA committee on
Thursday, the most interesting one will probably be the ejection 
for targeting above the shoulders.  Adam Rittenberg has written that 
there was one ejection in the Big Ten this past season, but there 
would have been seven or eight under the new rule according to the
Big Ten's head of officiating.   I suspect we'll see a number of them
early in the season as the officials try to get a handle on the new
rule, but it'll slow down as the season progresses.  (I wonder if anyone
kept stats on how many players had to leave the game because their helmet
came off, I suspect that also went down as the season went along.)


In general I"m all for more ejections, I think officials don't do it 
often enough and games get out of hand as a result.  It'll be interesting
to see what Big Ten team leads the conference in ejections in 2013.
(My prediction is Michigan State.)
--
Mike Nolan