[NU Sports] Potential Football Rules Changes

[Jonathan Hodges]

The following article outlines the proposed rules changes that were
brought up by the NCAA rules committee:

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/stories/0210replay.html

The major changes are:

- Coaches' challenge (for replay):  they would be able to challenge
until one of their challenges is denied.  The official in the booth
can still choose to review a play at any time.

The following will be put in place to help cut down on game length
(which is now at 3.5 hrs. + for regular season games across the NCAA):

- Halftime cut from 20 to 15 minutes unless both teams agree otherwise.

- Starting the clock as soon as the ball is ready for play after a
change of posession.

- Starting the clock on kickoffs as soon as the kicker touches the ball.

- Shortening the kickoff tee from 2" to 1" thereby making a touchback
more difficult.

My opinion:

- Coaches' challenge: a good idea, especially if the NCAA implements
replay uniformly across Division 1A, which is also scheduled to be
done.  This will allow the use of replay, which has generally been a
good addition to the college game, while avoiding Michigan/Iowa bowl
situations where the officials missed a lot of calls and they were not
reviewed.  This would also avoid the situation of a coach having to
use a timeout to get the replay official to review the call.  So far
replay has not increased the length of games much at all, so this
should not affect that matter.

- Length of games:  It is interesting how the length of games has been
increasing recently - probably attributed to the styles of offense
used now - a lot of passing (clock stops on incompletion), lots of
yardage (clock stops after first down until ball is set), and lots of
scoring (clock stops after the score).  The NFL pushes to get its
games into a 3 hr time slot for TV, and its rules have led to the NFL
running significantly fewer plays than college (by about 30 per game).
 The main difference is that in the NFL, the clock doesn't stop after
a first down - it runs but there is a longer play clock.  Will the
proposed changes make that much of an effect?  They will probably
shave a few minutes off, but will not do that much to bring the time
in line with pro football.  Should they try and be in line with pro
football?  I believe college should institute more rules to shave dow
nthe length of the game - at least to bring the number of plays in
line with pro ball.  While more plays means higher scoring and
potentially more excitement, it also means more chances of injury.  In
addition the overtime rules in college allow a close game to go on
even longer, so consideration should be taken to cut down on the time
more.  Besides the first down, there is also the option of not
stopping the clock when the play goes out of bounds except for the
final 5 minutes of each half.

- Halftime: I take great offense to the shortening of halftime in the
college game.  Marching bands are an integral part of the college
football experience (yes, I was in NUMB), and 20 minutes is barely
enough to put one halftime show on the field, let alone 2 if there is
another band there - since a good amount is already consumed with
contests/announcements/presentations anyways.  The intent of the
committee is clear here: the major concern is TV only.  If they were
concerned about the players safety and the atmosphere of the game they
would cut down the number of plays during the game (see suggestions
above) instead of cutting down on the amount of halftime.  Plus, I
don't see them cutting down on the number or length of TV/radio
timeouts, which would have the same effect.  If halftime is indeed cut
to 15 minutes, after they get done with all of the contests (which are
worthless, in my opinion, except for maybe in bowl games when its for
big money, not just a trip to Milwaukee or something) there will be
time for one song and the alma mater, if they are lucky.  Hopefully
someone will realize this situation and will do something to stop this
from going through.

The other changes make sense and accomplish the goal of cutting game
length by allowing more time to run off the clock.  The tee size
reduction may very well help NU since it has already been playing with
a handicapped kickoff style for some time now (i.e. our favorite pooch
kick).  Maybe we'll see more teams going to the pooch if they can't
get it in the end zone.

Jonathan


--
Jonathan W. Hodges
829 Foster St. Apt. 401
Evanston, IL  60201-3259
(847) 736-2449
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