[NU Sports] More on rule changes

[Mike Nolan]

Note:  The first paragraph is from another list):

> According to the Denver Post, the NCAA rules committee has proposed 
> undoing a couple of unpopular rules changes. They recommend going back 
> to starting the clock at the snap after a change of possession and upon 
> receipt of the ball on a kickoff. To shorten the length of games they 
> further propose to have a 15 second play clock (rather than 25) after a 
> time out, move kickoffs to the 30 (to reduce the number of touchbacks), 
> and reduce timeouts to 30 seconds (from 65). That last might not be too 
> popular with the networks.

I predict the TV guy will still be able to step on the field and keep 
the refs from starting the game, meaning the number of TV commercials
will not be affected.  This will deal more with the timeouts where
the network doesn't go to a break.  

The most significant of these changes will probably be moving the ball
to the 30 on kickoffs.  That will probably help the team that is behind
as much than the clock changes will, and in an example of the law of 
unintended consequences that may increase scoring enough to actually make 
the games slightly longer!.  

It may also cause teams to move away from trying to kick the ball near 
the sideline, because unless they also change where it gets spotted the 
ball will be closer to their goal line if it goes out of bounds.  Thus
it could increase the number of long kick returns, which may in turn
lead to slightly higher scores and longer games.

In NU's case, will it mean more pooch kicks on kickoffs or less?
--
Mike Nolan