[NU Sports] Halle-freakin-lujah!

[Michael Vance]

I didn't like either rule.  I thought they both gave too much power to 
the team that was ahead at the end of a half.  I'm actually a little 
surprised that they didn't correct the Wisconsin offsides kick tactic by 
just making it a dead-ball foul, like a false start.  No time runs off 
the clock that way.

To address Mike's comment about the penalty for kicking out of bounds, 
the penalty at all levels is that the ball gets spotted 30 yards from 
the spot of the kick.  In college (and in the NFL until a few years ago) 
that lent a certain symmetry to the penalty because the ball got spotted 
exactly opposite the kick, at the 35-yard-line on the other side of the 
field.  In the pros now, with kickoffs from the 30, the penalty results 
in a spot at the 40.  I would imagine that the college game would follow 
suit.

Unfortunately, there is no way to make the games significantly shorter 
without having the clock running at times where it is currently 
stopped.  That means either less "dead" time -- which they have tried to 
address by shortening timeouts and putting challenges on a timer -- or 
more instances where there is action, but the clock is stopped, such as 
they tried to do with last year's changes.

I can't see this year's changes making a significant difference unless 
they also do away with things like having a TV timeout after a score and 
then again after the kickoff.  Go straight into play after the return or 
touchback.

I don't think that anyone objects to the average length of a college 
football game.  It's the wild deviation and unpredictability that is the 
biggest problem. If they could get 95% of non-OT games to finish within 
a 20-30 minute range, like the NFL does, that would make most people 
happy.  I think that they're eventually going to end up keeping the 
clock running after first downs and/or going to an NFL-style play clock, 
perhaps with an exception for under two minutes.

-Michael

SjT (Stephen J. Truog) wrote:
>> Maybe I might be alone, but I actually liked the
>> shorter games.
>>
>>     
> Oh, I like shorter games ... just not by sacrificing
> the game itself. If they want to keep those new clock
> changes for the first three quarters, fine - but the
> final 5 minutes or so of the fourth need to have the
> old rules.
>
> It just wasn't as exciting this year at the end of
> games - and NU fans have become experts on that. Even
> if a team saved all their timeouts, with the clock
> starting on the kickoff, the team didn't have much
> hope - and when coaches started perverting the rule
> like Wisky vs. PSU, then it really looked awful.
>
> GO CATS!!!
> -SjT
>
> * * * * * * * * *
> STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> sjtruog at yahoo.com
> GO CATS!!!
>
>
>  
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