Many have applauded the way college football handles their overtime system. It's a large reason why the NFL opted to modify their own rules in favor of the NCAA's.
Well, now the NCAA is aiming at changing a few rules of their own that will make you believe the board has never heard of the expression "if it aint broke don't fix it."
Player Safety
I think we can all agree that the safety of players should be at the forefront of concerns when it comes to playing the game, but how far is too far? A new rule will be instituted to discourage players from spearing into a defenseless receiver because doing so no longer results in a 15-yard penalty, it's now an ejection. That's right, a rule that's somewhat left to the discretion of an official will now determine if a player is ejected, potentially altering the game altogether.
But wait...there's more.
The Spike Rule
We've all seen our teams march down the field on the way to a comeback or just trying to tie a game. They get down to the 20 yard line with five seconds left, they line up and spike it before the clock can read zero. The field goal unit comes on and the rest is history.
Well, not anymore.
Three seconds is now the minimum cutoff in which a ball can be spiked. So essentially, if you have 8 seconds left on the clock, and the average play takes 5-6 seconds, you technically only have one play opportunity now because you won't be allowed to spike it with one second left.
It's a bad rule to begin with, but what's stopping teams from getting around it? Instead of spiking, why can't a QB just throw it at a RB's feet who's split out wide and have it count as an incompletion? Or just zip one straight out of bounds. I understand the point is to keep hometown clock managers from having too much control over the final seconds of the game, but why hasn't it crossed the NCAA's mind that maybe an impartial party should be working the clock to begin with instead instituting this new rule.
The integrity of the game is at stake every time a new rule is introduced. Most of the time they're harmless. This year, they're ridiculous.
Here are the rest
- Players that change numbers while a game is being played must report to the referee, who will then announce it.
- Multiple players from the same team can't wear the same number, aka the "Lane Kiffin Rule".
- Electronic communication equipment is now permissible for use by officiating crews, but not required.
- Instant replay can now be used to adjust the clock at the end of a quarter. The old rule only allowed for adjustment at the end of a half.
- Numbers on the front and back of jerseys must be a distinctly different, solid color than the rest of the jersey.
No real gripe from me on the rest of the new rules, but I'm sure Nike's design team isn't happy about the jersey rules