The big question confronting the committee now is should they take the vote on March 12th before or after their golf outing.:wink:
Here is an article from SI that list the other possibilities to shorten the college game: To make up for the time being added back, the committee proposed the following changes: -- Using a 15-second play clock immediately after timeouts instead of a 25-second clock; -- Reducing timeouts from 65 seconds to 30 seconds; -- Kicking off from the 30-yard line instead of the 35 to cut down on touchbacks; -- Limiting the time officials have to review a replay to two minutes. Read the full article here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/02/14/rules.changes.ap/index.html
True, that Tuberville was the elected chair for the College Football Coaches Association, but his vote represented the input from many of his fellow head coaches. The coaches coalition wanted to reduce the overall number of plays in each game in response to the increased number of games on the schedule. Their collective concern was over the wear-and-tear of the athletes themselves. Under the twelfth-game scenario, everybody (networks, universities, communities, coaches, etc) benefitted except the amatuer athletes. The rules changes were "rushed-through" the approval process, and there were bound to be hiccups. However, the fact remains that all teams had the same set of rules, across the board. The fact is ....... the clock rules fiasco is just another symptom of a much bigger root-cause problem ..... the NCAA has lost control of it's product.
I'll repeat my usual opinion on this topic... why can't they look at the clock rules that the NFL uses, the same rules that produce NFL games that average about what the NCAA is apparently looking for their games to average, and implement most of them? The NFL rules are proven to work, and I don't see/hear the complaints like we saw in the NCAA last season, even though the average lengths of the games of both leagues were about the same. I'm not saying to necessarily make the same exact rules, but use them as a starting point, and tweak as desired.
Well. I see your point but a few rules wont translate easily to the college game. For example, in the NFL the clock starts running after the ball is spotted by the refs. In the NFL they can compensate for less time by relaying the plays directly to the QB through an earpiece. I dont see the NCAA allowing this and I am sure it would cost some major $$$$.
Money is nice, TV execs and University Presidents like it. I'm definitely not shedding any tears about nixing the rules to shorten football games, though. I'd prefer to cut out the 12th game and have a 4-8 team playoff.
http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/9992756 Dennis Dodd jumped all over this topic the other day: "Just thought you'd like to know. The reason you're paying the same prices to see less football is so that the networks can come closer to shoe-horning in their product to a nice, tidy three-hour window." Not a bad article... given it's Dennis we talking about...
