This is the biggest problem with this proposal. What happens to a team that is driving with under a minute to play and is ready to snap the ball before the 29 second mark? Somebody's really going to get screwed on that one, and I bet it's us. We always seem to be the guinea pigs with newly-implemented rules.
If the offense is getting signals from the sidelines, the defense should be able to do the same. If the offense is not substituting, should the defense be allowed to? I think not. Actually the scenario you described defeats one of the purposes of the HUNH offense. It give the defense time to signal in complicated blitz packages or defensive sets.
The proposed rule would have exceptions for the last 2 minutes of each half. That will make it more palatable.
That's another great point that's come up in a few conversations the last few years. I've seen so many try to place this under "it's just the cyclical nature of college football." But, it's not. This isn’t like offense’s running the Wing-T or the spread & countering. No offense has ever eliminated defensive substitutions before. Being a cyclical part of football falls in the same category as calling it a safety issue; neither fit. I've seen come coaches say "get in better shape." Have defenses been out of shape for years and we're just now finding out?
That is the point. When they are not trying to get the ball snapped quickly, they are just trying to prevent the defense from substituting while their OC gets to evaluate the defense and send in a new play. If they don't want the defense to substitute, then snap the friggin' ball. But if they waste time getting signals from the sideline, the defense should be able to substitute.
Maybe we should allow players to move up and down the field on the sideline so they can get on and off faster. Watching a exhausted player have to sprint to the player box to get on and off the field always aggravated me.
It wouldn't bother me much if they made a change. There have been so many changes to benefit the offenses in the last 20 years why not do something to help out defenses.
Let's not lose focus of the real issue here, guys: nick saban is a huge vagina. He can't adapt to the rules, so he lobbies to change them.
Here's some irony for you. Saban made his comments on the hurry up offense on the Finebaum show back in October of 2012. One of the first coaches to talk about how it would change the game—he used the word deteriorate—made his opinions known in May of 2011 in a radio interview with Bo Mattingly. That coach? Ellis Johnson.
