Nick Saban voiced support of rule (No Huddle Offense)

Texas Ace

Teh Acester
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Surprised that this hasn't been posted already.....what a bitch move this is by Saban and the other coaches to try and argue that this is about player safety




NEW YORK -- Alabama coach Nick Saban and Arkansas coach Bret Bielema voiced their concerns about the effects of up-tempo, no-huddle offenses on player safety to the NCAA committee that passed a proposal to slow down those attacks.

Neither Saban nor Bielema were on the committee and they did not vote on the proposal passed Wednesday to allow defenses time to substitute between plays by prohibiting offenses from snapping the ball until 29 seconds are left on the 40-second play clock.

Mark SchlabachA few coaches of teams that utilize no-huddle, hurry-up offenses -- which are becoming more and more common at the FBS level -- immediately blasted the proposed substitution rules change, saying its only intention is to slow them down, Mark Schlabach writes. Story

NCAA coordinator of officials Rogers Redding said Thursday that Bielema was at the meeting in Indianapolis as a representative of the American Football Coaches Association.

"Coach Saban asked for the opportunity to meet with the committee and talk about this," Redding said. "It's not routine, but it's not unique, either."

Bielema and Saban run methodical offenses and have publicly questioned if the quickening pace of offenses is good for the game.

FBS coaches on the panel are Air Force's Troy Calhoun, who is the chairman, and Louisiana-Lafayette's Todd Berry. Their teams ranked 104th and 93rd, respectively, last season in plays per game in FBS.

The proposal must be approved by the playing rules oversight panel, which meets March 6. Redding said it's not a rubber stamp panel, but more often than not it approves proposals. The panel does not consider competitive issues, Redding said.

"Their role is to examine rules on the basis of player safety, economic impact and image of the game," he said.Right now the proposal is in what is known as a comment period. Coaches can electronically submit their opinions to the NCAA on the proposal, supporting it or opposing it.

Redding said it is "rare though not unheard of for the committee to revisit" a proposal. He added the comments are taken seriously by the oversight panel.

Redding said rules changes that would affect the pace of the game were discussed by the committee last year and during the AFCA convention in January at meeting he attended of about 35 coaches, including Bielema. The proposal passed by the NCAA committee was an idea that came out of the AFCA meeting, Redding said.

Plenty of coaches have made it known they are not happy with the proposal, especially those such as Auburn's Gus Malzahn, Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury, Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin and Arizona's Rich Rodriguez who run fast-paced offenses.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy weighed in Thursday via Twitter.

"The 10-second rule is like asking basketball to take away the shot clock -- Boring!"

The committee said the proposed change addresses concerns that defensive players are at increased risk for injury because defenses cannot substitute if the offense goes straight to the line scrimmage when the ball is spotted and the 40-second clock has starts.

An exception will be made in the final two minutes of each half to allow the offense to snap the ball as quickly as it wants.

Many coaches aren't convinced this is a player safety issue.

"I don't see the injury piece," said Boston College coach Steve Addazio, whose team runs an offense that is rarely in a rush. "I think we need more data."

Redding said the proposal was not made based on a study of data.

"I can't say there is hard physical evidence," he said. "It's more common sense."

Redding added he studied film of two games involving up-tempo offenses and only once in each game did a team snap the ball within 10 seconds of the 40-second clock starting.

"The majority of time was somewhere in the 20s," he said. "The average time was 17 seconds.

"You really don't impact what people are already doing."
 
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Texas Ace

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The NCAA football rules committee is proposing changes for the 2014 season that would loosen the reins on defensive substitutions and lessen the penalties for targeting fouls called on the field.

The committee's proposal would allow defensive players to substitute within the first 10 seconds of the 40-second play clock, except for the final two minutes of each half.

The rules committee says they hope to enhance safety by guaranteeing a small window for both teams to substitute. UCF receiver Breshad Perriman is shown in November after a play for which Houston's Zach McMillian was called for targeting.

Offenses that snap the ball before 29 seconds remain on the play clock would receive a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty.

Current rules state that defensive players aren't guaranteed the opportunity to substitute unless the offense first substitutes. Under the proposal, this policy would remain when the play clock starts at 25 seconds.

The proposal would strike a major blow to up-tempo spread offenses that often run plays before the opposing defense is set. Coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban and Arkansas' Bret Bielema last summer said that up-tempo offenses are likelier to cause injuries for defensive players who can't get off of the field in time.

"This rules change is being made to enhance student-athlete safety by guaranteeing a small window for both teams to substitute," Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, chair of the rules committee, said in a prepared statement. "As the average number of plays per game has increased, this issue has been discussed with greater frequency by the committee in recent years and we felt like it was time to act in the interests of protecting our student-athletes."

The committee, which met this week in Indianapolis, believes 10 seconds of substitution time wouldn't inhibit offenses from operating quickly. It points to research that states that offenses rarely snap the ball before 30 seconds remain on the play clock.

One of the changes the rules committee is proposing would strike a major blow to up-tempo spread offenses that often run plays before the opposing defense is set.

The committee also proposes removing a 15-yard penalty when replay officials overturn a targeting disqualification foul, as long as no other penalty is called on the play. The initial targeting policy stated that even if a targeting penalty is overturned and a player avoided an ejection, his team still would receive a 15-yard penalty.

"This alteration keeps the intent of the rule, but allows replay to correct all of the consequences from a rare missed call," Calhoun said.

The proposal also states that in games where replay isn't available, officials may review targeting fouls in the first half during halftime if leagues and teams agree and video is available in the officials' locker room. Targeting calls then could be reversed and the ejected player could return in the second half.

The NCAA's playing rules oversight panel will discuss the proposed changes March 6. The only adjustments allowed this year -- not designated as a rules-change year -- are those that involve player safety or modify a previous rule change such as targeting.

The proposal to slow down offenses will have a hard time passing if the many coaches who run up-tempo these days have anything to say about it.

"It's ridiculous," said Arizona's Rich Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has also been at the forefront of the fast football trend.

"For me it goes back to the fundamental rules of football," Rodriguez said. "The offense knows where they are going and when they are going to snap the ball. That's their advantage. The defense is allowed to move all 11 guys before the ball is snapped. That's their advantage.

"What's next? You can only have three downs? If you play that extra down you have more chance of injury."

Mississippi coach Hugh Freeze said he found about the proposal when he got a phone call from Auburn's Gus Malzahn, a fellow advocate of up-tempo offense.

"I said, 'Y'all are kidding me. That's not true,' " Freeze said he told Malzahn.

Freeze said he was skeptical of the health risks presented by up-tempo offense because he's never seen any data to support the claim.

"I would think they would have some type of study that proves that," he said.

Rodriguez has been pushing the pace with his teams for more than two decades and doesn't buy safety concerns.

"If that was the case wouldn't every team that went fast in practice have more injuries?" he said.

Freeze and Rodriguez both said their offenses rarely get plays off within 10 seconds of the ball being spotted.

"If they say it's not occurring anyway, why put in a rule?" Freeze said. "I just don't really understand what we gain from this other this rule other than a chance to create more chaos."

It's not just the up-tempo coaches who voiced their disapproval with the proposal.

"I just spent two days at Big Ten meetings and it wasn't even brought up," Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said. "It doesn't make sense to me."

The Scarlet Knights ranked 84th in the country in plays per game (71).

Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville, a former defensive coordinator whose team averaged 78 plays per game (28th in the nation), said the proposal was never discussed during last month's American Football Coaches of Association convention.

"This came out of left field," he said. "It's wrong."
 
D

Deuce

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Ironic that they want to give a Delay penalty to a team trying to speed the game up.
 

L.T. Fan

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Notwithstanding this particular proposal, rules should not be made on an individual's personal preference or agenda. The underlying motives should always be how do the rules serve the game, the participants and the observers.
 

Cotton

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GTFO of here.
 

jsmith6919

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Saban's next proposed rule- you will no longer be able to return missed field goals.

Because of player safety and stuff...
 
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Cotton

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Cotton

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Texas Ace

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L-Tizzle, has been very snappy as of late.
 

Simpleton

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You know what else is dangerous to players?

Alabama recruiting a bunch of 320 lb 5 star OL's and calling power runs 30+ times a game, maybe we should ban that too.
 
D

Deuce

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Leach went after the proposed changes on twitter earlier. He was surprisingly intelligent sounding.
 

L.T. Fan

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Not defensive. It followed my post so I was asking for clarification.
 
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