This doesn’t exactly instill a great deal of confidence in me.
SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw said a lot of league coaches worked on the new kickoff rule this spring. Shaw is very interested to see how it plays out and added that NCAA rules committee members aren’t sure how it will develop and are “very interested to watch.”
Sure. Just like some of us are very interested in watching car wrecks on the side of the highway. Because you never know what Penn Wagers might cook up.
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I can’t see how changing the touchback to the 25 yard line is going to reduce the collisions downfield.
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I’m pretty sure any team with a decent kicker is going to try and see if they can pin teams back inside of that.
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I think it’s a deal of allowing the twin factors of a nearer tee-off and the “lure” of starting at the 25yl to work to convince return men not to even attempt a run-back. It’ll make for a slightly less exciting game, in my opinion.
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Just the mention of Penn Wagers sends chills.
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Based on our kick off coverage from last year I think this will help the Dawgs and CMR’s staff. Kickoffs involve a lot of “green” space and it is always running, blocking, and tackling in that gree space in full speed. And not knowing who will blind side [high or low] you on a tackle or block. A lot of kicks travel deep, and now probably more into the end zone. But no coach wants their kicking specialist getting injured on a kickoff when it comes down to the latter stages and a three pointer puts you in the “w” column. Plus I think the offense will have more opportunites to move the ball out from inside their red zone. Should be better play calling without the down side of it not working and having to punt on your goal or inside the end zone.
At present I am in favor of the change. But how will it work when you go on the road against non conference teams. So there will be some of the practice and work they had prior to the change still in place. Plus, let’s see how many coaches are going ot force hang time and fair catches. Kicking specialist will go ot another level now.
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Penn “I spit on him” Wagers the biggest reason the SEC refs get a bad rap. Missing calls is one thing not knowing the damn rules is beyond stupid. He should have been suspended for the UT game where he fail to award a first down on a hold against our WR in the endzone.
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I like the kickoff changes, and would have supported eliminating them if they had gone that way. The only downside to eliminating kickoffs to me would be taking the on-side kick option away. You might could accomplish both by putting the ball back to the 40 on kickoffs and rewarding touchbacks with possession at the 30.
Another much needed change is to eliminate the blocking in the back penalty when it occurs above the waist. BS penalty that slows the game down, and is miss-called a large percentage of the time. Protect the legs, but forget this silly penalty on both kickoffs and punt returns.
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At first glance, I thought that read, “Because you never know what Penn Wagers might cock up.”
So, I guess… there. I fixed that for you.
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