Rich Rodriguez promises “I won’t quit my day job.”
That’s good. The Arizona football coach is not half-bad in his YouTube video with leading lady Sandra Bullock spliced in, but it is better for college football if he keeps the whistle around his neck and takes on the forces of evil cloaked in crimson (Alabama’s Nick Saban) and cardinal (Arkansas’ Bret Bielema).
It was good to see strong voices come forward regarding a rules issue that thankfully got the axe. Today, the NCAA Football Rules Committee withdrew a proposal that would have changed the look of the game. Had it passed, college football offenses would be penalized for snapping the ball before 10 seconds had run off the clock, except in the final two minutes of each half.
Supporters said the rule would have helped with player safety and limited injuries because hurry-up offenses increase the number of plays and limit defensive substitutions. Critics suggest this was simply a guise to help opponents of no-huddle, up-tempo offenses slow the game down.
The critics are right on the money. It is no surprise Alabama’s Saban and Arkansas’ Bielema, who run slower-tempo offenses, had lobbied the committee.
“Unless you can definitively point to data that verifies that injury risks are elevated when you play an up-tempo offense, it’s just misplaced and it comes off as self-centered by folks who don’t play that offense,” ASU athletic director Ray Anderson said.
Anderson has a unique perspective. Before coming to Tempe, he spent eight seasons as the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations and oversaw the officiating department.
One of the worst parts about the proposal was that most college football coaches were blindsided to learn it had moved several steps toward the approval process. Rodriguez said he didn’t even know about it until a reporter reached out to him. Other coaches said they are usually polled in matters of rule debate but never heard a peep.
Rodriguez went has far as using the hashtag “hiddenagenda” on his Twitter feed. He then made a funny video that spoofs the movie “Speed” and ridicules the proposal.
Let’s be clear: Nobody is anti-safety. The scariness that has accompanied concussion studies has been a reality check for all of us who embrace the warrior nature of the sport.
But it appears no one has revealed any reports that suggest the up-tempo offense has resulted in an increase of injuries and this is what bugs critics the most.
“They were talking about changing a fundamental rule because of a scheme issue,” Rodriguez said.
Indeed. Hurrah for those stood up to the NCAA.
