CFB's overtime rules are ridiculous

I think the argument can be made that CFB's overtime football rules -- especially when it comes to stats keeping -- are the most ridiculous in all of sport.

Using the UT/UK game from last night as example no. 2,769:

1. Erik Ainge gets 7 touchdowns added to his career stats, when 3 of those are in OT sessions that started at the 25 yard line (ok, well one of them was at the 40 thanks to a penalty, but you get the picture...)

2. On the blocked kick, UK gets a brutal facemask penalty that stopped a game-winning runback but the team is not assessed a yardage penalty when it next gets the ball -- meaning there is no incentive NOT to take an opposing player's head off in that situation...

3. But meanwhile the UT player gets frustrated and tosses a ball after not scoring and so gets a 15 yard penalty assessed against his team. What's going on here?

There especially is no reason to include OT stats in a player's career stats.

 

Got to admit TV, that no penalty for attempted murder deal had me puzzled. That's a DANGEROUS rule.
As for the stats, I've dealt with enough Div 1 stat crews that I've always put college numbers in the same category as Farmer's Almanac weather forecasts.

 

Yes, the stats are skewed. And in some cases, penalities, such as you described, can be problematic.

But it's far better than the NFL's plan, in which games are often determined by who gets the ball first after winning the coin flip. At least in college, like in baseball, both teams get an at-bat.

 

And it usually takes a touchdown to win a game, rather than a field goal.

 

What would you prefer? An NHL-like shootout? The kickers firing field-goal attempts progressively farther back until one misses?

Nothing against the NHL's shootout. One of the better things they've done. But there's no way to translate that to sports other than soccer.

 

Agreed on all counts.

 

The stats should be frozen with the end of regulation.

As should the score of the game.

 

Just like you can't try a PAT after the second overtime in college, field goals should be banned from NFL overtimes.

If a guy runs back a kickoff 92 yards, accept it. But the field goal BS, I can do without.

 

Either play a full or abreviated non-sudden-death period or play until the first team scores six points (either a touchdown or two field goals). In the NFL overtime, the whole idea is to move the ball into field goal range. I'd rather see the game decided with a touchdown.

 

OT is OT, they don't freeze basketball stats.

Now, if you want to talk about skewed stats, talk about adding bowl stats to career stats when previous generations did not.

 

My biggest complaint with the OT system is that the team on offense doesn't have to gain a yard, yet it's still in field goal range.

I'd move the ball to the 50, or maybe even the other 40. Make the offense actually move the ball before it has a chance to score. It might mean more overtimes, but the stats would be less skewered.

 

When a World Cup game goes to penalty kicks (and this, with a score virtually guaranteed, is closer to penalty kicks than it is World Cup overtime), those goals do not get put on a player's stats.