Running off-season CFB thread

[micropolitan guy]

I seem to remember a game at Wrigley Field a few years ago. One of the goal posts was bolted to the right-field wall and there was about 8 inches of space behind the end line. And, of course, only bare ivy vines to cushion the players running into the wall.

EDIT: just found this story, sounds horrible.

Only One End Zone to Be Used for Football Game at Wrigley Field

Those issues will be addressed, according to the story, primarily by the upcoming relocation of the dugouts.

Having lived in the coldest state in the lower 48 for nine years, almost all of the below-zero temps are in January and early February, the coldest months of the year. It could very easily be in the 40s in late December in Chicago.

And a bowl game in Wrigley Field, with a Big Ten tie-in, would draw far more fans than at least 10 bowls in locations with historically warmer weather. It's going to happen.

 

[Neutral Corner]

Cubs want to host college football bowl game at Wrigley Field

Link includes two previous layouts for football at Wrigley.

 

[Starman]

Actually I think a Chicago bowl game at Soldier Field could work too. Chicago is enough of a destination people would go.

 

[wicked]

I remember that Miss St-A&M game. Two teams that had no experience playing in those conditions, it was nuts.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Yes!

Commishes agree: NCAA football games too long

"Fundamentally, we have to have that conversation," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. "We need a bit more consistency [on length of games]. There are a lot of ideas that merit discussion, such as [shortening] halftime, but I think we should be careful with that."

Is there some reason the most obvious solution -- not stopping the clock after first downs -- can't be adopted immediately?

 

[Flip Wilson]

Told this story before, but since we're on the subject ...
I covered the 2000 Independence Bowl in Shreveport between Mississippi State and Texas A&M. Made it out there fine, about a two-hour trip, but just before kickoff it starts snowing pretty hard. By the end of the game there's two or three inches on the ground.
Since it's a relatively short drive, we hadn't planned on it being an overnight trip. And, for a number of other reasons, I couldn't have found a hotel room if I wanted one. So, I hit the road and started heading down I-20.

Between Shreveport and the Mississippi line, it looked like your trip from Memphis. Cars in the ditch almost every mile. At one point, I looked up in the rearview mirror and saw a guy's lights cut a hard left into the median. His truck was stuck, but I gave him a ride home to Ruston (about 10 miles). Almost wiped out myself a couple of times, whenever I tried to push it past about 20 mph. Every 50 miles or so I stopped at a gas station, grabbed the squeegee and used the butt end to knock about 6 inches of accumulated ice and slush out of the wheel wells.
Pretty early on I realized that if I just took it slow and steady I'd be fine. So I just plodded along at 10-20 mph for the entire 200 miles. Made it home around 9 a.m., the return trip having taken around eight hours. The closest I came to wrecking the entire trip was when I hit the brakes too hard making the turn into my apartment complex and almost skidded off the road and into somebody's front yard.

That game is on the YouTubes if you have a couple of hours to spare.

 

[Batman]

I remember that Miss St-A&M game. Two teams that had no experience playing in those conditions, it was nuts.

Yeah, it seemed like every time somebody got any traction they were gone for a touchdown, because none of the defenders could make a move without falling down. Walking on it during the postgame, all of the snow was packed down into the turf to form about an inch of ice. You could barely walk on it.
I also remember that Mississippi State decided to wear all-white uniforms with a white helmet. You could kinda sorta see their players moving around from the press box, but forget about trying to figure out who was who.
Crazy ending, too. A&M scored on the first play of overtime, then State blocked the PAT and ran it back, and scored on the first or second play of its possession. Definitely a game I won't ever forget being at.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Yes!

Commishes agree: NCAA football games too long

"Fundamentally, we have to have that conversation," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. "We need a bit more consistency [on length of games]. There are a lot of ideas that merit discussion, such as [shortening] halftime, but I think we should be careful with that."

Is there some reason the most obvious solution -- not stopping the clock after first downs -- can't be adopted immediately?

Yes, and, of course, fewer commercials, or shorter breaks than the 3-4 minutes networks use now. Or making a receiver have both feet inbounds on a catch,which would eliminate about 70 percent of the current time-consuming reviews. And limit reviews to one minute. If you can't see enough to reverse the call by then, the play stands as called.

 

[Batman]

Yes, and, of course, fewer commercials, or shorter breaks than the 3-4 minutes networks use now. Or making a receiver have both feet inbounds on a catch,which would eliminate about 70 percent of the current time-consuming reviews. And limit reviews to one minute. If you can't see enough to reverse the call by then, the play stands as called.

Or switch to the NFL replay system, where you get two challenges and only review scoring plays and turnovers. I think it was the Ole Miss-Alabama game this season, there were booth reviews on three consecutive plays. It took 15 minutes to play about 90 seconds of game time. I'm sure it wasn't the only time something like that happened. The refs review way too many plays.

 

[dixiehack]

The reviews could stand to be dramatically curtailed. But of course the first thing they mentioned was shortening halftime. Damn bands making the foosball too long!

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Just going to NFL rules, including overtime, would solve the problem. There's a half-hour of real time right there in most games.

 

[dixiehack]

Ugh. If I want to watch the NFL, I know when and where to find it.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Ugh. If I want to watch the NFL, I know when and where to find it.

How would receivers having to have both feet inbounds and not stopping the clock after first downs change the experience of an Alabama-Auburn or Ohio State-Michigan or for that matter Harvard-Yale game?

 

[dixiehack]

I'm against the general trend of trying to make it like the NFL experience, where everyone runs the same systems and any attempt at creativity is met with 20 more pages of rules.

I could live with the two feet for a catch thing, although I think the NFL has been worsened by the existential angst over what is or isn't a catch. I am unalterably opposed to running the clock after first downs. It doesn't eat up that much time, but greatly improves the chances of comebacks and wild finishes.

It's the replays. There are too many of them, reviewing too many things that aren't mission critical and they're taking too long (remember the original promise that the review feed would shut off after 60 seconds? LOL). On field officials are using it as a crutch and calling worse games now. If it isn't abolished entirely (I really don't think I'd mind) then it should be dialed back to a fail safe last resort.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I'm against the general trend of trying to make it like the NFL experience, where everyone runs the same systems and any attempt at creativity is met with 20 more pages of rules.

I could live with the two feet for a catch thing, although I think the NFL has been worsened by the existential angst over what is or isn't a catch. I am unalterably opposed to running the clock after first downs. It doesn't eat up that much time, but greatly improves the chances of comebacks and wild finishes.

It's the replays. There are too many of them, reviewing too many things that aren't mission critical and they're taking too long (remember the original promise that the review feed would shut off after 60 seconds? LOL). On field officials are using it as a crutch and calling worse games now. If it isn't abolished entirely (I really don't think I'd mind) then it should be dialed back to a fail safe last resort.

I absolutely agree with you on replay. The "just make a call and then we'll check it" mentality leads to rotten calls and ever more frequent replays.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Dixie, has anyone ever put a clock on and studied the difference of running the clock after first downs? I'd bet it's a good 15 minutes directly attributable, up to 30 if you factor in all of the extra plays, many of which end up as incomplete passes that also stop the clock.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I absolutely agree with you on replay. The "just make a call and then we'll check it" mentality leads to rotten calls and ever more frequent replays.

I agree with this. In every sport, I think the officiating has gotten markedly worse because of it.

 

[Huggy]

That game is on the YouTubes if you have a couple of hours to spare.

Clearly remember watching this one and noting how it was snowing like crazy in Shreveport while my area of the Toronto 'burbs hadn't seen that much snow all winter.

 

[Starman]

Go to the 15-yard conversion line for PAT kicks a-la the NFL and add the option of a 3-point conversion, if you can score on a scrimmage play from the 15.

So teams scoring a touchdown would have the choice of attempting a 1-point PAT kick (ball snapped from the 15); a 2-point scrimmage attempt (from the 3) or a 3-point conversion play (from the 15).

It would probably mess up the distribution of scores, because you could have 6-, 7-, 8- and 9-point touchdowns. More likelihood of a 1-3 point margin in the final moments of the game.

 

[LongTimeListener]

What the heck does that have to do with making games shorter?