Kickoff Rule Change

[simgamer0005]

This is a thread for the NCAA rule change regarding kickoffs. A topic that was created in the NCAA Football video game section was closed and the discussion regarding the rule change was deemed to be more appropriate here in the college football section.

This is my response to the discussion in the closed thread:

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...ncaa-13-a.html

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Prior to the 2007 season, the NCAA moved kickoffs from the 35 to the 30. The reasoning was that the kickoff is the "most exciting play in college football" and it needs to be showcased more. That rule was done in conjunction with the reverting of the failed 2006 clock rules (running the clock on change of possession). I am of the belief that moving the kickoffs back from the 35 to the 30 in 2007 was done merely as a distraction thinking that people would talk about that instead of how bizarre the 2006 clock rules were.

Now 6 seasons later, a year after the NFL decided to move kickoffs back to the 35 (after having it at the 30 for much longer than college football had), college football follows suit as NFL Jr. and does what the NFL does...

...only they make touchbacks on kickoffs to the 25 yard line? Is this bizarro world? touchbacks in football is (or was) a fact at the 20 yard line. the sky was blue, the grass was green, and kickoffs in football were at the 20 yard line. now they are not, meanwhile, the same problems that make the game worse than it was in 2005 still exist.

this is another example of changes to college football where they experimentally try something new while not fixing the problems that exist. it's painstakingly agonizing to anyone who loved the sport of college football. the game was fine in 2005. college football was just incredible. most everything felt right. now it is a watered down overly manipulated sport. it was fine 10 years ago when college football kickoffs were from the 35 and the NFL's were from the 30. avg starting field position was farther back in college football and there were more kickoff returns in the NFL. it made sense. it was the way it was and fans didn't question it. starting in 2006 CFB started feeling weird, and it was absolutely due to all the year to year bizarro rule changes. it hasn't felt right since. in fact every year it feels weirder and more out of synch.

[l3ulvl]

Moving the touchback to the 25 is just weird to me. It's like the powers that be just want to remove the kick return game altogether.

[simgamer0005]

Quote: Originally Posted by l3ulvl

Moving the touchback to the 25 is just weird to me. It's like the powers that be just want to remove the kick return game altogether.

yeah this is what is so puzzling. because the reasoning the ncaa gave for moving the kickoff back in 2007 was entirely the opposite, to create more of the most "exciting play in college football". so instead of just going back to the way it was before 2007, kickoff from the 35 with touchback from the 20, they change the touchback? who would ever even think of changing the touchback yardage as a solution? the thought of that ever changing never even crossed my mind. the touchback is a basic, standard part of football. the 20 yard line was the agreed upon yardage for touchbacks. it wasn't even something that was questioned.

i think the thing about it was like in 2005 there might have been a wave of strong kickers. and in many games during that time i saw kickoffs kicked out of the endzone. it wasn't so much of a problem as it was a trend during that time in college sports. like not every kicker was kicking touchbacks routinely. maybe only a small percentage of teams had a kicker that good to be able to do that, while other teams didn't have kickers who could kick that far from the 35. even then sometimes you had short kicks or there was wind and you'd try to pin them inside the 20 on a kickoff. it happened occasionally you know. now it's like they are artificially changing the threshold of the opportunity cost. the ncaa is clearly over thinking this, and really at this point they have drifted so far away of what it should be, they are piling layer upon layer of more head scratching things that teams and fans are going to have to adjust to year after year.

[ActLikeYouCrow]

changing the touchback is unamerican. we could be seeing plenty of 1 and 2 yard deep touchbacks depending on the return man and the coaches philosophy.

[kingkilla56]

Is it me or does the NCAA adopt every NFL rule change nowadays?

[TeeJay]

If it's for safety issues, why not just remove the tackling aspect from football. Seems to me like they're trying to remove kickoffs and punts altogether.

[TripleCrown9]

People said the exact same things about the NFL this past season, and there were just as many returns for TDs as before.

[TDenverFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by SwampStomper90

People said the exact same things about the NFL this past season, and there were just as many returns for TDs as before.

The NFL didn't change where Touchbacks went.