Morning Reading: College Football Rule Changes for 2009
Do any of you remember Mutant League Football? It was a video game for Sega Genesis modeled after the Madden series, but with fake teams named after various monsters. It was a nice break from the real thing because it had very little, if any, rules. Big hits and bigger celebrations were common. Sort of the precursor to the NFL Blitz series. But alas, the real thing must have rules and each season some Supreme Court-like committee decides what changes it feels need to be made.
For the 2009 season, there are six rule changes going into effect. One which will have punters wishing they had stuck with soccer.
Conferences are now required to review particular vicious flagrant fouls after games to see if there is a need for any further action. This basically comes down to leading with your helmet or various personal fouls. Don’t think it’ll take away hard hitting from games. It’ll just make players more conscious of playing smart. Well, maybe.
The chin strap now falls into the same category as the face mask when it comes to bringing down a ball carrier. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone brought down by their chin strap. Then again, as hard as I try, I can’t watch every single game. Although this season, I have definitely made it my goal.
Ah the rugby-style punter. You are a soccer player at heart. You feel that by getting a running start, not only will your coverage players get down the field further in advance of the ball, but you will get more power behind your boot. What you don’t realize is a football isn’t a soccer ball. It has a vastly different shape and concentrating on running as opposed to kicking it correctly results in more shanks than you desire. So stay inside the tackle box and learn how to boot the ball like a real punter. Oh and here’s another reason, now when you run outside the tackle box, you are fair game. Punt blocking units like nothing more than to lay a punter on his posterior. And now if you run outside the box, they can do just that. Good luck fair punters. The targets on your jerseys just got bigger.
Similar to past UCLA/USC matchups, teams can now both wear their colored jerseys if agreed upon before the game and as long as they are contrasting colors. So you won’t see Alabama and Arkansas both sporting their red tops, but you may see Florida and Tennessee in blue and orange. And could someone please make LSU wear their purple jerseys just once?
There’s some new rule regarding the extension of periods when penalties occur. I read it rather quickly and moved on. Something about a period not being extended if the penalty results in a loss of down. Seems like something that comes into play very rarely.
And finally, the rule regarding the number of offensive players that have to be on the line of scrimmage or that are allowed in the backfield hasn’t really be changed, but rewritten. Apparently it needed to be clarified for some reason beyond my comprehension. I’ll blame it on referees calling it incorrectly. That’s always the easy way out.