The offseason provides a great opportunity to shake things up in the sports world. In recent years, we learned that power brokers in college football aren’t hesitating to make bold moves in the sport. Even though you and I cannot be on the Rules Committee when the NCAA decides how to change the college basketball replay system, we can at least discuss and debate what must be fixed as soon as possible.
KSR videographer Steven Peake is well-known for his outside-the-box thinking. It makes him the perfect person to reassess the best and worst rules in sports. He has a proposition that inspired others from the KSBoard community to share what rules must be changed.
In 2018, Texas A&M took down LSU 74-72 in seven overtimes. Rather than celebrating the jaw-dropping result, the college football rules committee decided to take matters into its own hands.
If a game remains tied after two overtime periods, the ball is no longer spotted at the 25-yard line. Teams must execute 2-point plays to extend the game. The decision was made under the guise of player safety, even though the new CFP has drastically extended the schedule.
Last year, we saw the grossest consequences of this change. Georgia Tech played admirably for four quarters and nearly knocked off Georgia between the hedges. They went to overtime and reached the 2-point period in OT3. It took six of these 2-point periods before Georgia ultimately won. Four of those were scoreless. It was an ugly result for a game that deserved better.
Peake argues that it’s actually a great rule. He is wrong. It is a stupid rule. If they want to limit overtime periods, move the ball back from the 25-yard line to midfield. It takes kickers out of field goal range, forcing teams to play more real football, instead of the bastardized version that is the 2-point period. When a CFP game is decided by one of these long overtime games with 2-point plays, that will turn the wheels of change to fix this stupid rule.
Scoreless Ties in Soccer
Not all of Peake’s ideas are bad. He sat through a 0-0 tie at a Louisville City match last week. That’s brutal. His proposition is simple: If a regular season match ends in a scoreless tie, it goes straight to penalty kicks.
One would argue that penalty kicks are soccer’s version of the 2-point period in college football. However, soccer teams play about four times as many games. Changing one result isn’t as impactful on a full season. It also rewards fans who sat through 90 minutes of soccer by allowing them to see what they paid to watch, goals.
Other Potential Rule Changes
Allow me to share a few rules that our community at KSBoard loathes.
Fumbling Through the End Zone is a Touchback
It feels too punitive for the fumbling team. The big problem is that there is no clear alternative. Maybe they get the ball at the spot of the fumble? Either way, it feels like a rule you’d see in Pee Wee football, not the National Football League.
Alternate Possession in Basketball
Why must we rely on a switch to determine who gets a tied-up loose ball? While it might make sense to keep the game flowing at lower levels of basketball, where there are more tie-ups, it’s too consequential in college hoops. They should be like the NBA and let the players determine who wins the jump ball by actually having a jump-ball.
Eliminate Ties
The NFL is the richest sports league of the history of the world and hasn’t figured out a way to determine a winner if they can’t create an advantage during a shortened 10-minute overtime period.
Why can’t you shoot it from behind the backboard?
If it doesn’t hit anything, it should be fair game. After all, the degree of difficulty is crazy. If a player can make a shot from behind the backboard, they should be rewarded.
College Football Targeting
Does anybody actually know what targeting is? I don’t even think the refs know.
Got thoughts? Continue the conversation on KSBoard, the KSR Message Board.
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