Maybe you think football is perfect as is. But I constantly find myself dreaming of ways to make the game more amusing.
The XFL got me thinking that way. In its first incarnation, in 2001, the new league had no pregame coin-toss. Instead, a player from each team raced to the ball to determine who kicked and who received. If I remember correctly, that’s also how we started dodgeball games in elementary school.
In a college game about 10 years ago, one team’s kicker was drilling everything right down the middle, while the poor guy on the other side doinked three field-goal tries off the uprights.
A friend who isn’t a huge football fan happened to be watching with me, and was impressed — by the kicker who kept hitting the posts.
“They should get more points for that,” she said.
I thought about it a little bit, and realized she was on to something.
“You’re right! It takes a lot more skill to kick a ball that hits one of the uprights than it does to kick one between them. If they made it worth 10 points, imagine all the fun unintended consequences.”
Hey, it’s all about weighing risk and reward, like almost everything else in football.
I’m a little more serious about this next one:
If the player who throws an interception tackles the opponent who picked off his pass, his team gets the ball back, wherever he makes the tackle, first-and-10. Too many quarterbacks sprint out of harm’s way (granted, sometimes by order of the coach) instead of trying to clean up the mess they make. This might give them some motivation to play to the whistle like everybody else is expected to do.
OK, I’d have to start my own league for either of those gimmicks to see the light of day. But they’re not as silly as what happened Saturday as a result of the most recent change to the college overtime rules.
Illinois beat Purdue 20-18. It took 4 hours and 10 minutes, and nine overtime
periods.
The most recent adjustment to the OT rules stipulates that after the first two “normal” periods (first-and-10, starting at the opponent’s 25), the teams alternate attempts to score on one play from the 3-yard line — yes, what is usually a 2-point conversion after a touchdown.
So, the way this game went was after regulation ended it was tied at 10. Both teams then made field goals in each of the “normal” OTs, keeping the score tied at 16 after two overtimes.
Then, neither could move the ball 3 yards five times in a row, so it was still tied at 16 after 7 OTs. In the 8th, they both made the 2-pointer. Then, in the 9th, only Illinois did, for the win.
If you watched it you probably agree it was more horrific offense than it was great goal-line defense. It was like a really bad game of H-O-R-S-E where you just needed H to win.
In 2017, Lahainaluna beat Konawaena 75-69 in a state championship game. No, not basketball — football, and it took seven overtimes.
Of course it was thrilling. It was the opposite of a game where neither team could score from the 3; in this case, neither could stop the other.
These long OT games, whether they are college or high school, always seem to generate an offseason rule change designed to prevent them in the future (the stated reason is they’re not good for player safety; a fact is they’re not good for TV schedules).
But there’s no guarantee. If Penn State and Illinois don’t score from the 3, they don’t score from the 3.
I do have an idea, though, and it doesn’t involve aiming kicks for goalposts, quarterbacks making tackles, or my tongue in my cheek. And it’s pretty simple.
If both teams score in the first OT and are still tied, move the ball back 10 yards to the 35 for the next one. If neither scores, move it up 10 to the 15 (and no more field goals or 1-point conversions allowed).
It might not prevent every marathon, but it would adjust the bar to what the teams are more capable of that day — scoring or not scoring.
Some people say bring back the tie. But for every silly multiple overtime that goes on too long there are uncountable overtime thrillers. University of Hawaii fans have seen many, and UH has won 10 of the 15 OT games it has played in since they started in 1996.
They include wins over Fresno State in the turnaround season of 1999, the triple-overtime win over Houston in the 2003 Hawaii Bowl, and victories at LaTech and San Jose State in the 12-0 regular season of 2007.
I think it’s safe to say that a 10-0-2 record with Hawaii’s schedule that year would not have been deemed worthy of a New Year’s bowl game.
