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Alabama athletic director Bill Battle is chairing the new College Football Officiating Competition Committee, giving Alabama coach Nick Saban a valuable ally on a diverse group tasked with examining Division I football's playing rules.
The 12-member committee includes three active FBS head coaches: Clemson's Dabo Swinney, Stanford's David Shaw and Nevada's Brian Polian. The group recently held its first conference call and will meet in December after the regular season. The idea for the committee, championed by former SEC commissioner Mike Slive, is to take regular big-picture views of college football's rules as the NFL's competition committee does in pro football.
One overarching issue the college committee will face: How much offense is too much? The competitive balance between offense and defense remains a contentious topic as defenses struggle to keep up. In each of the past two years, rules changes designed to help defenses got passed by the NCAA Football Rules Committee only to be tabled by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP), an 11-member group with members from all three divisions, such as Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and the volleyball coach from Arkansas Tech.
PROP's decisions “surprised a lot of people,” said Big Ten officiating coordinator Bill Carollo, a member of the football competition committee. “Not that they don't have the authority to do it, but what's the rationale? Where's the football minds on that committee that decides this rule should be thrown out after the rule was put in? I'm not being critical of it, but the process was broke and I think that's why there's a competition committee.”
Only two of the 12 members of the NCAA Football Rules Committee are from the FBS, only one of which is a coach -- Air Force's Troy Calhoun. By contrast, the new competition committee has a member from each of the 10 FBS conferences plus two from the FCS. The members:
* Warde Manuel: Connecticut AD; ex-Michigan defensive tackle
* Dabo Swinney: Clemson coach; ex-Alabama wide receiver
* Bill Carollo: Big Ten officiating coordinator
* Edward Stewart: Big 12 senior associate commissioner; ex-Nebraska All-American linebacker; NCAA Football Rules Committee member
* Bob Gennarelli: MAC deputy commissioner/chief operating officer
* Bob Stull, UTEP AD, ex-head coach at UMass, UTEP, Missouri; longtime Don James assistant at Washington; ex-Kansas State player
* Brian Polian: Nevada coach; former assistant at Buffalo, UCF, Notre Dame, Stanford, Texas A&M; son of former longtime NFL competition committee member Bill Polian
* David Shaw: Stanford coach; ex-Stanford wide receiver; former NFL assistant
* Bill Battle: Alabama AD; ex-Tennessee coach; ex-Alabama tight end/defensive end
* Charlie Cobb: Georgia State AD; ex-N.C. State All-ACC center
* Sean McDonnell: New Hampshire coach; used to have Chip Kelly as his offensive coordinator; ex-New Hampshire defensive back
* Ron Strollo: Youngstown State AD; ex-Youngstown State player; hired Bo Pelini as coach and works for Jim Tressel as president
An NCAA spokesman described the committee as an advisory group for the College Football Officiating Board of Managers that will provide input to the NCAA Football Rules Committee. Keep in mind, there's also a new Football Oversight Committee. That's different than the competition committee, which theoretically could make recommendations to the NCAA rules committee on playing rules, safety issues and use of technology.
In recent years, PROP tabled one rule that would have kept offenses from snapping the ball until 10 seconds had elapsed on the play clock, and another that would have adjusted the ineligible man downfield rule from 3 yards to 1 yard (the distance used in the NFL). Defensive coaches have struggled to defend offensive tempo and run/pass options, which sometimes result in a blocker illegally downfield when the ball is actually thrown. College football's haphazard rules process divided offensive-minded coaches (such as Swinney) and defensive-minded coaches (such as Saban) over what the identity of college football should be.
“They're not allowed to (have ineligible blockers downfield) in other leagues and we pass rules that say you can't do it, and then we get it overturned by someone who has their own personal agenda,” Saban said in a July interview with CBS Sports. “We need a competition committee in college football to make decisions based on what's best for the game, not what's best for them. There shouldn't be any self-interest involved. It should be this is what's best for the game.
“Same thing with pace of play. Officials should at least be able to get set before the ball gets snapped. So why stop the clock on a first down if you're going to let (the offense) go before the chains are even set? I mean, we created all of this, and if that's the kind of game we want, than that's OK. We'll do the best we can to coach it. But there's going to be a lot of points scored. I mean, football was a game made without offensive linemen being allowed downfield on passes. That was the original intent of the game.”
Countered Missouri coach Gary Pinkel: “Look, Nick's a friend of mine. Let's just make sure the linemen are doing the right things. It's kind of interesting some people go to rules to try to get things changed, and I don't think it's the right thing to do. Creativity is one of the great reasons why the college fans love college football.”
This is the dynamic the new competition committee faces as offense continues to rule college football.
From CBSSports.com
The 12-member committee includes three active FBS head coaches: Clemson's Dabo Swinney, Stanford's David Shaw and Nevada's Brian Polian. The group recently held its first conference call and will meet in December after the regular season. The idea for the committee, championed by former SEC commissioner Mike Slive, is to take regular big-picture views of college football's rules as the NFL's competition committee does in pro football.
One overarching issue the college committee will face: How much offense is too much? The competitive balance between offense and defense remains a contentious topic as defenses struggle to keep up. In each of the past two years, rules changes designed to help defenses got passed by the NCAA Football Rules Committee only to be tabled by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP), an 11-member group with members from all three divisions, such as Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and the volleyball coach from Arkansas Tech.
PROP's decisions “surprised a lot of people,” said Big Ten officiating coordinator Bill Carollo, a member of the football competition committee. “Not that they don't have the authority to do it, but what's the rationale? Where's the football minds on that committee that decides this rule should be thrown out after the rule was put in? I'm not being critical of it, but the process was broke and I think that's why there's a competition committee.”
Only two of the 12 members of the NCAA Football Rules Committee are from the FBS, only one of which is a coach -- Air Force's Troy Calhoun. By contrast, the new competition committee has a member from each of the 10 FBS conferences plus two from the FCS. The members:
* Warde Manuel: Connecticut AD; ex-Michigan defensive tackle
* Dabo Swinney: Clemson coach; ex-Alabama wide receiver
* Bill Carollo: Big Ten officiating coordinator
* Edward Stewart: Big 12 senior associate commissioner; ex-Nebraska All-American linebacker; NCAA Football Rules Committee member
* Bob Gennarelli: MAC deputy commissioner/chief operating officer
* Bob Stull, UTEP AD, ex-head coach at UMass, UTEP, Missouri; longtime Don James assistant at Washington; ex-Kansas State player
* Brian Polian: Nevada coach; former assistant at Buffalo, UCF, Notre Dame, Stanford, Texas A&M; son of former longtime NFL competition committee member Bill Polian
* David Shaw: Stanford coach; ex-Stanford wide receiver; former NFL assistant
* Bill Battle: Alabama AD; ex-Tennessee coach; ex-Alabama tight end/defensive end
* Charlie Cobb: Georgia State AD; ex-N.C. State All-ACC center
* Sean McDonnell: New Hampshire coach; used to have Chip Kelly as his offensive coordinator; ex-New Hampshire defensive back
* Ron Strollo: Youngstown State AD; ex-Youngstown State player; hired Bo Pelini as coach and works for Jim Tressel as president
An NCAA spokesman described the committee as an advisory group for the College Football Officiating Board of Managers that will provide input to the NCAA Football Rules Committee. Keep in mind, there's also a new Football Oversight Committee. That's different than the competition committee, which theoretically could make recommendations to the NCAA rules committee on playing rules, safety issues and use of technology.
In recent years, PROP tabled one rule that would have kept offenses from snapping the ball until 10 seconds had elapsed on the play clock, and another that would have adjusted the ineligible man downfield rule from 3 yards to 1 yard (the distance used in the NFL). Defensive coaches have struggled to defend offensive tempo and run/pass options, which sometimes result in a blocker illegally downfield when the ball is actually thrown. College football's haphazard rules process divided offensive-minded coaches (such as Swinney) and defensive-minded coaches (such as Saban) over what the identity of college football should be.
“They're not allowed to (have ineligible blockers downfield) in other leagues and we pass rules that say you can't do it, and then we get it overturned by someone who has their own personal agenda,” Saban said in a July interview with CBS Sports. “We need a competition committee in college football to make decisions based on what's best for the game, not what's best for them. There shouldn't be any self-interest involved. It should be this is what's best for the game.
“Same thing with pace of play. Officials should at least be able to get set before the ball gets snapped. So why stop the clock on a first down if you're going to let (the offense) go before the chains are even set? I mean, we created all of this, and if that's the kind of game we want, than that's OK. We'll do the best we can to coach it. But there's going to be a lot of points scored. I mean, football was a game made without offensive linemen being allowed downfield on passes. That was the original intent of the game.”
Countered Missouri coach Gary Pinkel: “Look, Nick's a friend of mine. Let's just make sure the linemen are doing the right things. It's kind of interesting some people go to rules to try to get things changed, and I don't think it's the right thing to do. Creativity is one of the great reasons why the college fans love college football.”
This is the dynamic the new competition committee faces as offense continues to rule college football.
From CBSSports.com
