Since someone mentioned the NCAA changing rules to "fix" the bowl system, here's a fun little hypothetical:

Let's say the NCAA powers-that-be got together and elected you dictator of college football, with the power to make any rule change that you want. It can be anything: scoring, penalties, eligibility, post-season, whatever.

What would you do?


I have three:
1. A kickoff through the uprights is worth one point. The receiving team takes the ball as though it was a touchback, but the kicking team gets a point. The importance of the "foot" in "football" just increased dramatically.

2. No more "half-the-distance" penalties. A 15-yard defensive penalty inside the 15 yard line gets the ball placed at the 1 yard line, same for 10-yard penalty inside the 10, 5-yarder inside the 5, yadda yadda. I thought about giving the offense an automatic touchdown, but they should have to earn that last yard. On the offensive side, the penalty would result in a safety for the defense.

3. I mentioned in the bowl fix thread, I think teams with better records should get first dibs on bowls ahead of teams with worse records. You would probably have to put bowls in tiers for it to work (something like #1 New Year's 6 Bowls, #2 Other New Years Bowls, #3 Post-Christmas/Pre-New Year's Bowls, and #4 Pre-Christmas Bowls). Let the bowls still pick, but they can't take a 6-6 B1G team over a 10-2 MAC team just because the B1G team will bring more fans.

(A) Promotion/relegation. I don't really care how it works (I'm a 40,000 foot-view kind of dictator), but something along the lines of:

1. Every conference gets a championship game, and to as great an extent as possible gets their number of teams standardized.

2. On a given conference's championship game day (it can be neutral site or at the home of the favored team or determined by sumo wrestling, whatever, don't care) there will be two games at the same stadium: the championship game, of course, but the under-card will be a game between the two worst teams in the conference(by conference record, other tie-breakers as needed). Loser gets relegated.

3. Tiers (for promotion/relegation purposes): Power-5 Group of 5 FCS (Upper Half) FCS (Lower half).
3.a. As FCS (both halves) and Group of 5, Conference champions advance, trading places with their relegated counterpart (conferences are vertically linked on the basis of geography, see appendix 16-Q), while power-5 conference champions are entered into a 6-team playoff (+ one of the promoted group of 5 teams, to make the playoff work) for the national championship. At Power-5, group of 5, and FCS (upper half), losers of the undercard are demoted a step. Losers of the FCS (Lower Half) undercard game are forced to switch places with their school's soccer team.

3.b. Conferences continue to control the football money, more or less as now, but when a team gets relegated (e.g. the loser of South Carolina/Missouri) then they get their new conference's money the next season, so stakes in this undercard game will be high!

(B)

No, officials making this call will be shot. It is there choice whether they are the target or the ammunition.

Kickers are kept in soundproof, dark booths the entire game until they come out to kick field goals and extra points. Their only entertainment a screen showing Scott Norwood's missed Super Bowl 25 kick on a loop. The scoreboard does not display the score as the kicker is brought out of the booth like a bull into the ring, nor can teammates relay game information. The kicker is left to judge by the tenor of the crowd how important the kick is.

We see if we can mentally break one of these tiny men.

"bring out the gimp"

1. Only players on the field can call a TO. [This used to be the rule.]

2. No TO can be called after the first 10 seconds of the play clock.

These two rules would eliminate the coaches from calling a TO just before a play which has been my pet peeve for a number of years. Coaches are very dumb about these type of calls anyway, and just as often lose games by their use as win games. I remember a home game against Wyoming where Frank called a TO just before what appeared to be a winning score by OHIO at the end of a game. After the TO, the play called failed, and OHIO lost. In essence, Frank outguessed himself. This is not an isolated example of these type of "over management" of games with this too aggressive use of the TO rule.

3. Either shorten the quarters to 12 minutes, or allow only two commercial breaks per quarter, with all other TOs being 30 second ones. Games are getting to be way too long.

4. If a team runs back an interception or a fumble on an PAT attempt, it counts two points. If they block a PAT kick and run it back they get only one point.

5. Players trying to rip a ball out of a ball-carriers hands *after* the whistle blows, get flagged with an unsportmanlike penalty.

6. More aggressive enforcement of players taunting opposition players. Officials should set a high bar on this type of thing, and it wouldn't take long for the hotdogs to get the message.

HAHAHA!

Any fan repeating the same joke more than ten times must challenge my wife to a mile-long swimming race at the OHIO Aquatic Center. Jeff McKinney to do the officiating. Early Las Vegas odds are 100-1 against any BA poster winning this race. Reliable scouting reports indicate that the only people who swim faster than she during her daily workouts are members of the varsity swim team.

Loser personally pays for shuttle service for registered BA members and their immediate family members in attendance.

Yes...yes we can. If you get burned deep, you're gonna get burned deep either way. No more of this holding a receiver back to save a 50 yard gain.

ummm... Who wants to tell him? ;)

Forgot one:

If you're inside the opponents' 40 yard line, you have to go for it or kick the FG. No punts allowed.

Academic Validation of Scoring Plays - Touchdowns, Field Goals, and Safety's - Points will be awarded only after the scoring player provides a correct answer to an academic question in their field of study. If an incorrect answer is provided the closest defender to the play will be given an attempt to answer the question. A defenders correct answer will result in a touchback.

"Are You Smarter Than a College Football Player?"