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http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nca...y/6036617/

So what is little Nicky going to do now?

Interesting comparison he made, football to cigarettes. He is saying football is bad for your health like cigarettes is bad for your health.

"Continuous game"? Last I saw, that 60 minute game took about 3 1/2 hours to play.

I suppose that it is safer if instead of faster play you get hit by a slower 6'6" 340 lb. DT instead...

Glad this mess is dispensed with. For now, 'cause I doubt that we've heard the last of it.

This is just a distraction from some really asinine rule change that has yet to be made public that will now be voted on and approved.

Back in the 50s, the rules only allowed the substitution of two players at a time. Because players had to play both ways, the smaller, lighter player who was good to go for nearly the whole game was held at a premium. One of my best friends at Bama in 1960 was a walk on who weighed 156 lb -- at DT. LeeRoy Jordan played center on offense and middle LB on defense at less than 220 lb. When Bama defeated Nebraska in the Orange Bowl 35-28, the Bama OT weighed 178 lb.

When the game later moved to two platoons is when we began to get the 325 lb linemen who then got lots of time to rest. The taller DL players resulted in the premium on the taller QBs to have downfield vision. Now we have gone beyond simple two platoon to situational playing where a player may only get into the game on certain downs and then for a certain distance. That is the system of constant defensive substitution Saban (and his fellow like minded coaches) is trying to protect.

Just embrace it, guys... there is some information that Google just can't provide.

Those who ignore history are bound
to have B&BF repeat it!

I have a lifelong love of history. All history. Would rather read a history book than any other book. I can thank a teacher who gave me that love. Had I had Bamanblazerfan as a history teacher, that would not have been the case. I would have been bored to death by all the irrelevant junk he rambled on about.

(03-05-2014 11:00 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  I can thank a teacher who gave me that love.

Teachers go to jail for that now.

(03-05-2014 04:48 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  Back in the 50s, the rules only allowed the substitution of two players at a time. Because players had to play both ways, the smaller, lighter player who was good to go for nearly the whole game was held at a premium. One of my best friends at Bama in 1960 was a walk on who weighed 156 lb -- at DT. LeeRoy Jordan played center on offense and middle LB on defense at less than 220 lb. When Bama defeated Nebraska in the Orange Bowl 35-28, the Bama OT weighed 178 lb.

When the game later moved to two platoons is when we began to get the 325 lb linemen who then got lots of time to rest. The taller DL players resulted in the premium on the taller QBs to have downfield vision. Now we have gone beyond simple two platoon to situational playing where a player may only get into the game on certain downs and then for a certain distance. That is the system of constant defensive substitution Saban (and his fellow like minded coaches) is trying to protect.

the reason college players are bigger and faster is not having two platoon football. the two main reasons the players are bigger and stronger are integration and the fact that there are a lot more bigger and stronger kids to choose from.

If they want to shorten the game, they can go to the continuous clock that the NFL uses. There are many different solutions to this problem, and the issue most had was Saban was asking for a rule change that fundamentally changed the offenses that has given his teams the most trouble over the past few years. Teams like Auburn, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M didn't even run a ridiculous amount of plays, they just tended to find something that worked and kept it on the field. If Saban was allowed to sub in his massive defensive players at will, that would create an advantage for his team, and likely be dangerous to the offensive players having to take hits from an endless rotation of fresh defensive guys. The player safety issue was always a crock to me, because there are so many unsafe things in college football today.

And blah, you are spot on. I don't get how this can't be understood by one person.

Yes, it's just my opinion, but if you could play a season under those 1950s substitution rules so they had to play every down on offense and defense, those 325+ lb players would be exhausted by halftime. Two platoon football and its refinement of situational substitution so that huge player gets to rest regularly during the game, is one reason we can afford to have those huge players today.

Their limitations would be regardless of conditioning -- no amount of conditioning could prep them for continuous play. The closest field sport to football is soccer and you don't see that size player in that college sport.

(03-06-2014 11:29 AM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  Yes, it's just my opinion, but if you could play a season under those 1950s substitution rules so they had to play every down on offense and defense, those 325+ lb players would be exhausted by halftime. Two platoon football and its refinement of situational substitution so that huge player gets to rest regularly during the game, is one reason we can afford to have those huge players today.

Their limitations would be regardless of conditioning -- no amount of conditioning could prep them for continuous play. The closest field sport to football is soccer and you don't see that size player in that college sport.

How are football and soccer even remotely close to one another?

And have you ever heard of rugby?

Futbol
Football

See. Very similar.

MB, you're on a roll today...

Well, interesting that the teams that score the most and the fastest (Oregon, for example) also move their OL the most during any given offensive series of plays: Zone outside, RB/slot/TE/WR screens, etc. And those big ol' lineman can and do move. However, the lineman playing in those systems are *leaner* than their NFL counterparts. BUT, look at Chip Kelly's Eagle team this last year and watch how much that OL had to move. Those jokers were pretty lean and mean by the end of the year as well.

Auburn, under Malzahn, was just the opposite: He ran a package of typically spread-option plays with power run blocking. Then you had Florida trying to run a power game out of a spread OL formation (wamp, wamp, wamp... Thanks for playing- here's your parting gifts.) NCAA football has been very innovative over the past 2 decades, and the successful coaches are the ones that evolve their game to run a relatively few number of plays out of multiple different looks. That can be by true spread and speed or as a sleight-of-hand like Malzahn, etc. And the common factor between them: NO HUDDLE. They use speed, formation changes (without major substitutions), game speed, and confusion to their advantage. It's just funny to me that the Saban-ite coaches have this sense of entitlement and outrage... "How DARE they?!?!?"