Show Kickoff rule may provide more thrills David Wharton Los Angeles Times It was last winter when football officials gathered to to discuss making games faster faster- paced and more exciting As one official put it they wanted to chip chipoff chipoff chipoff off the dead time Someone suggested doing away with kickoffs having teams start each possession from the yard 20 line Instead the rules committee took the opposite approach With the season beginning this week college football will b bunder be under scrutiny for a 1 rule change that pushes kickoffs back five yards to the yard 30 line The logic Five ive more yards should equal more room for returns more more thrills and more time running off the clock But that kind of excitement also has some coaches scrambling to reshuffle their their- special teams and others wondering if jf the game just got more dangerous There are going to be more returns Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti said So there will b be bemore bemore more speed high-speed collisions This is not the first time the has addressed the issue of games stretching well past three hours in length Various clock rules instituted in 2006 proved successful in trimming minutes but were highly unpopular and were revoked after the season Officials turned their attention to the touchback a relatively dull play that also wastes time because the clock never starts The NFL had already switched its kickoffs to the 30 It remains to be seen how the new rule will effect the flow of college play The Pacific 10 Conference does not keep statistics on hoW y often kickoffs are returned In the Southeastern Conference about a third of kickoffs resulted in a Kickoff Continued on page College Kickoff time Continued from page touchback last season Florida Coach Urban Meyer said his his' staff looked at game film and predicted many will catch the ball around the yard 9 line and head from there when you start talking about the field position opportunity to score percentages to score things that most teams take very serious Meyer said Its going to have a major impact The pressure will be on kickoff squads to adapt That could mean m more re directional kicks more pooches and squibs It could also mean that defensive starters find themselves playing special teams Youve got to have different guys Auburn Coach Tommy said Youve got to have better cover guys on your coverage team Dr Elton Strauss chief of orthopaedic trauma at atthe the Mount Sinai Sina School oJ of Medicine in New York predicts that the brutal physics of the kickoff players working up a head of steam bodies hurtling will increase injuries on both sides of the ball When a defensive team picks up more speed its it's kind of like a velocity high-velocity rocket Strauss said Knees and ankles are most at risk There might also be an increased chance of concussions and catastrophic ic spinal cord injuries related to tacklers flying into a with their heads down he said |