Targeting Dumb Rule Proposals

Who says the Iron Bowl isn't competitive all 365 days a year? Whoever is, has no clue or is lying to themselves.

Even after "The Kick Six", and the stupidity surrounding the signing of Rashaan Evans, another battle line has been drawn.

Nick Saban has been labeled the new posterchild for an NCAA rule proposal that would allow the defense 10 seconds to make subsitutions before the next play.

Saban has been vocal in the past about the evolving styles of Hurry Up, No Huddle offenses.

Coincidentally, the teams that have had the most success vs. Alabama in the Saban Era have ran these styles of offense. Saban's rival, Auburn, Coached by Gus Malzahn, runs this type of offense.

To label Saban the lone label of this rule wouldn't be fair. Other coaches have been outspoken in regards to the evolving faster paced offenses, including Arkansas Head Coach Bret Bielema.

A few things that bother me about this rule proposal:

1) The disingenious lobbying for it - Proponents for this rule say it is for player safety. I call bullcrap. Football is a contact sport and players risk getting hurt every play, it doesn't matter how many more or less plays are ran.

2) It hinders game evolution: If you want to be stuck in the 70's, go watch ESPN Classic. From the forward pass, the Triple Option, Maryland I, Wing-T, to the Fun and Gun. Football evolves. Monte Kiffin was famous for his Tampa-2 defense, which revolutionized the defensive game. Offenses have since evolved to where the Tampa-2 is now becoming obsolete.

3) The rule becomes null in two minute warning of each half- But yet 10 seconds can run off of a playclock per play before that time.

4) Physical defense have proven to shut these offenses down - Remember Auburn/Oregon 2010? Remember Oregon/Stanford last year? These fast paced offenses are effective, but not invincible.

5) Theses coaches are good enough to evolve and scheme to counter them - Even though it hasn't happened yet, they eventually will. Remember the Tampa-2 example earlier. It was once effective until the offenses evolved to make it obsolete.

Football has evolved and will continue to evolve. I personally don't think this rule will pass, and it shouldn't. It hinders innovation and pacifies the traditionalist, who probably hated Steve Spurrier's spread when he introduced it.