Colonel_Reb
Hall of Famer
The NCAA is doing away with eye black "messages," wedge blocks, and making end zone taunting a live ball foul, which would nullify the score, starting in 2011.I don't know why they mention Tim Tebow by name as being someone who popularized eye black messages, except that he is a White Christian, and you can't let all the blame fall on blacks no matter if they are the culprit 99.9% of the time. They still have to find a White to throw in there. Tim Tebow played several years after Bush and a few others started the trend. I believe they are doing away with it because they don't like Christians putting Bible verses on them, like Tebow did.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5092774
INDIANAPOLIS -- Eye black with messages and wedge blocks will be
banned from college football this fall, and taunting in the field of
play will start costing teams points in 2011.
On Thursday, the
NCAA's Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the three rules changes.
One
year after the NFL banned wedge blocking on kickoffs because of safety
concerns, the NCAA followed the lead. The new rule says that when the
team receiving a kickoff has more than two players standing within two
yards of one another, shoulder to shoulder, it will be assessed a
15-yard penalty -- even if there is no contact between the teams.
The
reason: NCAA studies have shown that 20 percent of all injuries
occurring on kickoffs result in concussions.<div ="mod-inline -right"><div style="margin-left: 10px; width: 300px;">[+] Enlarge
<div style="width: 300px;"><cite>Cliff Welch/Icon SMI </cite>The NCAA has
banned eye black messages, such as these worn by Tim Tebow at Florida.</div></div></div>
"Everybody
is looking to make sure we have a safe environment for the players,"
said Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches
Association. "On kickoffs, you have a lot of steam on both sides and you
usually have what is called a 'wedge buster.' This will eliminate some
of that."
The hope is it will reduce concussions, an issue that
has received greater attention over the past year.
The NCAA deemed
it so important that it made a rare rules change in an off-year of the
normal 2-year process.
Texas coach Mack Brown and Indiana coach
Bill Lynch agreed that it was time to change the rules to help protect
players from the big collisions on kickoffs.
"Studies are showing
that we are having more concussions across the country on kickoffs than
in the past so it makes sense to try to find a way to address that,"
Brown said Thursday. "But we all need to look at the meaning of a wedge
block and clearly define it. If we have a clear set of rules on that and
officials can call it consistently, we can prepare our players
differently on kickoff return blocking and hopefully help better protect
our kids."
But it's the taunting rule that will create the
biggest buzz.
Currently, players who are penalized for taunting on
their way to the end zone draw a 15-yard penalty on the extra point
attempt, 2-point conversion attempt or the ensuing kickoff.
Beginning
in 2011, live-ball penalties will be assessed from the spot of the foul
and eliminate the score. Examples include players finishing touchdown
runs by high-stepping into the end zone or pointing the ball toward an
opponent.
Lynch called taunting an area that needed to be cleaned
up and said he supported taking away scores.
"Just run it into the
end zone, how hard is that?" he said after a spring practice. "It is a
team game and that's what makes it such a great game."
Celebration
penalties following a score will continue to be assessed on conversion
attempts or the ensuing kickoff.
"I think one of the reasons it's
been looked at is that when a penalty occurs on the field, it's normally
taken from the spot," Teaff said. "This was the only occurrence that it
wasn't taken from the spot, so they wanted to change that."
Taunting
has caused an annual debate among college football players, coaches and
fans, and last season's big controversy stemmed from Georgia receiver <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=379205" target="_blank">A.J.
Green</a> receiving a 15-year personal foul penalty after he caught a
go-ahead touchdown pass late in a game against LSU.
The yardage
from the penalty was assessed on the kickoff and helped LSU get into
position to drive for the winning score. Southeastern Conference
officials said later that there was no video evidence to support the
flag on Green.
"The rules committee voted unanimously on this.
Let's keep the lid on sportsmanship and prevent that type of demeaning,"
said Dave Parry, the NCAA's national coordinator of college football
officiating. "I recall a play a few years ago where a player turned
around at the 10 and teased the opponent with the ball. In the past this
would be a penalty assessed on the extra point or kickoffs. Now, it's
no touchdown."
Parry said the decision to implement the rule in
2011 gives players and coaches ample advance warning.
"This gives
the players a year's notice that we're going to be tougher on
sportsmanship. Last year it was mentioned that this could become a
possibility," Parry said.
He also predicted the penalty would be
called "very rarely."
"If it's close to diving into the end zone,
most likely it would be ruled that the act ended while in the end zone.
We'll be lenient," Parry said. "It's really if it's really bad, for
example, if a guy flips the bird at the 10 or high-steps backwards into
the end zone or starts a forward roll at the 3-yard line."
A third
change bans the use of eye black containing symbols or messages, a
trend that grew in popularity because of its use by Heisman Trophy
winners <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=9588" target="_blank">Reggie
Bush</a> and <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=183484" target="_blank">Tim
Tebow</a>.
The committee also approved a rule that will require
all coaches boxes to have television monitors beginning in the fall of
2011.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5092774
INDIANAPOLIS -- Eye black with messages and wedge blocks will be
banned from college football this fall, and taunting in the field of
play will start costing teams points in 2011.
On Thursday, the
NCAA's Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the three rules changes.
One
year after the NFL banned wedge blocking on kickoffs because of safety
concerns, the NCAA followed the lead. The new rule says that when the
team receiving a kickoff has more than two players standing within two
yards of one another, shoulder to shoulder, it will be assessed a
15-yard penalty -- even if there is no contact between the teams.
The
reason: NCAA studies have shown that 20 percent of all injuries
occurring on kickoffs result in concussions.<div ="mod-inline -right"><div style="margin-left: 10px; width: 300px;">[+] Enlarge
<div style="width: 300px;"><cite>Cliff Welch/Icon SMI </cite>The NCAA has banned eye black messages, such as these worn by Tim Tebow at Florida.</div></div></div>
"Everybody
is looking to make sure we have a safe environment for the players,"
said Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches
Association. "On kickoffs, you have a lot of steam on both sides and you
usually have what is called a 'wedge buster.' This will eliminate some
of that."
The hope is it will reduce concussions, an issue that
has received greater attention over the past year.
The NCAA deemed
it so important that it made a rare rules change in an off-year of the
normal 2-year process.
Texas coach Mack Brown and Indiana coach
Bill Lynch agreed that it was time to change the rules to help protect
players from the big collisions on kickoffs.
"Studies are showing
that we are having more concussions across the country on kickoffs than
in the past so it makes sense to try to find a way to address that,"
Brown said Thursday. "But we all need to look at the meaning of a wedge
block and clearly define it. If we have a clear set of rules on that and
officials can call it consistently, we can prepare our players
differently on kickoff return blocking and hopefully help better protect
our kids."
But it's the taunting rule that will create the
biggest buzz.
Currently, players who are penalized for taunting on
their way to the end zone draw a 15-yard penalty on the extra point
attempt, 2-point conversion attempt or the ensuing kickoff.
Beginning
in 2011, live-ball penalties will be assessed from the spot of the foul
and eliminate the score. Examples include players finishing touchdown
runs by high-stepping into the end zone or pointing the ball toward an
opponent.
Lynch called taunting an area that needed to be cleaned
up and said he supported taking away scores.
"Just run it into the
end zone, how hard is that?" he said after a spring practice. "It is a
team game and that's what makes it such a great game."
Celebration
penalties following a score will continue to be assessed on conversion
attempts or the ensuing kickoff.
"I think one of the reasons it's
been looked at is that when a penalty occurs on the field, it's normally
taken from the spot," Teaff said. "This was the only occurrence that it
wasn't taken from the spot, so they wanted to change that."
Taunting
has caused an annual debate among college football players, coaches and
fans, and last season's big controversy stemmed from Georgia receiver <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=379205" target="_blank">A.J.
Green</a> receiving a 15-year personal foul penalty after he caught a
go-ahead touchdown pass late in a game against LSU.
The yardage
from the penalty was assessed on the kickoff and helped LSU get into
position to drive for the winning score. Southeastern Conference
officials said later that there was no video evidence to support the
flag on Green.
"The rules committee voted unanimously on this.
Let's keep the lid on sportsmanship and prevent that type of demeaning,"
said Dave Parry, the NCAA's national coordinator of college football
officiating. "I recall a play a few years ago where a player turned
around at the 10 and teased the opponent with the ball. In the past this
would be a penalty assessed on the extra point or kickoffs. Now, it's
no touchdown."
Parry said the decision to implement the rule in
2011 gives players and coaches ample advance warning.
"This gives
the players a year's notice that we're going to be tougher on
sportsmanship. Last year it was mentioned that this could become a
possibility," Parry said.
He also predicted the penalty would be
called "very rarely."
"If it's close to diving into the end zone,
most likely it would be ruled that the act ended while in the end zone.
We'll be lenient," Parry said. "It's really if it's really bad, for
example, if a guy flips the bird at the 10 or high-steps backwards into
the end zone or starts a forward roll at the 3-yard line."
A third
change bans the use of eye black containing symbols or messages, a
trend that grew in popularity because of its use by Heisman Trophy
winners <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=9588" target="_blank">Reggie
Bush</a> and <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=183484" target="_blank">Tim
Tebow</a>.
The committee also approved a rule that will require
all coaches boxes to have television monitors beginning in the fall of
2011.
