Sunday, September 30, 2007

Last Second Timeouts

After watching the end of last night's Auburn upset of Florida, I have to say that both the NCAA and NFL need to implement new rules concerning last second timeouts. What is happening is that coaches are waiting until literally the last possible milisecond to call timeout. It's so late that the play takes place and then the kicker has to rekick. It's unsportsmanlike. I understand that Bret Bielema of Wisconsin started this last year. It got major publicity this year in the NFL with Raiders coach Lane Kiffin and Broncos coach Mike Shanahan doing this. In both cases, the opposing kickers missed the second kick. Last time, Urban Meyer pulled it against Auburn, but the Tigers kicker nailed the second kick too.

It's really bullshit on the worst level. I'm not sure exactly how to tweak the timeout rules but I think that something like the opposing team may not call a time-out after the teams have been set for the play for more than 2 seconds might be appropriate. In any case, something needs to be done.