Currently the NCAA overtime period works like this: both teams get a possession starting from their opponent's 25-yard line. No matter what, each team gets a chance to score. If the score is still tied after the first overtime, the teams swap whichever was on offense and defense in the first period. If the game goes longer than two overtimes, starting in the third period you must attempt a two-point conversion after scoring a touchdown.The rules favor offense over defense, starting on the 25 yard line negates the defense's ability to have an impact. Special teams performance is also largely eliminated.
I have two simple suggestions, (1) at each overtime period move the starting point back 5 yards and (2) require the team on offense to kick a punt or a field goal at the end of their possession and give the opponent choice of starting points.
I wouldn't object to starting at the 35 yard line in the first overtime.
1 comment:
I've always thought it should be done like basketball with a full extra period. In football, I'd probably allow regular season games to end in a tie after an overtime period, but neither the NFL or the NCAA overtime system works well now. As it is, Miles was correct to eschew the OT against Florida because 25 yards is two Tebow runs on broken plays that had been properly defensed. He can't often do that for the length of a 70 or 80 yard drive, but he can do it 2 or 3 times from the 25 yard line.
BTW, I think that pollsters should penalize teams less for an OT loss than losses, but two losses is less than one loss. Also, starting at the 25 yard line makes it sometimes come down to which team has the more accurate kicker -- a bigger issue in college than in the NFL. If I remember correctly, that's what cost S. Carolina against USC. That overtime win by Tennessee actually had a least a slight effect on how SEC teams compare to Pac 10 teams in the computer ranking, since Tenn-Cal was one of the few (maybe the only) SEC-Pac 10 games this year --Tenn lost. It also kept UGa out of the SEC championship -- that's probably good for LSU, but we'll see.
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