New NCAA Rules Proposed

Kickoffs from the 35-yard line. On touchbacks, the ball will placed at the 25-yard line. Also, if a player loses his helmet, it will be treated like an injury. The player must leave the game and sit out the next play.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2012-02-09/committee-proposes-new-rules

Interesting... on the surface, I see why the NCAA proposed these rules changes, but I'm not a fan of most of them. (Moving kickoffs to the 35 is OK). IMHO, this is largely because of the "Rule of Unintended Consequences" that I think would play a role in virtually every one of them.

On the "touchbacks at the 25", I think the NCAA is missing the point. Yes, it would encourage teams to take a knee on those five-yard deep into the endzone kickoffs that we see get run out on occasion, but I think that they miss the point of what happened in the NFL this year when the kickoff spot was moved up. Instead of the kickers just kicking it into the endzone for touchbacks 90% of the time (which is what I think the NFL expected), most teams started kicking the ball *higher* in order to have the ball land at the goal line and try to pin the opposing team inside the 15. I think you'd see the same thing in the NCAA, except that because the kickers aren't as talented, it won't work as often. By forcing touchbacks up five yards, it would further encourage teams with quality kickers to go for the "high" kickoff versus just punching it through the end zone. Leave touchbacks at the 20.

The "lost helmet" rule is good in that it would require players to actually have their helmets fit properly, a concern which I've seen raised numerous times by various sportswriters (Easterbrook on ESPN comes to mind as one). However, does this now not give a team incentive to try to pull the helmet off a player whenever possible? I understand that there's a penalty for face mask--but there are ample opportunities to pull a helmet off a player that goes into a pile without grabbing the face mask that wouldn't get a penalty. A team with an impact running back or multi-threat QB would be a target for this, especially in key game situations. I'd hate to see a game decided by something like this. I do agree with the other part of the rule (you can't participate in a play without a helmet)--although don't they need to put something in along the lines of blowing the play dead if the ball carrier loses his helmet? (Otherwise, what is he supposed to do?)

The shield blocking thing is probably the worst of this bunch. If this passes, I think everybody starts using the shield blocking scheme as it makes a blocked punt damn near impossible... you have to get someone around the end to the kicker which is relatively rare compared to coming up the middle. If the NCAA is that worried about the shield blocking causing injuries, they should ban the use of the formation, not restrict the defensive team's ability to try to block the kick.

The additional protection to kick returner thing is bad as well: this is just the old, ridiculous "halo" rule with additional vagueness so it can be called even more erratically than it was when it was a defined distance.

The new rules have passed. Kickoffs from the 35-yard line and touchbacks from the 20 to the 25-yard line.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7611324/ncaa-moves-kickoffs-30-yard-line-35