Posts from April 15, 2007

This week’s poll question is sponsored by: ClearSaleing

Popularity: 22% [?]

With all of the new NCAA rules about practice time and eligibility standards the OSU Spring Game is barely a football game anymore. You can’t blame the coaches because they have to maneuver within the rules yet make sure they get the most out of the time to evaluate players and prepare for the fall. This year Tress has 15 practices to get a look at filling holes vacated by 18 seniors and 3 juniors with only 8 of those practices in full pads. You can bet that he and the coaches will scours those tapes to get every bit of data they can.

Although I know these rules where put in place to protect the scholar athlete’s academic pursuits, I think the rules hurt way more than they help. My first concern is that not having enough time on the field, especially in full contact, the chance of injury is increased. I also think that the players suffer because their opportunity to get time on the field is so limited that if they don’t make an impression with the coaches in the spring they will fall down the depth chart which, in my experience, creates a bunch of stress that affects their academic performance.

In my day, we used to go full pads every day for I don’t remember how many weeks and then we would play three spring games; the big one in Ohio Stadium and the other two we would travel around Ohio (Dayton, Cleveland, Akron and Cincy) so that more fans would get a chance to see us scrimmage. The scoring system was normal and we would have plenty of players to field two teams because we carried 50 walk-ons in the spring. Even after all of that, I don’t remember my grades being affected by the work load and, in fact, spring practice probably kept me out of some trouble.

Now look at the game we have today. Because of time, limited scholarships, walk-on limits and injuries, the game is now little more than a scrimmage with a twist. Tress devised a scoring system where, although there are two teams, the system pits the offense against the defense where the D can score points too. They have to run players from sideline to sideline due to depth shortages at certain positions. Then they also try to lay off the quarterbacks to avoid injury to your play caller. The players have fun with the drafting of the teams and the media makes a big deal out of it, but in reality it’s not really a football game, just a glorified scrimmage that draws 60,000 fans.

The one thing I will say is that I’m glad Tress kept the Steak and beans competition and added the battle for jersey color rights for the rest of the year. That keeps it fun for the players and that’s always good.

Popularity: 28% [?]