#1: Down Without Contact

Last time I checked, football is a contact sport; but the NCAA feels very differently about this. When determining when a player is down and the play over, the opposing team doesn’t have to touch the player for him to be considered down.
In NCAA College Football, a player is considered down and the play over, when a part of his body other than hands or feet touch the ground. The only exception to this rule is for the place holder for kicking events.
The down without contact rule is in place to protect the player from unnecessary contact. A sport that’s based on contact essentially has a rule aimed at preventing it.

Picture this…

A quarter-back, steps back into the pocket to find all of his targets covered and a defensive back closing in on him. He lets the ball rip, and throws it deep down the field, where no defender or receiver can make the reception. But unknown to the QB, a free safety was playing deep in that zone. Leaping backwards, he manages to get a finger on the pass, which he’s able to catch on his way down to the ground, eventually landing on his back. This is a Sports Center Top-10 play of the week, without any argument.

Without another player in a 20-yard radius he gets up to his feet and tosses the ball to the nearest ref. He couldn’t help his team by advancing the ball, because he was down by contact with the ground. If the player was in the NFL, he could get up and pick up some valuable yardage or better yet score some points. The action keeps going, and the potential, of a run back, keeps the fans on their feet.

On explanation I read was ‘College Students bodies are still developing’. Generally the younger a person is, the easier it is to recover from an injury. There are of course always exceptions to the rule, but exceptions are of course exceptions.

It’s a contact sport damn-it…