The new touchback rule

18in32 said:
College football is the most complicated game in the world. I like soccer and tennis and basketball and golf and so forth... but for intellectual depth they're miles and miles behind college football.
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I've always felt that more Tech students would be fans if they watched enough to become familiar with the nuances of the game. I think for non-football people, it tends to just look like a bunch of guys hitting each other really hard.
 
gtfan088 said:
I've always felt that more Tech students would be fans if they watched enough to become familiar with the nuances of the game. I think for non-football people, it tends to just look like a bunch of guys hitting each other really hard.
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Agree, our students should be natural fans. But another beautiful aspect of the game is that you can appreciate on many different levels, including a very emotional/visceral one.

I also always liked how every body type *could* play some position. The fat guys as OL, the short guys as returners, etc. Makes for much better HS participation rates. Look at most other sports and there's a much narrower range of athletic bodies/skill-sets.
 
gtfan088 said:
I've always felt that more Tech students would be fans if they watched enough to become familiar with the nuances of the game. I think for non-football people, it tends to just look like a bunch of guys hitting each other really hard.
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I think that goes for most any sport or game. On the surface they can look simple or boring. You have to do more than just scratch the surface to appreciate the depth, but if the basic method of the game doesn’t appeal to you, then you probably aren’t going to discover the nuances and challenges.
 
bravejason said:
I think that goes for most any sport or game. On the surface they can look simple or boring. You have to do more than just scratch the surface to appreciate the depth, but if the basic method of the game doesn’t appeal to you, then you probably aren’t going to discover the nuances and challenges.
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Agreed, but I think it rings particularly true for football, a sport that on the surface appears more violent and primitive than most others, but arguably involves more of a chess match than a sport like basketball, which on the surface may appear more elegant and refined.

Football often has a reputation of just being a game of brutes. I don't think that's quite the case for the other major team sports, except hockey.
 
It's a no-brainer to take the touchback every time (unless you've got a Rocket Ismail back there).
 
originalwombat said:
It's a no-brainer to take the touchback every time (unless you've got a Rocket Ismail back there).
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What are the odds our anemic offense gets into field goal range vs. The Citadel at the end without Oliver's 52-yard return?

I don't think it's a no-brainer at all. It's very complicated.
 
It's easy to Monday morning QB the Citadel game, but we win that game nearly every time with nothing but touchbacks. Looking back, sure, we were right to take our chances. You've conveniently picked the one game where our returns were above average (and we still lost, and those great returns led to a whopping 3 pts, so one could argue it didn't pay off). Take that game out, and we're around 17 yards on avg.
 
gtfan088 said:
What are the odds our anemic offense gets into field goal range vs. The Citadel at the end without Oliver's 52-yard return?

I don't think it's a no-brainer at all. It's very complicated.
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Correct. It absolutely depends on how prolific or anemic your offense is at moving the ball. Anemic offenses should absolutely try to return.
 
originalwombat said:
It's easy to Monday morning QB the Citadel game, but we win that game nearly every time with nothing but touchbacks. Looking back, sure, we were right to take our chances. You've conveniently picked the one game where our returns were above average (and we still lost, and those great returns led to a whopping 3 pts, so one could argue it didn't pay off). Take that game out, and we're around 17 yards on avg.
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How many more wins do you think we have if we do nothing but fair catch kickoffs? Your point that we haven't done well on kick returns is fair, but I can't remember a game where I came away thinking that was even among the top 10 reasons why we lost, nor can I remember thinking that the extra few yards of field position would have dramatically opened up the playbook and given us a much better chance to win.
 
gtfan088 said:
How many more wins do you think we have if we do nothing but fair catch kickoffs? Your point that we haven't done well on kick returns is fair, but I can't remember a game where I came away thinking that was even among the top 10 reasons why we lost, nor can I remember thinking that the extra few yards of field position would have dramatically opened up the playbook and given us a much better chance to win.
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I recall a couple of leave the end-zone, oops go back, oops go forward again moments in the last 10 years. We have generally sucked at kick returns with a couple of exceptions. Unless you have a truly dynamic return guy (and let's face it, you know that pretty early), take the gift and start at the 25.
 
originalwombat said:
I recall a couple of leave the end-zone, oops go back, oops go forward again moments in the last 10 years. We have generally sucked at kick returns with a couple of exceptions. Unless you have a truly dynamic return guy (and let's face it, you know that pretty early), take the gift and start at the 25.
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Giving up a safety on a kickoff or punt was infuriating.
 
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