Jim Mullin
CFL.ca
“A tie is like kissing your sister.” -Eddie Erdelatz, Head Football Coach, U.S. Naval Academy, 1953
I’ve never been well settled with the idea of brothers kissing sisters as a metaphor for the value of a tie game. That old chestnut that is widely attributed to Eddie Erdelatz scores about a 9.5 on the creep-o-meter.
That passage may have served some role in forcing the overtime issue forward over the last three decades, to the point where sports fans never have to recite that purgatorial concept again.
The National Football League is still capable of providing a draw, evidenced November 16, 2008 when the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals ran the clock out to a 13-13 stalemate.
Ties are allowed in baseball in Japan, or when Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has a senior’s moment at an all-star game.
The NHL revived a 1970s intermission segment from “Showdown” to award a bonus point in the standings. One of these years they should try the pie-plate targets on the four corners of the net to determine an outcome.
For the CFL there have been many nips and tucks to the overtime rule over the years to the point where the tie game has been extracted almost entirely.
So in the interest of time let’s examine that element starting with overtime, which actually has no time.
This column is an attempt to support the clock, not beat it.
1. OVERTIME
The current system used by the CFL is patterned off the “Kansas Plan” a.k.a. the “Kansas City Shootout” that was instituted in the NCAA.
Overtime – let’s call it “OT 4.0” – leaves a lot of what makes the three down game great out of the picture.
| Changing the Game |
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In his Changing the Game series Jim Mullin discusses his ideas for improving the game. Read more on Jim’s ideas for changing CFL rules and customs. |
Without the clock and the dimension of special teams OT 4.0 is half a game. With the placement of the ball at the 35 yard line – in instant scoring position – it’s more like 60 per cent of a game is thrown out the window.
OT 4.0 is an added contest. It’s the closest thing in football you can get to a hockey shootout and it does not play out like an extension of the game.
In the previous three columns I’ve looked to new or experimental concepts for rule changes. In this case, we should go back to a version of what was already in place.
Bring back the two overtime halves and make the teams play a real mini-game to decide the outcome. If TV is a consideration, make it two, three-minute halves with the same timing rules that apply in regulation at the end of a half.
Both teams have to work the clock.
Both teams have to use their return game.
Both teams have to work with or against the elements.
If both teams are tied after the bonus game, so be it.
A playoff or Grey Cup should never be determined with OT 4.0. If two teams have battled to the edge of elimination they deserve all the elements of a real game to determine the outcome, and so do the fans.
2.The 20-SECOND PLAY CLOCK
Next on the list is the 20-second play clock. This is a sacred cow for many CFL purists who insist that this creates a faster game, especially when compared to our southern cousin and the 40-second reset play clock.
That’s not true and the numbers prove it.
If the 20-second clock were a reality, a CFL game would arguable produce double the amount of plays that we see in an NFL game, where they use a 40-second clock. In reality, there are slightly more plays in a NFL game based upon 2009 information. That’s because the 20-second clock is whistled in at the referee’s discretion when the ball is spotted, while the 40-second NFL play clock resets after the end of a play.
Basically, the NFL’s extra running plays per game (27.5 vs. 19.9) are equaled by the CFL’s extra penalties (CFL 9.5 vs. NFL 5.9), punts (CFL 7.1 vs. NFL 4.8) and field goal attempts (CFL 3.0 vs. NFL 1.8).
The CFL had more passing plays (33.5 vs. 33.3) and teams gain about 30 yards more per game than in the NFL. Rushing yards were equal even though the CFL sees teams rush the ball significantly less often per game.
The point of examining how the play clock works is not to make the game more like the NFL. It’s about getting more plays into the game. And we know that three-down football is built to produce more exciting plays.
When the SEC moved from a 25-second play clock and adopted the 40-second reset play clock in 2008, there was a great deal of resistance to change.
Rogers Redding, the NCAA secretary-rules editor and SEC coordinator of football officials, addressed the refusniks at the time.
“When the NFL went to the 40-second clock, they found it didn’t have much impact on total elapsed time,” Redding said.
“It was a matter of getting more plays in, and that’s up to the offense. It’s not as if we’re reinventing the wheel. We’ve been able to see how it’s worked in the NFL for a number of years.”
Like many in the Canadian game, people surrounding the US college football culture are equally resistant to change initiated in the NFL. However, it was a progressive change that created more plays from scrimmage.
My suggestion is that the CFL try out a 30-second reset play clock in select exhibition games or in controlled scrimmages. It should increase the number of plays by at least 20 per cent and keep the game rolling at a steady clip.
3. The Playoffs
When it comes to the playoffs, reach back into history and eliminate the crossover.
Does anyone ever really want the Edmonton Eskimos or B.C. Lions representing the Eastern Division when they come barreling out of the inflatable giant football helmet at La Coupe Grey? Especially when the city of Toronto is staging the 100th edition of the Grand National Drunk?
The Grey Cup is at its best when it’s a contest of East versus West.
If the fourth place team in one division has a better record than the third place team in the other division, 1986 provides our solution. That year, first played fourth and second played third in the Western Semi-Finals, while the Toronto played Hamilton in a two-game total points series.
The Argos piled up a 14-point lead after the first game at Ivor Wynne thanks to a 31-17 victory, but jubilation was short lived. The Ticats stormed back at Exhibition Stadium with a 42-25 reply, winning the series 59-56 on a Paul Osbaldiston field goal late in the second game.
In fact, with one exception, from 1947 through 1972 the Eastern Conference/Big Four Final was decided in a total point series.
The biggest comeback happened in the West Semi-Final of 1963. The Saskatchewan Roughriders trailed 35-9 after a trip to McMahon Stadium. At Taylor Field just two days later, Ron Lancaster guided the Riders to an improbable late second half comeback, with a 39-12 second game. The Riders advanced to the three-game Western Final by winning the series 48-47.
The NFL has never decided a conference title in a series. Canadian Football has a rich history of using a playoff series to decide a winner. It’s a distinctive element of the game which is better than the alternative of Vancouver or Regina representing the East.
