ATLANTA — The spread option run systems that have taken over college football in the last decade have come to love the cut block, as the play doesn’t demand much time and the cut block can accomplish that.
New rules make those blocks much tougher to legally execute.
Southeastern Conference Coordinator of Football Officials Steve Shaw spoke at SEC Media Days Tuesday and outlined, among other things, additions to the illegal block rule that relate to blocks below the waist. Now players must engage a defender from the front for it to be a legal block below the waist; he showed a video of a tight end crossing the formation and hitting an interior defensive lineman on the side of his knee as an example of a block that is now illegal.
The rule also bars all blocks below the waist more than five yards downfield.
“The reason for that being the player can defend themselves if they see it coming and it’s a safer block,” Shaw said.
The Dispatch asked Shaw after his address if he thought the rule would be tough for officials to call at game speed.
“It’s pretty straightforward,” Shaw told The Dispatch. “I think it’s better, but it’s really better for coaches and players because even though the rule is complex, it’s much simpler than it was a year ago. Now, the coaches can coach it and they understand.
“It is absolutely more defined.”
Another change Shaw touched on is the addition of a 10-second runoff. If a call is video reviewed and overturned in the final minute of a half, 10 seconds will be taken off the clock, a penalty that is avoidable with a timeout.
Shaw illustrated the point of the rule with a clip from the Troy-Idaho game last year. Idaho’s quarterback was sacked but threw after his knee hit the ground; it was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. The video review revealed the quarterback’s knee was down and the call was reversed, but Idaho benefitted because if that call had been made at the time, the clock would have continued running and Idaho would have lost a significant chunk of time.
“It gives the offense a great advantage when we go to replay because they can set up their offense where if we rule him down, they would be hard-pressed to get the snap off in less than 10 seconds,” Shaw told The Dispatch. “Now they can be ready to go, but they would never have gotten a play off in less than that.”
Shaw also discussed two other rule additions, one on kickoffs and one on uniforms. The kickoff touchback line will remain the 25-yard line, but now kick returners can call a fair catch anywhere inside the 25 and be awarded a touchback, as opposed to catching the ball in the end zone for a touchback.
Players will now be required to have their knee pads and pants cover their entire knee.
Georgia moving on with ease
It’s hard to imagine a more jarring way to lose a national championship game than the way Georgia did in January, as second-and-26 for its defense turned into something that won’t be forgotten soon.
Georgia seems to be forgetting it well enough.
“Obviously I see it on replays and different ESPN highlights. I got to watch it early on ‘Get Up!’ with Mike Greenberg,” Smart said. “We’re on to the next year, we’re on the next recruit, we’re on to the next strategy, whether tactical, medical or physical.”
Razorbacks aren’t deaf
Arkansas has seen the preseason prognostications. They know that many are picking it to finish last in the SEC West, some even predicting a repeat of the losing season from last year. They know the chatter is there; they also know how to respond to it.
“You can’t help but not to hear it,” Arkansas coach Chad Morris said. “These young men have had to feel that. They’ve had to have that bitter taste in their mouth. It’s something they’ve worked extremely hard about.”
Fitzgerald on another watch list
One day after being named to the Maxwell Award watch list, Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald was on the Davey O’Brien Trophy watch list, given to the nation’s best quarterback.
Fitzgerald was one of 26 quarterbacks on the list.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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