Northwestern hosts Illinois at Wrigley Field on Saturday.
Although the field was approved months ago by Big Ten officials, apparently the teams expressed some concern that the (heavily padded) wall on one end of the field was way too close to the end zone.
So the solution? For this game, teams will swap ends of the field on every change of posession so that whoever is on offense is always moving toward the “safe” endzone. The teams will also switch sidelines at halftime.
Is that crazy or what? Has a game ever been played like that before (except in someone’s backyard?)
I think it’s genius. It was going to be a dangerous situation, and they addressed it. Nice to see. At the end of the day, no college football fan wants to see players get hurt because of the bloody field design.
As for turnovers returned for a TD… that would present much less of an issue as all the player has to do is break the plane of the endzone. It’s the pass plays to the rear of the endzone that would get dicey.
Since the potential problem is with players overrunning the back of the end zone and into the wall, there shouldn’t be any problem with turnovers being run back; the problem would be with passes to the back of the end zone or something like that, where the receiver and DB might well have a lot of momentum heading into that wall.
Anyone who scored on a run-back would have the full ten yards of end zone to slow down.
It’s a bit amazing that they got this far into the process before deciding that this is a problem, but it’s not a bad solution. Kind of a bad deal for anyone with seats in the right field stands, though.
Yeah, if the defense scores (interception, fumble recovery, returned kick, whatever) the play happens right at the front of the end zone. Not really an issue.
I wonder how much it will slow down the game, though. I change of possession at the 20 YL means both teams have to line up for the next play at the other end of the field.
It’s a decent solution, but someone should have realized this was going to be a problem months and months ago. There’s no reason that the Big Ten should have had to step in 24 hours before the game and change the rules for player safety. Everyone involved in putting this game together should be embarrassed.
I’d be really pissed if I had bought tickets in the East endzone bleachers. Those seats looked awesome…until they decided all the action would be at the other end.
ETA: that’s what I get for taking a phone call before hitting submit. Everyone above me made my points.
Good lord, Mandel is going a little overboard. It’s not a “mockery” and does not break the “integrity of the game”. It’s a bit of a funny situation but it doesn’t really affect the actual game conditions at all.
I’m glad to hear this, because I hope it will discourage them from ever playing this game again.
There’s a reason the Bears stopped playing at Wrigley Field–because it isn’t a football stadium. And since the Bears left it has gotten worse, because the field has gotten smaller (due to additional seats) and the Cubs won’t allow them to run temporary bleachers alongside the field. The vast majority of the ridiculously overpriced seats for this game are going to suck.
Look, even though I’m a White Sox fan, I like Wrigley Field. Really, I do. It’s a nice place to watch a baseball game. But it isn’t a football stadium. Play the Illinois game in Dyche Stadium where it belongs, where the seats would cost a third as much and be three times better. Fuck this Wrigley Field crap.
Have they planned out what to do for the extra point in an interception is returned for a touchdown? Just finish it out there, or move all the way down to the other side of the field? Whati f they want to go for two?
There’s another consideration-in Wrigley, the sun field is right field. Now, that is in the summer, not late fall, when the sun’s location may be offset, but the offenses will then all be going into the sun, which can’t be easy when you’re trying to complete passes.
If I’ve got the alignment of Wrigley correct in my head, then right field is in the east, and the offenses will be driving toward the 3rd base dugout in the west. The receivers and DBs who have to look up for the ball will be looking back to the east, so the sun shouldn’t make too much of a difference. Anyway, I don’t know the forecast, but I’m pretty sure a late November day near Lake Michigan has a good chance of being cloudy.
