NCAA approves new kickoff rule
A fair catch on a kickoff received inside the 25-yard line will result in a touchback next season after a proposed rule change was approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel.
The NCAA announced yesterday the adoption of several rule changes, including changes aimed at moving games along.
The most notable involved kickoffs, which both college and professional football rule-makers acknowledge produce an inordinate number of injuries. In the hopes of creating fewer returns and more touchbacks, kickoffs were moved from the 30-yard line to the 35 in 2012 and the starting position after a touchback was moved up from the 20 to the 25.
Since then a popular strategy developed where teams instruct kickers to kickoff high and often toward the sideline, short of the end zone, in an effort to pin the returner inside the 25. Now those kicks can be fair caught and instead of the ball being placed at the spot of the catch, it will be placed at the 25.
Other changes approved include a package of rules regarding blocking below the waist.
Regarding pace of play the panel approved two proposals:
The first is that after a touchdown, the play clock will be set at 40 seconds to expedite the extra point or two-point conversion attempt.
And second, following a kickoff, the play clock will be set to 40 seconds to restart play more quickly.
NASCAR: Buschs go 1-2
Kyle and Kurt Busch haven’t always seen eye-to-eye.
But as years have passed NASCAR’s iciest sibling rivalry has thawed a little bit, at least to the point where they can joke around much more.
Kurt Busch did just that after Kyle Busch edged him out by 0.002 seconds to take the pole for the Cup Series race yesterday at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
“I can walk up to him and say, ‘Yeah, I let you have it’ and he will giggle. He will actually laugh,” Kurt Busch said.
It marks the third time the Busch brothers have started on the front row together, and the first since 2013. In all three cases, Kyle started first and Kurt second.
There was a time when the Busch brothers rarely spoke at all. But Kurt Busch said they do communicate much better now.
“It’s better now with age,” he said of their relationship. “Like wine, it gets better with time. You let it settle.”
Kyle Busch is coming off a victory last week at Texas Motor Speedway.
He had the only Toyota in the top 10 yesterday. He was followed by four Fords, with Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five. In all seven Fords will start in the top 10.
Misc.: Champions semifinals
Two-time defending champion Real Madrid will play Bayern Munich in the Champions League soccer semifinals.
The two teams, who have a combined 17 European titles, have never met in the final but this will be their seventh semifinal meeting in the 63-year-old competition.
In the other semifinal, Liverpool was drawn to face Roma in a repeat of the 1984 final. The English team won that match in the Italian club’s home stadium.
The first legs will be played on April 24-25 with the return games on May 1-2. The final is scheduled for May 26 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine . . . .
Siena coach Jimmy Patsos resigned, weeks after the college opened what has become a wide-ranging investigation that unearthed allegations of problems ranging from abusive conduct to financial improprieties within the program. The move came more than a month after the end of an 8-24 season.