Player Safety in College Football

Toward that end, once the current tug-of-war for the soul of the sport ends Thursday when the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel votes on the 10-second rule, there should be a serious study about the number and type of exposures to contact that lead to the most injuries and the most serious injuries.

Logic and common sense also would say that if you play 12 regular-season games, a conference championship game and two playoff games, you have more exposures than if you play 11 regular-season games and a bowl game.

Do more players get hurt when Football Bowl Subdivision programs with 85 scholarships play Football Championship Subdivision programs with 63 scholarships? Let’s stop saying things like “our game’s getting to where it’s not about blocking and tackling; it’s about how fast we can go so they can’t get lined up,” as Saban did in the ESPN.com article, and keep the focus on player safety.

Common sense and logic say that, when you keep throwing in subjects such as competitive balance and officials’ readiness and how the game should be played from a style standpoint, you lose that focus on the most important issue of all.