New Helmet Rule Is Bad For The Gamecocks (And everyone else too)

In one smart, calculated and respectable move, the NCAA made the game of college football safer. They implemented a rule that forces players to stop playing if their helmet comes off in-game. That is a rule I can stand behind. Then, in one idiotic, misguided and incomprehensible move, they added a gross parasite onto it. If a players helmet comes off in-game, that player has to come out of the contest for one play. This rule is bad news for the Gamecocks, and bad news for all of college football.

I didn’t crunch any numbers, but in my experience watching college football, most helmets pop off at the line of scrimmage. Most of the time it happens during or after running plays. South Carolina’s two biggest strengths are its defensive line and its running game. Back to this in a moment.

Much like charging in basketball, teams will figure out a way to exploit this terrible rule. Auburn already did. I’m not calling them dirty, but every time Taj Boyd’s helmet came off in that Tiger vs Tiger battle, it was an Auburn player who ripped it off. The players weren’t committing face mask penalties, instead they tackled him in a head lock and ripped their arms upward which naturally caused the helmet to pop off.

All weekend helmets were coming off at the bottom of pileups, while referees were looking down field and in many other “legal” ways.

If Missouri, Georgia, Florida et. al can take Marcus Lattimore’s helmet off at the bottom of a pile in late in the fourth quarter of a close game, don’t you think they will? For that matter, if a Gamecocks player could get Aaron Murray’s helmet off without being flagged, most fans would hope that player would do it.

At least one game (probably more) will be won or lost (depending on who you root for) because of this rule.

By the end of the season the NCAA will probably realize it went to far and strip this down to the bones. They’ll make it so if a helmet comes off the player has to stop playing and nothing more.

That’s the way it should be.