Spurrier No Fan of "Saban" Rule

You've probably heard of the proposal to slow down HUNH offenses by requiring offenses not to snap the ball until 10 seconds have elapsed from the play clock. If it had any effect on the Gamecocks, that effect would probably be beneficial to a team that generally relies on quality defense and a ball-control offense that incorporates little HUNH. Does that mean that our visor-wearing Head Ball Coach is in favor of rule? Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised, but no.

The HBC derisively refers to the potential change as the "Saban rule," and he has the following to say about it:

It's ridiculous," Spurrier told USA Today. "Let's let everybody keep playing the way they've been playing. To me, that's part of football. The 'no-huddle' has always been available. I don't see why we'd take it away right now."

You have to give Spurrier credit. Long hated by rival fans for tossing humorous insults and running up the score, Spurrier is at least consistent. He doesn't complain about sportsmanship when he's on the losing end of the kind of butt-kicking he would like to be the one distributing. His response to this rule seems of a piece with that attitude. The rule seems largely designed to forego the traditional rules of football in favor of a particularly influential partisan's style of play. Although some have cited injuries to defensive players as a rationale for the rule, there's little evidence that the HUNH causes unnecessary injuries on defensive players. Without such a rationale, there's little to this rule other than a push to change the rules of the game to benefit a particular set of programs that would rather change the way the game is played than figure out a way to compete on the intrinscally same but constantly evolving playing field that's always existed. Kudos to Spurrier for wanting to win on the game's terms rather than rigging the game to his style.