Faster pace changes game for coaches and officials

CHICAGO - When someone asks Indiana's Kevin Wilson about playing fast, the quick-talking football coach sounds more like an auctioneer than a football guru.

Indiana employs an up-tempo offensive attack with a preference on fast snaps, ranging from 10-to-13 seconds depending on the variables. Some of those are based on substitution and alignment. Other times, it's the officials getting in the Hoosiers' way.

That's when Wilson's mouth really gets to humming.

'What I don't like is if it's less than two minutes, is it OK to go fast because the game's (in the balance)?” Wilson said. 'Isn't the game on the line all the time? What if I'm down 10 points, I need two possessions, Can I start with four minutes to go?”

Wilson describes how an official might spot the ball in 10 seconds during a two-minute drill but closer to 20 seconds earlier in the game. Inconsistency drives all coaches crazy, whether it's from the players or officials. So for a speed-based program in the brawny Big Ten, any second wasted could squander an opportunity.

'I'm down 13 with five and a half minutes (to go). If I get a score and a stop and score again, I'm in this,” Wilson said. 'But I've got to score so put the dadgum ball down.”

Pace of play has become a topic as the sport has changed. With college football games averaging nearly 10 more plays than they did just five years ago, that puts a premium on officials, who try to find new ways to keep up with up-tempo offensive attacks.

'Coaches worry about it,” said Bill Carollo, supervisor of Big Ten officials. 'They might ask, ‘How are you going to do it this week?' I go to the coaches' meetings and we go to the clinics and I say, ‘We're going to handle it the same way as we did last week.' Wisconsin goes pretty slow, they huddle up, not a lot of pressure. When they go to Indiana, they know, ‘OK, in our pregame we need to talk about this.'”

Some of that communication comes with the coach; other times it's with the quarterback and center. Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld relays his preference before games and often he'll have on-field chats as the game progresses.

'We'll just kind of communicate, ‘Hey, can you make sure you're putting it down fast. We don't want to have to wait for you.' Things like that,” Sudfeld said. 'There is communication and just talking to them like, ‘Hey Nate, you're good. Go.'”

The Big Ten added an eighth official last year and its responsibilities were streamlined this year. The center judge lines up in the backfield to the left of the referee. The center judge primarily spots the ball and must be in position before the snap. If an offense snaps the ball too quickly, officials will shut it down.

Prominent Big Ten referee John O'Neil officiated a game last year involving two non-league teams that featured a combined 223 plays. O'Neil said the teams were skeptical of the crew, partly because of the Big Ten's methodical reputation.

'We explained to them our only requirement: the center judge has to be required to clear that deepest back,” O'Neil said. 'If we stay out of their way, they'll stay out of ours.”

'You might beat the defense but you beat us, too, and we can't let you run a play unless all eight officials are in place,” Carollo said.

But how quickly the officials move is open to interpretation. When he was an assistant at Northwestern from 1999-2001. Wilson said multiple officials told him they refused to allow the Wildcats to play fast. That has loosened up, but Wilson said last year when All-American running back Tevin Coleman was stopped after a long run, the umpire walked the final 20 yards. It's not only the officials that offer resistance to his fast-paced offense, either.

'When you're on the road, that chain crew ain't spotting ‘er very fast,” he said. 'It's all espionage and everybody is stealing everybody's stuff and there's no secrets in the world.”

College football is unlikely to revert to a slower game, something Carollo recognizes. Officials are trained to spot the ball quickly and allowing snaps in 14 seconds - without substitution - seems reasonable to Carollo. Physical fitness has become an emphasis for officials because, as Carollo says, 'We don't want to interrupt the game ourselves because in the fourth quarter we can't get there.”

Even with some restrictions, the Hoosiers averaged 23.93 seconds per play last year, behind only Northwestern (22.52) among Big Ten teams. That's downright speedy compared to eighth-fastest Iowa (25.78) or No. 14 Michigan (29.59). Among Big Ten coaches, concern arises when one team - from either style - gains an advantage with officials. For instance, should one crew spot the ball in 10 seconds for one team and 17 for the other? Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said pace of play became a topic in Big Ten coaches meetings this off-season.

'There were opposite ends of the room, as you might imagine,” Ferentz said. 'I think the biggest thing is just having a fair opportunity for both sides. If you're defensively playing against a fast, up-tempo team, you've got to have a chance to substitute and get your communications done and all those types of things. But the guys that are high tempo, they're advocating for faster tempo.

'I think adding the center judge is a great thing. I wonder why that didn't happen 20 years ago.”

A two-minute drill adds urgency for offenses, officials usually spot the ball faster. Wilson advocates for a similar pace throughout the game. Ferentz, whose program employs both hurry-up and slowdown methods, recognizes the situational nuance.

'Pull up the national championship. It's the biggest game of the year,” Wilson said. 'Watch how fast them referees got out of the way. For what it's worth. This is for all the marbles. The game's on the line and let's roll. Sometimes I feel there's agendas.”

'It's kind of like there are a separate set of rules,” Ferentz said. 'There's some things that can pose some logistical problems in that situation. But for the most part I think we all accept that as being part of the deal in that period of the game or period of the half.”

What the officials and coaches can agree upon is a desire for consistency.

'There's always a human element,” Wilson said. 'I don't dislike instant replay, but I like the human element. Guys are going to miss calls. I don't think we get bad calls. I just want guys to be on point and give us a Big Ten performance.”

'Overall, you just want a fair field, a level field,” Ferentz said.

BY THE NUMBERS (PER FBS TEAM, PER GAME)

OFFENSIVE PLAYS

- 2010: 68.4; 2014: 72.0

PUNTS

- 2010: 4.8; 2014: 5.1

KICKOFFS

- 2010: 5.46; 2014: 5.67

FG ATTEMPTS

- 2010: 1.5; 2014 - 1.6

EXTRA-POINTS

- 2010: 3.38; 2014: 3.58

2-PT ATTEMPTS

- 2010: 0.15; 2014: 3.58

PENALTIES

- 2010: 6.01; 2014: 5.90

TOTAL

- 2010: 89.7; 2014: 93.98

BIG TEN SECONDS PER PLAY

1. Northwestern, 22.52

2. Indiana 23.93

3. Illinois 24.48

4. Maryland 24.83

5. Purdue 24.90

6. Nebraska 24.96

7. Penn State 25.71

8. Iowa 25.78

9. Ohio State 25.79

10. Michigan State 27.70

11. Rutgers 27.91

12. Minnesota 28.72

13. Wisconsin 29.13

14. Michigan 29.59

(Compiled with information from www.cfbstats.com and www.ncaa.com)

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com