The NCAA does not currently limit such opportunities, but the Big 12 will now join the Pac-12 and Ivy League in allowing schools to tackle players to the ground and engage in full-speed blocking only two days per week once the season begins.
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Speaking from the Omni Dallas Hotel in Dallas, Texas, Bowlsby noted that while there is some dissent among Big 12 presidents on the subject of expansion he believes that most Big 12 presidents and athletic directors are content with the conference’s current configuration of 10 schools.
The Big 12 wants to set a new standard when it comes to contact rules.
The Big 12 coaches asked about the new rule on Monday were proponents of it. “Twenty years ago, there were a lot more teams that said you have to practice a certain way, you have to get your hits in, and you have to be in pads to do that”.
“There’s a false sense of we’re just trying to bang our kids around”.
“I think we’ll have the prerogative at some point in time to consider and implement a playoff game if we choose to, but our ADs have been very thoughtful about it and our CEOs have been very thoughtful about it”, Bowlsby said. The national rule is three.
The Big 12’s new sportsmanship policy isn’t taking a hard line on court and field storming, Bowlsby said. “We think that, properly managed, those situations can be a lot of fun”. It’s only assumed the Big 12’s blanking in 2014 was a blip.
“I have a round thing”, Bowlsby said. Bowlsby said it wasn’t necessarily the case. “My experiences with him so far have been terrific”. Patterson blocks out all the talk, good and bad, saying that while everything they’ve accomplished at TCU is “all great and fine … it’s kind of like winning any awards”.
“To create the humidity to make sure that we play like TCU teams are supposed to play”, Patterson said. However, he acknowledged scheduling decisions impact the whole league in terms of perception.
Bowlsby is a man with options, even if most will end up in the trash. He said the change “is identical to what our needs are”.
Bowlsby said the discussion will continue.
Baylor, last season’s other co-champion, was picked second, followed by Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas. In my first report, I laid out three scenarios based on the information received. We’ve been that way, really, since we’ve been at TCU.
Another problem with this list is, it doesn’t have Houston on it. If there is going to be a no-brainer in Big 12 expansion, it is the Cougars. There isn’t a part of the recruiting process that isn’t under one of the areas he said they needed to work on. He also pointed out that the game matching the two highest-ranked teams on Championship Saturday last season was not a conference championship game, but the Kansas State-Baylor game.
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Kansas State’s Bill Snyder and West Virginia’s Dana Holgorsen echoed those sentiments.
