Inside College Sports: Nick Saban’s ally on new football rules committee – CBSSports.com

Alabama athletic director Bill Battle is chairing the new College Football Officiating Competition Committee, giving Alabama coach Nick Saban a valuable ally on a diverse group tasked with examining Division I football’s playing rules.

The 12-member committee includes three active FBS head coaches: Clemson‘s Dabo Swinney, Stanford‘s David Shaw and Nevada‘s Brian Polian. The group recently held its first conference call and will meet in December after the regular season. The idea for the committee, championed by former SEC commissioner Mike Slive, is to take regular big-picture views of college football’s rules as the NFL’s competition committee does in pro football.

One overarching issue the college committee will face: How much offense is too much? The competitive balance between offense and defense remains a contentious topic as defenses struggle to keep up. In each of the past two years, rules changes designed to help defenses got passed by the NCAA Football Rules Committee only to be tabled by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP), an 11-member group with members from all three divisions, such as Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and the volleyball coach from Arkansas Tech.

PROP’s decisions “surprised a lot of people,” said Big Ten officiating coordinator Bill Carollo, a member of the football competition committee. “Not that they don’t have the authority to do it, but what’s the rationale? Where’s the football minds on that committee that decides this rule should be thrown out after the rule was put in? I’m not being critical of it, but the process was broke and I think that’s why there’s a competition committee.”

Only two of the 12 members of the NCAA Football Rules Committee are from the FBS, only one of which is a coach — Air Force’s Troy Calhoun. By contrast, the new competition committee has a member from each of the 10 FBS conferences plus two from the FCS. The members:

* Warde Manuel: Connecticut AD; ex-Michigan defensive tackle
* Dabo Swinney: Clemson coach; ex-Alabama wide receiver
* Bill Carollo: Big Ten officiating coordinator
* Edward Stewart: Big 12 senior associate commissioner; ex-Nebraska All-American linebacker; NCAA Football Rules Committee member
* Bob Gennarelli: MAC deputy commissioner/chief operating officer
* Bob Stull, UTEP AD, ex-head coach at UMass, UTEP, Missouri; longtime Don James assistant at Washington; ex-Kansas State player
* Brian Polian: Nevada coach; former assistant at Buffalo, UCF, Notre Dame, Stanford, Texas A&M; son of former longtime NFL competition committee member Bill Polian
* David Shaw: Stanford coach; ex-Stanford wide receiver; former NFL assistant
* Bill Battle: Alabama AD; ex-Tennessee coach; ex-Alabama tight end/defensive end
* Charlie Cobb: Georgia State AD; ex-N.C. State All-ACC center
* Sean McDonnell: New Hampshire coach; used to have Chip Kelly as his offensive coordinator; ex-New Hampshire defensive back
* Ron Strollo: Youngstown State AD; ex-Youngstown State player; hired Bo Pelini as coach and works for Jim Tressel as president

An NCAA spokesman described the committee as an advisory group for the College Football Officiating Board of Managers that will provide input to the NCAA Football Rules Committee. Keep in mind, there’s also a new Football Oversight Committee. That’s different than the competition committee, which theoretically could make recommendations to the NCAA rules committee on playing rules, safety issues and use of technology.

In recent years, PROP tabled one rule that would have kept offenses from snapping the ball until 10 seconds had elapsed on the play clock, and another that would have adjusted the ineligible man downfield rule from 3 yards to 1 yard (the distance used in the NFL). Defensive coaches have struggled to defend offensive tempo and run/pass options, which sometimes result in a blocker illegally downfield when the ball is actually thrown. College football’s haphazard rules process divided offensive-minded coaches (such as Swinney) and defensive-minded coaches (such as Saban) over what the identity of college football should be.

“They’re not allowed to (have ineligible blockers downfield) in other leagues and we pass rules that say you can’t do it, and then we get it overturned by someone who has their own personal agenda,” Saban said in a July interview with CBS Sports. “We need a competition committee in college football to make decisions based on what’s best for the game, not what’s best for them. There shouldn’t be any self-interest involved. It should be this is what’s best for the game.

“Same thing with pace of play. Officials should at least be able to get set before the ball gets snapped. So why stop the clock on a first down if you’re going to let (the offense) go before the chains are even set? I mean, we created all of this, and if that’s the kind of game we want, than that’s OK. We’ll do the best we can to coach it. But there’s going to be a lot of points scored. I mean, football was a game made without offensive linemen being allowed downfield on passes. That was the original intent of the game.”

Countered Missouri coach Gary Pinkel: “Look, Nick’s a friend of mine. Let’s just make sure the linemen are doing the right things. It’s kind of interesting some people go to rules to try to get things changed, and I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. Creativity is one of the great reasons why the college fans love college football.”

This is the dynamic the new competition committee faces as offense continues to rule college football.

	LSU reinstates player charged with domestic abuse
Does anyone talk a bigger game about player discipline and do less about it quite like LSU‘s Les Miles? Miles made another curious decision this week by reinstating reserve offensive lineman Jevonte Domond to the team despite a pending felony charge for allegedly choking and battering his fiancée. The Times-Picayune reported the charges are still pending and Domond is seeking to be admitted into a pretrial diversion program. “He’s in position to compete to play,” Miles said, according to The Times-Picayune. “We’re letting the disposition of whatever entanglement he’s involved in run its course. He’s not suspended.” Miles presumably believes the charges are going away, telling reporters in July that Domond and his fiancee are “still very much together” and that Domond is “doing well.” According to a police report in May cited by the Baton Rouge Advocate, the fiancée was leaning over the crib of their newborn baby when Domond “grabbed her from behind by the neck,” lifted her off the ground and dropped her. The woman told police she was “slammed” on the couch by Domond, and he bit her on her hip, prompting her to spray him with pepper spray. Domond, who denied strangling or biting the woman, told police his fiancée “pulled a kitchen knife out on him and threatened to cut him” earlier in the day. She told police she did so in self-defense after he pushed her. The police report said at least one person witnessed the fight. There’s nothing the new SEC rule related to violence against women could do in a case like this. That rule prevents players dismissed by another university for serious misconduct from transferring to an SEC school. In this case, there is no dismissal by Miles, who told CBS Sports in July that LSU, unlike Alabama, wouldn’t have accepted defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor given his pending felony charge for domestic abuse and the possibility of a second accusation from another woman. Apparently, Miles is OK accepting back his own players with such a pending charge.
	Coaches, Big 12 seek trademarks
Ohio State officially registered “Urban Meyer” and “Urban Meyer Knows” as trademarks on July 7 to protect its coach’s name on clothing. Here are some other active trademark cases in college sports, according to US Patent and Trademark Office records: * Auburn officially registered “Gus Bus” on June 23 to protect Gus Malzahn on T-shirts. Malzahn’s Arkansas-based company HUNH, LLC, was recently granted an extension of time to file a statement of use for “Hurry Up No Huddle” for glassware and clothing. * USC coach Steve Sarkisian’s company, Sark Enterprises, continues to try to register the trademark “Sark” for clothing and a website. Last December, Sarkisian abandoned his attempt to trademark “Coach Sark” and he’s no longer trying to register “Bark for Sark,” which makes sense since he’s now a Trojan, not a Husky. * At Big 12 media days last month, the conference promoted the phrase “Every Game Matters” but The Dallas Morning News reported “One True Champion” is still the league motto despite the shared 2014 Big 12 title by TCU and Baylor. Perhaps the old motto remains in play because the Big 12 has been applying for a trademark of “One True Champion” since March 2014. The Big 12 wants to register the motto for all goods imaginable, including key chains, license plates, downloadable graphics/wallpaper for phones and computers, bumper stickers, sports bags, beverage glasses, T-shirts and underwear. In April, the Big 12 received a six-month extension of time to file a statement of use.
	Read ’em
Each week this space will highlight some excellent recent work by college sports media on difficult topics to report. * Stewart Mandel of FoxSports.com wrote about the increasing popularity of fantasy college football, which is becoming more mainstream even as it’s at odds with the NCAA’s anti-gambling message * Marc Tracy of The New York Times wrote about the growing number of universities that are no longer selling popular player jersey numbers. * Steve Berkowitz of USA Today Sports reported Florida has a “Will Muschamp Clause” for Jim McElwain’s new contract so the Gators won’t again pay an ex-coach while he’s at another SEC school.
	Quote of the week
“It was in this atmosphere that Coach thanked me for my offer (to be a star soccer player at William & Mary) and gently explained the team was well stocked and he would be tracking my progress with their vaunted JV program, which turned out to be not so much a program as a sign-up sheet in a Greek kid’s dorm room.” — Comedian Jon Stewart on how he began his college soccer career, as he wrote in the foreword of his coach’s 2010 book. As a senior, Stewart (then known as Jon Leibowitz) scored the winning goal in the ECAC championship game to send William & Mary to the NCAA Tournament. There it is, your Moment of Zen.

Follow and read more from Jon Solomon on Facebook and Twitter.