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BIG TEN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYSJuly 24, 2018Bill CarolloChicago, Illinois THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Bill Carollo. BILL CAROLLO: Good morning. And welcome to the Big Ten's Media Day. By all accounts, last season, in 2017, it was a very successful season for our officials. And we look forward to the bar being set even higher this coming fall. Our game is in good shape. But each of us share the responsibility for preserving and growing our great game, including our officiating program. As the game evolves, we look to all involved -- the players, the coaches, the fans and our officials to give them a fresh approach. We've seen and experienced several new rule changes the past several years, all for the betterment of the game. Most of these rule changes have to do with player safety. And this will still continue to be our number one priority and our focus for this coming season. In 2018, you'll see several major changes that will be noticeable. First of all, you'll notice that the players have to be properly equipped. If the players' pants and uniform aren't following the guidelines in the rule book, we'll strictly enforce the rules, and the players won't be allowed to play if the uniforms don't confine to the rules. You can see by the definitions here and also by the illustration here what's compliant and not compliant. The knees have to be covered. You have to have kneepads in there, but the knees have to be covered. The midriff has to be covered also. The T-shirts have to be tucked in. And all pads have to be covered. So this will be a message that we sent to all the coaches already in the spring. And also this coming fall in the August practices we'll be monitoring that and enforcing it in our practices, because they won't be allowed to play if they come on the field and not be properly equipped. Also, secondly, you'll see something that will change as far as on all kickoffs and after all free kicks and touchdowns, the 40-second clock, the play clock, will be started immediately. This has been a point of emphasis the last couple of years, the length of game, the pace of play. What we're looking at is trying to take out some of the dead time between plays, not to eliminate plays, but to kill some of the time in between to keep the pace of play going. So the ball, after a touchdown or after a kickoff, the play clock will be set at 40 and it will be wind. We'll get the thing going. Secondly, on player safety, there's two rules there that are significant. On all kickoffs now, free kicks, if the player on the receiving team signals for a fair catch and he's inside the 25-yard line, and he completes the catch after the signal, any type of signal, the ball will be dead and the ball will be awarded at the 25-yard line. So, those pooch kicks that are in the side zones that we're trying to eliminate in the game because it has proven out to our testing and reviewing that some major injuries have happened on kickoffs. So we're not going to eliminate kickoffs. We're taking a stepped approach. But if a fair catch occurs inside the 25-yard line we'll award the ball at the 25-yard line. Another significant change has to do with low blocks. You've seen us change the rules on the low blocks the last 10 years. Maybe eight out of the last 10 years we've tweaked the low-blocking rule and continue to add and change the rule that low blocking is illegal with certain exceptions. One exception rule this year if a player on offense is downfield at five yards or more, it is illegal to block low. So low blocks down field now are just like punts, kickoffs change of possessions; they cannot block low five yards beyond the line of scrimmage. There are no changes to the targeting rule. We discussed it in the offseason quite a bit. We feel that we're comfortable we're at that today. Sometimes the coaches are not as comfortable as we are. But player safety is still the number one priority for us. In 2016, we had 16 targeting calls that were enforced in the Big Ten. 2017, we jumped to 25 targeting calls. And so that was a pretty big increase, but across the nation, targeting has been up about 32 percent overall last year. I think we've done a better job at recognizing targeting on the field. And I think because last year we've put into the rules that the replay, if we do miss it on the field, that targeting can be created in replay. And that's why we had quite a few more reviews last year, especially in the targeting area. We went from 226 reviews totally in the Big Ten to 256. So replays are up, stoppages are up, but a lot of it has to do with player safety and targeting and the targeting rule. Officiating is not a perfect science, but we're confident that our staff today is properly prepared and ready for the challenge for 2018. I think you've heard from the coaches that the teams are as good as we've ever seen, at least in my 10 years. The coaching staff is as good as I've ever seen in my 10 years. And you know what? I really believe our officiating staff is up to the challenge, and they're as good as I've ever seen under our direction here over the Big Ten. So this time of the year is my favorite time of the year. Everybody's undefeated. We haven't made a mistake. So I'm excited about the season. And so with that, I'll end my opening statement and take any questions. Q. Coaches, I know they're paid millions of dollars, if they screw up, they have to go face the media. But players aren't paid, and they have to face us. What would you say as the head official at each game having to face the media after and have to answer, because everybody makes mistakes on all ends. But if the student-athlete has to face the media, why shouldn't a paid, grown adult? BILL CAROLLO: We do have a mechanism in place today to address your concern. It's a pool reporter after the game. If there's one or two calls in the game that specifically you want to have a better understanding, a definition of why that was targeting, why this person was disqualified from the game or why it wasn't or was it a touchdown. The problem is when you want the official to walk to the podium like this without seeing any tape, any video of that, they certainly can address it with the pool reporter, but certainly right now across the country the NCAA doesn't allow that. And conference policy is the same, except for the pool reporter. Q. On targeting, I think one of the main criticisms is the inconsistent interpretation, application of the rule that we don't know what targeting is. We see some that are called that look obvious and then are not or are overturned. We see others that look rather benign or at least there wasn't intent there, and it's called targeting and the player is ejected. Can you take us through the protocol of what targeting is, how you define it and how you refined that process of identifying targeting to get it out of the game? BILL CAROLLO: Good question. When we get together with coordinators across the country, our number one concern is targeting. Player safety rightly so. But also the consistency, to your point. So we are very inconsistent across the country. We try to put tapes -- I have every single targeting play across the country -- and we bring that, boil it down, show all the coordinators. We take it to replay -- I host the national replay clinic each year here in Chicago. We bring in about 300 replay people. We try to give them the basics as far as what is targeting. You have to have some indicators. You have to have an indicator. We have to first define what is targeting. There's two versions of it -- 9.1.3 and 9.1.4. 9.1.3 is basically don't use the top of your helmet, the crown of your helmet. And we keep refining what the definition of "crown" is. But if you target, go after, take aim at an opponent and use the top of your helmet, go in and lead with that, you're going to hurt yourself versus your opponent. So that's one part of the rule. Most of the targeting calls, I think it's nine out of ten calls, they're not with the crown. They're hitting the opponent above the shoulders, in the head and neck area, with force -- so it's got to be above the shoulders, with forceable contact -- and it has to have an indicator. Indicator meaning that he has to thrust upward, he has to launch, he has to take aim, et cetera. And if it's just a normal -- what we tell them, a normal tackle would be with your head up, a wrap-up with your arms and trying to get your head to the side. If you have those good indicators there's a good chance you won't get that. Football has a lot of risk in it. And it can be a dangerous game in certain plays. And targeting is our biggest area because of the head and neck area. So having everyone on the same page with the definition and having everyone know that there's got to be an indicator. And if you don't have an indicator, even though it's a big hit and the player's injured, good chance you won't have targeting. So it's in the eyes of the beholder, but people are a little confused on using -- when the crown is, when he's a defenseless player and knowing when a defenseless player is is really important. That basically is a person, a player that cannot defend himself. If he doesn't see it coming, you better not hit him high and into the head. And that's a pretty good general, layman's definition of what we're looking for. Q. Following up on that, any consideration given to different penalties in targeting based on what appears intentional or incidental, because ejections can seem extreme to some? BILL CAROLLO: Right. The penalty is severe. Right? Disqualification for the rest of the game or if it's the second half you could be disqualified for the next game for the first half. We've talked a lot about, a little bit like soccer -- you know, two yellow cards equal a red card. Flagrant 1, flagrant 2 in basketball. A lot was discussed. And there was a little bit of momentum with the coaches, thinking that might be better. And I felt that every time you lowered the bar a little bit, you know, you give away something. And I really felt that -- I like where our rule is at. We just have to get it right. We can't make mistakes. So that's why we introduced replay into a targeting because those plays happen pretty fast on the field. Where did he get them? Did he dip his helmet? Did he lead with the crown, etc.? Did he get him in the shoulder? Did he slide up? Where was the greatest force? We looked at a lot of alternatives because it's difficult. But with replay and people sitting at home and the media and putting -- having great camera angles for all of our games -- we feel that we're going to get a very high percentage of those targeting calls correct. We had 25 last year. There were a couple that I did not love. So we weren't perfect in targeting. But I would err on the side of safety. I'd rather have our officials, who are trained and we spend the majority of our time, when I do a training tape every week, if it's 15 to 20 plays, half the plays have to do with targeting, so we get the same message out: This is a good call; this could have been overturned and reviewed and replay it and dismissed. So we looked at it. It didn't pass the rules committee and the competition committee. And I think that the competition committee was pretty strong and firm and the oversight committee that they wanted the rule to be as tough as it could be just to change the player safety. So, if we make a couple of mistakes and incorrectly throw somebody out, we feel really bad. But at the same time we're going to err on that side. Q. The play ends when somebody's helmet comes off, what's to prevent, say, an offensive player who is streaking down the sideline towards the touchdown and a defender just launches helmet to end the play. Is that possible? Or is that just speculative? BILL CAROLLO: A lot of times when I get hypothetical questions, I say, Scott, send me the video and we'll answer that question. But there's rules in the game as far as -- I'm not sure it was the runner or his teammate or his opponent that takes his helmet. If your helmet comes off for any reason, even though I pull it off, you have to freeze and you cannot continue to play, because if you're live, running around without a helmet on someone will hit you just reacting to it. Obviously without the helmet it's very, very dangerous. There's rules, there's unsportsmanlike conduct rules that we can insert in there and give that person. But it wouldn't automatically stop -- if I'm running down the field my opponent takes his helmet off to try to kill the play, he kills himself, he doesn't kill the play. Q. I'm curious about the timing after the touchdown situation. It's a three-and-a-half-hour football game and maybe there will be six or eight touchdowns scored, maybe ten, who knows, and someone has decided that they're going to carve a little bit of time after each team scores a touchdown potentially, hopefully. This is a game of spontaneity, excitement. These kids work 12 months out of the year. They score a touchdown and it just feels like people in some ivory tower taking away their moment. I don't know, just hurry up, hurry up give us the ball, we've got to spot it and kick the extra point. I think you're going to have some pushback on that. BILL CAROLLO: There may be some pushback out there. Although last year we experimented with the play clock in Big Ten stadiums -- and now it's going to be universal in every Big Ten stadium -- right when the plays end, when we go to timeout they'll have a 40-second clock. So everyone knows the clock. I've explained it to the coaches. After every touchdown I think everybody knows what the next play is. It's going to be an extra point. They might kick it. They might go for two. If it's a routine touchdown, right down the middle of the field, he didn't drop the ball, he goes right through the goal post, there's no question, it's clean. Replay is not going to stop it. They'll look at it, put 40 seconds on, let it run. If it's a close play on the sideline, and he had to dive over the pylon, he might have stepped out of bounds. More than likely the replay has to confirm every single touchdown. So there's going to be a percentage of those plays that are going to be stopped automatically by replay. It will start at 40. It will go down to 25. It will continue to go down. If we don't have it stopped under 20 and have it figured out and call it to the field and say it's a good touchdown, verify it, then we will stop it, look at it, confirm it. And now we're right back to where we used to be -- 25 seconds, where do you want the ball, et cetera. Are we going to gain a whole lot of time? Probably not. We did some things last year that were significant. Two years ago we went a real strict 20 minutes after halftime, not 22, not 22 1/2, which we were averaging in the Big Ten. And we took out four minutes of the game. Last year we went down two minutes. We went from three hours and 20 minutes to 3:18. Our officials don't get paid on it; we could careless to be honest with you, and I might agree with you on your thought there, saving a few seconds. But those types of plays the touchdown, you're gonna kick an extra points after. A kickoff, teams coming in, they know they're getting the ball. The teams should be ready, so they have to be a little more organized than they have in the past. If they don't, they could take a timeout and buy their way back in. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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