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Rules

Rules seem to be of some significance in college football. We'll usually try to find fun ways to talk about them, if we must.

The many national titles altered by old Big Ten bowl rules

The Big Ten’s skepticism about bowl games shifted a ton of history.

In every way, the XFL is more football

We’ll see if that’s what people want.

Bad Idea Time: Safeties should be worth 11 points

Make football’s rarest scoring play its most valuable, and let the ensuing chaos overtake everything.

Let’s do the WEEK ZERO BIG GAME thing every year

Now that Week 0 is a yearly thing, every Week 0 needs a true primetimer. Here are some good options for 2020.

Postseason bans punish all the wrong people

Point this punishment much more squarely at the institutions themselves.

The 6 biggest lessons of the Early Signing Period era

The introduction of a December signing period has crunched the recruiting calendar and created competing incentives.

Cars: college football recruiting’s most storied currency

The most American invention has always fueled the market of the most American sport.

Explaining Malzahn’s deviously simple trick that ruined Saban’s day

Now we wait for Saban to try this against somebody else.

Bad Idea Time: How to fix football’s dumbest rule

Football’s most bizarre rule awards end zone sideline fumbles to the defense. Let’s simply make that rule consistent with the rest of the field.

Rutgers invented basically nothing about college football

After the first football game, "The Birthplace" had little to do with the sport’s evolution. And was that first game even football?

The hide-and-seek trick play explains a lot about college football

Coaches pushing the limits of trick plays to get an edge? Yes. Players making thrilling plays? Yes. The suits bumbling around to adapt rules on the fly? Absolutely.

The anatomical case that Michael Dyer *wasn’t* down

The internet has long debated whether parts of the Auburn hero touched the ground. They didn’t, according to body part experts.

15 overtime rule ideas, ranging from nah to HELL YEAH

Five professional game designers helped us upgrade the ultimate bonus minigame: football OT.

Since 1882, we’ve been arguing about football overtime

CFB disputes never resolve, often including the games themselves.

The NCAA wants to make up its own subpoena power

For the same reason it wants anything else.

Here’s how few games the new 5-OT rule will impact

These games happen so rarely, it’s not worth getting bent out of shape over.

There’s no real rule against Horns Down

What’s the real violation here: taunting, or making one of the sport’s most powerful schools feel slightly sad?

The really simple way to fix college football’s targeting rule

Players should not be ejected for clearly accidental violations.

The history of CFB neutral-site openers is deeper than you might think

They’re all spiritual successors to games in New York City back in the 1980s ... and the 1890s, too.

9 things to know about how CFB deals with bad weather

Nobody’s really in charge, so responses to inclement weather vary.

Bad Idea Time: Why it should cost one point to punt

Here are seven ways this would make football better.

The 23 steps of pretty much every NCAA investigation

Is your school being accused of breaking the rules? Here’s how the whole saga is likely to play out.

How to start a new bowl game, in 9 simple steps

As told by the people who run them.

NCAA targeting rule will never be perfect, but it’s worth reading

There are a few things the rule requires. There are a few things it does not require.