What we learned from watching TV last week

Whatever happened to the Wildcat?

Wasn't counting, but I believe only five or six times all weekend did a running back take a shotgun snap and threaten a defense with a run-pass option. Where did the Wildcat go? Just last December it was part of nearly every team's arsenal.

Why are coaches still permitted to call timeout during a play?

At the end of regulation time of the sloppy Utah-Pittsburgh game last Thursday, Utes coach Kyle Whittingham kept whispering "timeout" into an official's ear to turn plays into "do-overs." Consecutive tying field goal tries by Pitt K Dan Hutchins were cancelled after the ball left his foot. Whittingham went 1-for-2, wiping out Hutchins' successful three-pointer the first time but also cancelling a missed kick the second time. The coach decided not to play a third hand. It didn't matter; Utah won in OT after Hutchins had tied the game on his third FG try.

Can't this idiotic rule be changed? How about disallowing any timeout calls—other than by a player on the field—once the offensive center touches the ball, or the place-kicker tees up a kickoff?

Can't highly-paid announcers read a rule book?

It looks as though this is the year Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit will be facing a bundle of difficult rules interpretations. There's always one TV announce team that gets burned every year.

Brent and Herbie didn't seem certain LSU's Alfred Blue could be hit by a North Carolina player once he touched Carolina's on-side kick attempt that failed to go 10 yards. They also were confused by the non-whistle on Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor keeping himself off the ground with the back of the same wrist with which he held the football.

I'll accept some credit for knowing the first call was correct: once Blue stepped across the 10-yard restraining line to try to recover the short kickoff he was fair game to be clobbered. But I didn't know the Taylor near-tackle situation: Steadying oneself with the back of the wrist is awfully close to using the forearm, which would have ended the play. I didn't know the back of the wrist was considered the part of the hand, which along with the feet are the only parts of the body a ball-carrier may place on the field and still keep the play alive.

These were odd situations, but Brent and Kirk earn way more money than I do through college football, so maybe we can expect them to bone up on the rule book while lying on the beach next July.

--Bob Boyles