The great 12th game debate in college football

By PETE DIPRIMIO

The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Ind.)

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Let's say you're a college football player and you have the choice between doing what you love best in front of, say, 70,000 people and a national television audience, or doing more mind-numbing drills before the same coaches who have just chewed you out?

It's a no-brainer, says Purdue quarterback Brandon Kirsch.

"Players want to play as many games as possible," he says.

Are you kidding me, asks Indiana offensive lineman Adam Hines.

"We work out 365 days a year, sometimes twice a day," Hines says. "We only get 11 shots. It would be nice to get another one under your belt."

What do you expect, asks Purdue coach Joe Tiller.

"If it was up to the players, they'd only practice 15 or 16 times and then play 15 or 16 games. That's the way young people think." - College Football -

College football is going to 12 regular season games next year and if players see opportunity, coaches sense misery. Concerned about injuries and wear and tear, Atlantic Coast Conference coaches voted 12-0 against adding a game. Big Ten coaches were opposed. The Knight Commission, a watchdog group for college athletics, didn't want it. NCAA President Myles Brand didn't care. The NCAA Division I-A board of directors, prodded by financially strapped athletic directors, added a game anyway.

"I don't know many coaches who were for it," Northwestern coach Randy Walker says.

Actually, he knows one - Indiana's Terry Hoeppner.

"Let's play 14 games," he says. "I know I'm the lone wolf. I want to keep playing."

Mention a 12th game to Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and you get the sense we're headed toward damnation. - College Football -

"My major issue is that somewhere down the road a lot of these same people who voted for a 12th game will vote for a 13th game," he says.

Carr takes a deep breath. His eyes narrow. This must be the look Wolverines get when they blow an assignment. Imagine Charlton Heston as Moses seeing the Chosen People worshipping false gods. Yeah, it's that intense. - College Football -

"My belief is that anybody who supports (a 13th) game is betraying the concept of the student-athlete," he says. "We played 12 games before, so it's here. When they get ready for the 13th game, and they will, anybody who supports that is not taking into consideration what a student-athlete goes through. If that happens, they should pay players."

Maybe Carr had a bad breakfast. Or maybe he needs to walk a mile in Tiller's shoes. The Boilers will play 13 games next year without an open date and Tiller, when he's not worrying about how his team will survive it, wonders what's in it for football.

"It doesn't appear that much is coming back to our sport."

Tiller refers to the financial impact. The extra income (Purdue makes around $1.3 million per home game, less than half of what Michigan and Ohio State and Penn State make) will likely go to aiding the athletic program.

Football coaches understand the need. Athletic department budget deficits - much like bad reality TV shows - have become the norm and more money is needed. Still, coaches would like something for their trouble. - College Football -

"Coaches felt that if we added a 12th game, we'd get some relief regarding scholarship numbers," Tiller says. "We didn't. Athletic directors argued that you played 12 games two years ago and didn't need more scholarships, why do you need them now?"

Coaches say extra scholarships - football gets 85 - would provide more depth and lead to less injury. Because the addition of an extra game came without lengthening the season, teams will have to schedule games on what previously was an open date.

"Look at the injuries and the pressures players are under," Illinois coach Ron Zook says. "It's imperative to have an open date." - College Football -

Actually, it's imperative to have home games. Because every Division I-A program wants that money, because easy opponents would ease coaches' win-or-else burden, you're more likely to see matchups with Division I-AA programs such as Indiana State and Illinois State rather than, say, this year's Texas at Ohio State showdown.

"We want to find somebody who wants to play at our place," Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez says. "It will be fit in to complement our other non-conference games."

Complementing games or not, with a season full of possibilities ahead of them, players are ready to rock somebody's world. - College Football -

"Maybe by the end of the year," says Purdue's Kirsch, "when everybody is bruised and tired, we might think differently, but right now, we're thinking let's play as many games as possible."

Just don't tell Lloyd Carr.