Northwestern, Illinois make changes for Wrigley

C.P. · Nov 19, 2010

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP)—Northwestern, Illinois and the Big Ten have agreed to run their offenses in only one direction Saturday at Wrigley Field because of concerns that the stadium’s outfield wall is too close to the field behind one end zone.

Illinois sports information director Kent Brown said Friday the conferences and schools agreed that the offenses will run only toward the west end zone.
Brown said the schools and conference were concerned that plays could run into the outfield wall behind the east end zone. The wall is heavily padded for the game but still only a couple of feet from the field.
Illinois coach Ron Zook and some of his players said this week they were very aware of proximity of the wall to the field. Zook had said it could affect the play calling.

MAKES GOOD SENSE... :103631605

goblue12 · Nov 19, 2010

FairWarning · Nov 19, 2010

I saw that, thats amazing.

TheFalls · Nov 19, 2010

How do you score on defense?

YourAllAmerican · Nov 19, 2010

The Falls said:
How do you score on defense?

It's Northwestern and Illinois. That's not an issue.

C.P. · Nov 19, 2010

It only takes one time to hit that wall...

So YES, it's an issue...

This was the right call...

viking611 · Nov 19, 2010

whole game is a joke, just like that shit hole wrigley field. they can't get anything right in that place...

FairWarning · Nov 19, 2010

The Falls said:
How do you score on defense?

run it into the endzone toward the outfield. the offense just starts from the outfield.

FairWarning · Nov 19, 2010

viking611 said:
whole game is a joke, just like that shit hole wrigley field. they can't get anything right in that place...

Embrace Wrigley.

C.P. · Nov 19, 2010

FairWarning said:
Embrace Wrigley.

+1...

2PLAYSMAX · Nov 19, 2010

How do you get this close to gameday and make that change?

I was looking forward to the decapitation.

JakeT. · Nov 19, 2010

How did they not see this happening?

C.P. · Nov 19, 2010

Jake T. said:
How did they not see this happening?

Not sure....but the local Sports Media, here...was going Crazy about this...

Again, GOOD CALL

bucsfan67 · Nov 19, 2010

this could trun out to be a train wreck, ESPECIALLY if someone DOES get hurt....god forbid, but if they do, the monday morning qb's will be all over this....and how much drag is this gonna put on the game as well..everytime you punt, you are gonna have to walk the ball to the other end of the field and the teams moving toward same endzone, really gonna seem weird....guy is liable to intercept and forget which way he's supposed to run

C.P. · Nov 19, 2010

bucsfan67 said:
this could trun out to be a train wreck, ESPECIALLY if someone DOES get hurt....god forbid, but if they do, the monday morning qb's will be all over this....and how much drag is this gonna put on the game as well..everytime you punt, you are gonna have to walk the ball to the other end of the field and the teams moving toward same endzone, really gonna seem weird....guy is liable to intercept and forget which way he's supposed to run

wierd for sure...but

the end justifies the means...

now no one get's hurt ...let's hope

Sure this might be blown up...but...

Better to be safe than sorry..IMO...

goblue12 · Nov 19, 2010

On the flip side, Yankee Stadium looks sweet.

bucsfan67 · Nov 19, 2010

wow, might just be the pic, but that stadium looks beautiful for a field there..

douglas · Nov 19, 2010

Illini-N’western Wrigley game to feature one usable end zone
Posted by John Taylor on November 19, 2010, 12:33 PM EST
Northwestern Football Practice at Wrigley Field

Seriously. One — and only one — end zone will be used.

For those who were/are unaware, Illinois and Northwestern will play this weekend at the home of the Chicago Cubs, historic Wrigley Field. And, as you can tell by the photo at the right — as well as other photos of the same end zone — it took a good deal of cramming to get a football field to fit inside the ivy-covered confines.

Of course, along with said cramming came concerns over player safety. Specifically, players running/being ran headfirst into the outfield wall that sits just a couple of feet outside the east end zone.

As a result of the safety issues, the Big Ten has announced some major changes to Saturday’s game. And have officially made a mockery of the game and turned it into one akin to something we all used to play in the backyard. Or out in the street. In traffic.

According to a press release issued by the conference, the following rule changes were determined to be the best of all options and will be in effect for this game only based on the unique layout of the field:

1) All offensive plays will head toward the West end zone, including all extra points and all overtime possessions.
2) All kickoffs will be kicked toward the East end zone.
3) After every change of possession, the ball will be repositioned for the offense to head toward the West end zone.
4) As a result of a coin toss held by the conference office Friday morning, Illinois will occupy the West team bench in the first half and Northwestern will occupy the West team bench in the second half and for all overtime periods.

Other rules under consideration include the fire hydrant at the corner of Elm & Main is out of bounds; each school will be responsible for bringing extra footballs because if one goes into Old Man Johnson’s garden you cannot go after it because he’ll tell your parents you trampled his tomato plants whether you did or not; all kickoffs will be thrown; five-Mississippi pass rushes on first and second down; if any player’s mom hollers for him during the course of the game, he will be permitted to re-enter the game after he’s finished cleaning his room; and oncoming traffic has the right of way and play will stop, except on fourth down when you’re on your own.

Enfuego · Nov 19, 2010

viking611 said:
whole game is a joke, just like that shit hole wrigley field. they can't get anything right in that place...

Why do you assume it's the people at Wrigley that got it wrong? As a matter of fact, Wrigley is saying they sent the field dimensions to the Big 10 eight months in advance and then built the field to the exact dimensions. Then, a Big 10 official came out and walked the field. It's never been a big deal until this moment? Not Wrigley's fault.

5teamparlay · Nov 20, 2010

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/2010/wri...ek-12-storylines/wrigley-field-endzone-p1.jpg

The Wrigley Field fiasco has become one of the hottest topics heading into a watered-down Week 12 slate.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...0/week-12-storylines/index.html#ixzz15pDm0nFJ

Take me out to the ballgame: How sad is the Week 12 slate? GameDay is going to watch Northwestern and Illinois play. Wrigley Field or no Wrigley Field, that pretty much says it all. Granted, End Zone Gate has added quite a bit of spice to an otherwise charming but secondary Big Ten affair. For those of you who have not turned on a television or computer in the last 24 hours, a quick recap: Early Friday morning, the Big Ten announced that the Illini and Wildcats would both run their offenses toward the west end zone due to safety concerns over the proximity of Wrigley's outfield wall to the east end zone. The consensus criticism went something like this: Why did it take this long for the involved parties to reach this decision? And why is the game being held at Wrigley to begin with if the football field flat out doesn't fit? It would have been neat to watch the first football game at the friendly confines since 1938 regardless. Now it'll be flat-out fascinating. By the way, Army and Notre Dame are playing at Yankee Stadium this weekend. Hard to believe the Yankees pulled this off seamlessly while the Cubs ran into disaster.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...0/week-12-storylines/index.html#ixzz15pE2elCO