While some college football coaches continue to vent about the “Saban Rule” that has been proposed recently, former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden has a more radical change in mind.
Bowden wants college football to eliminate the PAT in favor of a higher-risk after-touchdown opportunity.
As explained on his website, TommyBowden.com:
There would be no more kicking on an extra point and the team would have an option to run a play for 1 point. A touchdown would now be worth 7 points. If you elect to go for an extra point and fail, then you lose 1 point and you now have 6 points. If you successfully make the extra point attempt, you get 1 point and now have 8 points. You can also chose not to attempt an extra point and your total would remain at 7.
While the proposal is radical, Bowden’s rationale is simple. The PAT is basically a fait accompli that is no longer needed:
In the NFL there were 5 missed attempts in 1,200 kicks. Four of those 5 were blocked. The 17 top scorers in the NFL are kickers. That just doesn’t seem American. If you remove the extra point the leading scorer would have been Jamal Charles, of the Kansas City Chiefs. College kickers are just about as accurate. You need to remember, years ago when players would kick extra points they were not specialist. It was probably a running back who just carried the ball 8 times on a 12 play drive and lines up to kick with blood running down in his eyes and a sore knee and a banged up shoulder. It surely wasn’t an automatic successful kick like it is today by a specialist who’s only job is to kick.
Bowden’s idea would certainly bring some suspense to the game and make it more entertaining. But will it ever get a chance to go before the Rules Committee? Probably not anytime soon.
