College football’s great hurry-up offense debate: Such a thing as too fast?

“We have an obligation to do what’s right,” Bielema told Sporting News’ Matt Hayes. “I can’t understand how some guys can’t see that.”

Once again raising safety concerns, Bielema -- now running the program at Arkansas -- mentioned a study “that said players in the no-huddle, hurry-up offense play the equivalent of five more games than those that don’t.” Known for his offensive system that uses jumbo sets and slow pace, Bielema first suggested an NCAA rule that would slow down offenses in 2013. Alabama head coach Nick Saban was on board back then, but considering how the Crimson Tide offense sped up in 2014, it’s unclear if Saban would still support the rule.

The NCAA has pulled a proverbial “down low, too slow” on Nick Saban, Bret Bielema and the other college coaches who were in favor of a rules proposal that would have limited no-huddle offenses. The Rules Committee withdrew the rule proposal Wednesday after weeks of controversy surrounding the potential change.

If implemented, the rule would have enforced a 10-second delay before teams could snap the ball, with a penalty resulting from teams snapping the ball too early. This would have favored slower, power-run teams like Bielema’s Arkansas Razorbacks, who invoked a player’s death when discussing his support for the rule, or Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide, who compared hurry-up offense proponents to cigarette companies.

After the NCAA Rules Committee announced its proposed tempo rule -- according to which an offense could not snap the ball with 30 seconds or more on the 40-second play clock without incurring the world’s most ironic delay-of-game penalty -- NCAA national officiating coordinator Rogers Redding said that Auburn would have incurred one penalty for an early snap in the BCS National Championship Game. While that number has been disputed, the consensus agrees the rule wouldn’t have changed the title game much.

But that was just one game. What about the effect that the rule could have on other high-tempo offenses, or in other games? Here’s the data from a selected cross-section of 2013 contests.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee has proposed changes to two rules, changing how targeting and defensive substitutions are handled, the organization announced Wednesday.

The first proposal is an attempt to change the targeting rule, which caught fire in its first year last season. The rule change would eliminate one of the main complaints -- under the original rule, a targeting call (and ejection) overturned by the replay booth would still result in a 15-yard penalty. This proposal would eliminate the 15-yard penalty if the targeting call is overturned.

This is a story about football, so let me tell you about the times I’ve set people on fire in the name of winning.

I did it once on accident; backing into a corner, I fell into a camper with his sniper rifle equipped. Both of us were blind, scared, and suddenly thrown into a very small space with an amount of weaponry that would embarrass the most depraved of arms dealers. Naturally, it ended with knives, the ringing sound of a few accidentally thrown flashbangs, and after some fumbling, the flamethrower. It killed both of us. It always did.

College football coaches sure do have opinions on the hurry-up offense. Nick Saban, Bret Bielema and Will Muschamp think it stinks and is dangerous. Coaches who use up-tempo offenses like Dana Holgorsen and Mike Leach think that’s a bunch of nonsense.

We might as well ask what USC coach Lane Kiffin thi--oh, someone already asked him: