Read the arguments from Loyal Homer and Bleacher Fan about whether or not coaches should allow players time off between the end of the regular season and a bowl game.
It is nice, in this economy, to see “Layoff” in a headline and for the article to have nothing to do with businesses letting employees go. Instead, it’s bowl season. And in bowl season a layoff is defined simply as the time between a team’s final regular season game and its bowl game. The better the team, the longer the layoff.
No teams have endured the layoff question marks more than Big Ten teams. The final game of the regular season in the Big Ten takes place before Thanksgiving. That means the layoff for a Big Ten that is slated to play in the national title game is between 35-45 days. The Midwest’s biggest conference is relevant in this debate because it is the Big Ten that lands more teams in BCS games than any other conference. At this point in the life-span of the BCS it seems reasonable to assume that the Big Ten schools would have derived some foolproof formula for giving players some time off or forcing them to practice to entire break between regular season and bowl game. Especially Ohio State, as the Buckeyes have been confronted with this issue on multiple occasions. But, Big Ten schools seem to have tried every combination of layoff and practice and still do not have much to show for it.
Now it is teams from the SEC and Big XII that are faced with a layoff between their conference championship and the national title game. Both teams are suffering from a wait of over a month between games. I say suffering on purpose. As much praise as is lavished on the respective coaches for Alabama and Texas, Nick Saban and Mack Brown – both championship coaches – they are faced with a difficult decision. Should they allow the players on the team some time off before resuming practice, or practice straight the way through until the bowl game, business as usual?
One of the primary considerations in this debate is that these players are students. As such, they have classes, studying, finals and, of course, amateur status. They are not professional athletes. They are students who play sports.
Operating under the assumption that these players are not having tests taken for them and are actually pulling double duty, what should the coaches do?
Both coaches are in luck, as our expert sports debaters settle the issue: Should coaches, no matter how inconvenient for the players, demand practice takes place as usual from when the final regular season game ends right up until the bowl game?
Bleacher Fan will argue that coaches should demand students maintain a steady practice schedule throughout the entire layoff while Loyal Homer will argue that some time off is good for rest and relaxation plus necessary to give enough time for the students to study.
Steady or smart? Let the debate begin!
