Brands displayed a can of worms, let's open it

[TNTwrestle]

I like many of the ideas on this thread, and many others with a little tweaking. I am sick of defensive 1-0, 2-1 3-2 matches where no one takes a risk for fear of being scored on defensively. I am a purist though who doesn't like rule changes in general, but some of these are way overdue. I want to see college wrestling more like the '80s even if it causes some sloppy wrestling.
I think more of the difference between now and then is caused by officiating than by rules though.Today's refs are much more reluctant to call stalling, and are way more inconsistent in their stall calls. Many of the stall calls I see today leave me scratching my head, such as a man riding parallel with a leg trapped or the legs in, making no real attempt to turn hips getting a stall call on the bottom man who is trapped, and waiting for him to get desperate enough to do something stupid to give them a cheap nearfall.
I agree we need to change something to put more action in matches, but I am against rules that would create more calls that would require subjective calls by the ref, because I haven't seen many refs capable of making those calls consistently in recent years.
Lets fix what's wrong without creating more/other problems. Lots of great ideas here, let's hope the rules committee really does look at some of these.

 

[TNTwrestle]

I agree in part, but the scenario I mentioned would be eliminated. Right now a wrestler can win a match without an "offensive" point over a wrestler who scored a TD. That just ain't right.

Concerning quicker TFs and more MDs...if scoring opportunities are increased then maybe the differential for MDs and TFs should also be increased? Or maybe the current thresholds stay put; that could add to the excitement because more risk is added.

Sometimes even two takedowns. I am no fan of Mr. Richards, or anyone who has their own league (unless they're a Hawkeye), but losing that match to a guy who did nothing but cling for half a match was hard to take.

 

[anon_hc7hkvtk15hp5]

In the thread about holding duals in front of minor bowl games, Brands suggested that rule changes need to be made before wrestling can attract a larger audience. So while we wait for the weekend, here are my thoughts on rule changes that will accomplish the following:

* Retain the integrity of the existing sport (control and mat wrestling matter)
* Encourage aggressiveness
* Discourage passiveness
* Create more scoring opportunities

Those are what need to be done to make the sport more exciting. Any rule change should clearly be designed to meet one of those goals. So here goes:
.

From my understanding of hearing Brands thoughts, he wants to simplify rules and scoring. That had been a big thing in freestyle that is better, but still an issue. His beliefs are you need to make it easier for the casual sports fan to understand scoring. A lot of these ideas would make it harder for an ordinary person to understand and therefore drive them away from the sport. The Pushout rule would be a lot easier to understand than stalling. As well as bringing wrestlers back to their feet after 15 seconds if no scoring move is taking place, but I think eliminating riding time is a better solution.

 

[Sandor45]

Seems the vast majority of the people (athletes included) want a push out rule in folk style only a select few decision makers are too set in their ways and won't do it. This is about as UnAmerican as you can get.
Make American Wrestling Great Again! Make the push out rule happen!

 

[neversurrender]

I'll be honest I really thought a pushout rule in freestyle would cause guys to play the edge and attempt to just counter the other guy out of bounds, it was the opposite effect though. I think if it was done the right way one in folkstyle could really help with keeping things in the center and force guys into needing to take a shot if they are forced out.

Riding time can be a good thing but I only think it should be earned if you actually score back points. However that wouldn't make things easier for just the casual person to understand it so just rid of it completely.

 

[YarakTrained]

I admittedly haven't seen the match... but this pbp perfectly describes the kind of match that needs to be stopped. Which combination of our proposed rules would fix this?

133 - George Carpenter (PSU) vs Mitch Mckee (Minnesota)
1st period: Shot by Carpeter but quick go behind from Mckee to make it 2-0 just 30 seconds in. Mckee riding tough and over a minute of riding time. Still no turns but Mckee coming out to the side. Mckee trying a couple cradles. They go out with 37.7 to go. Mckee rides out the period and has 2:33 of riding time in his pocket.

2nd period: Mckee starts on bottom. Mckee trying a switch but Carpenter shutting down the hips. 51 seconds in and a stalemate. Carpenter still riding the true freshman Mckee after a minute. Stalemate at 35.4 to go. Mckee ridden out.

3rd period: Carpenter takes top with 27 seconds of riding time for Mckee. Carpenter has completely negated Mckee's riding time and is keeping his hips glued. Carpenter unable to turn but has Mckee completely flat on his stomach and starting to look frustrated. Mckee hit for stalling with 15 to go but still wins 2-1 as Carpenter ends with 1:26 of riding time. Mckee wins to make it 30-6 with one match left.