http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/story/2011-10-24/college-football-helmet-safety/50942736/1And this does not even count the ones we are tracking in Texas HS football
Helmets popping off at alarming rate in college football
By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY
Plenty of attention has been focused this college football season on alternate uniforms (see Maryland, Georgia, Boise State and countless others). But what's really attracting notice, at least from referees, are helmets that are popping off with stunning regularity.
There's been anecdotal evidence about a growing number of helmets hitting the ground the previous two seasons. As a result, the NCAA Football Rules Committee discussed the issue in February and decided to count the number of occurrences. During games, the back judge is responsible for tallying the times when a player loses a helmet.
Through games of Oct. 15, 407 helmets had come off players at the Football Bowl Series level. At the Football Championship Series level there had been 406 and in Division II 339, according to Rogers Redding, secretary-rules editor. Through the first seven weeks of the season in Divisions I and II, there were 1,152 instances.
So what can be done? The rules are in place for this season and next, but the committee can take action if it's a safety issue, Redding said.
"My guess is that the committee would be unlikely to do anything midstream. But they may put something out making it a point of emphasis and, if the trend continues, put something in the next rule change year," Redding said. "It would be hard to guess what that would be, nothing really severe, something that costs, some kind of action that is pricey. But I could be wrong. The committee may say this is a serious problem, we need to fix this now. It's possible the committee could do that in February."
One possibility would be to require a player whose helmet comes off in the normal course of play to sit out the next down, much like a player must do if time is stopped for an injury. Or the player's team could be charged a timeout. "Before doing something, the rules committee wanted to get a sense of the size of the problem," Redding said. "One thing the rules committee had talked about was, if we put something in, let's put the onus on the player."
It appears players are keeping the four buckles on their chinstrap so loose the helmet can easily pop off. There's also speculation players are slightly deflating the air cushions because they don't want the helmets tight on their heads. "When players come to the sideline, all they do is a little flip and the helmet is off," Redding said. "A ball cap goes on much harder than a helmet."
A spot check of five major conferences found reports of no serious injuries. Brigham Young defensive back Mike Hague suffered a bloody nose when his helmet scraped his nose as it was pulled off two weeks ago.
This is the third season that rules cracking down on flagrant fouls, particularly helmet-to-helmet contact, have been in effect. The rule mandates a post-game video review by conference officials after a dangerous foul is committed.
"Probably overall there are fewer instances of targeting the head area," Redding said. "My sense of it is that there's less of that. I think people are paying attention to it. It's still a problem, no question; there still are injuries. But I think the rules committee had an impact on getting people's attention focus on not going after the head."
Next up for the committee: keeping helmets on those heads.
