Tennessee football is at the forefront of another controversial rule change

There are several issues that need to be addressed throughout college football. The SEC has made one rule change that puts Tennessee at the forefront of a controversial ruling from last season. 

During the Tennessee-Georgia game last season, Tennessee was substituting in response to Georgia's offensive substitutions. The two players coming off the field were jogging off the field. Before both players got off the field, the official allowed Georgia to snap the ball, leading to a 12-player-on-the-field penalty on Tennessee.

This was not a rule, nor was it ever enforced, yet it came at a crucial time in the third quarter of a tied rivalry game. Now, the SEC has officially made it a rule that players must exit the field with a purpose. 

SEC Coordinator of Football Officials John McDaid confirmed the rule change at SEC Media Days, stating that players must exit the field promptly and at an athletic pace. 

"The standard has always been the defense must substitute promptly," McDaid said at SEC Media Days. "That was the standard that we need to interpret for our judgment on what the defense is doing. We're adding now that they need to do it at an athletic pace.

"And what we're asking our teams to do is the match-up substitution rules are such that the defense needs to start their substitution within three seconds of the offense declaring their 11 players for the next snap," McDaid continued. "The replaced players need to be identified in that window as well.

"What are we going to do if this happens? And we do it in this game. Watch the center judge. He's the official right behind the center. If we deem the defensive substitution is not with athletic pace and it's not being done promptly, we're going to simply take the center judge off the ball like we're doing here, and now the offense is free to snap the ball, and the defense may or may not have 11 players on the field when the ball is snapped."

Moving forward, SEC officials will determine if defensive players are moving at an athletic pace to exit the field of play. If the center judge determines the defensive player is not moving at an athletic pace, he can allow the offense to snap the ball with the defensive player on the field. 

It's frustrating that Tennessee was ultimately the one punished seemingly at random last year, but this is the right call by the SEC. It simply shouldn't have been a judgment call made in-game during a tied rivalry game in the second half. 

This should result in substitutions being made more efficiently or not at all, rather than waiting 30 seconds for players to come on and off the field.