With safety at issue, Northwestern game plans for using one end zone.
Because watching Illinois and Northwestern play at historical Wrigley Field isn’t interesting enough, it looks like the powers-that-be are adding an additional twist to the game by utilizing only one end zone. Since a football field really isn’t designed to fit inside a baseball field, there is some safety concerns at Wrigley’s east end zone. The end zone in question is only feet away from the heavily padded right field wall which presents a potential hazard for players. Being this isn’t the Arena Football League, the athletic directors don’t feel like there is enough clearance in the east end zone.
To cure this issue, it was decided that only one end zone will be used this Saturday. This means on offense, the team with the ball will be headed towards the west end zone. Basically, everyone is defending the same end zone rendering the coin flip useless for the losing team (because you cannot pick an end zone to defend). Also, the constant repositioning will undoubtedly make this game longer than it needs to be.
The one end zone concept will definitely add a unique twist to the game, but as a football fan, wouldn’t it have made more sense to play over at Soldier Field?
