North Carolina head coach takes subtle five-star jab at Nick Saban

Coaches are buzzing around the country about the new proposed 10-second rule threatening to slow down hurry-up offenses.

Related: Hugh Freeze fires back at proposal

College football’s power broker Nick Saban is the big proponent behind the proposed rule, as well as Bret Bielema. The sentiment behind the coaches’ buzz has been that Saban and Bielema have an agenda, and they’re trying to get the agenda passed in the name of player safety.

Outside the SEC, Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy and Washington State’s Mike Leach have ripped into the new rule though different media outlets, from radio to Twitter.

Related: Kevin Sumlin, Butch Jones speak out about proposal

North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora is just the latest to speak out about the rule, and he even takes a slight five-star jab at Nick Saban, via Raleigh News and Observer.

“Now if you’re just going under the assumption that if you play more plays you have more chance for injury – I agree with that,” Fedora said in a phone interview with the Raleigh News & Observer. “But if you’re going to say this is under player safety, but we’re going to do it in the last two minutes of the game, well then are we saying we’re not concerned with player safety in the last two minutes of the game? I mean, come on. I just don’t get that. “I think you’ve got more chance of players getting hurt if the opposing team has too many five-star players on it,” Fedora said. “So let’s just say one team can only sign two five-star players on its team. How about that?”

Fedora and other coaches view the hurry-up style of play as an equalizer to Nick Saban’s talent-filled five-star recruiting classes. On paper, Alabama has more talent than anybody in college football, and one edge less talented teams can have is to run tempo against his defense. We saw it with Gus Malzahn and Bob Stoops just this year. It’s the equalizer.

The NCAA oversight panel votes on the 10-second substitution rule on March 6th, and you can bet that everyone in the country will have their say before the decision date.

Photo Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA