By Bill Badour
UNIVERSITY CENTER – The XFL is an American football league that debuted on Saturday, Feb. 8. The league was originally founded by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CEO Vince McMahon in 2001. The original league only lasted one season, but it’s starting back up again.
No, the “X” doesn’t stand for anything.
Teams
The XFL features eight teams split into two conferences. The Eastern Conference is composed of the DC Defenders, New York Guardians, St. Louis BattleHawks and the Tampa Bay Vipers. The Western Conference holds the Dallas Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, Los Angeles Wildcats and Seattle Dragons.
Big names
Notable players in the XFL include former Oklahoma quarterback Landry Fields, former Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook, former Michigan running back De’Veon Smith, former Cleveland Brown Antonio Callaway and former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones. Along with recognizable players, the XFL also features legendary coach from the University of Oklahoma, Bob Stoops.
Schedule
The XFL regular season lasts 10 weeks, spanning from Feb. 8 to April 12. There are two games on nearly every Saturday and Sunday during that time frame, the only exception being the occasional Thursday night game. The top two teams from each conference will then compete in a conference championship. From there, the XFL championship will take place on Sunday, April 26 at 3 p.m. on ESPN.
Major game changers
While the XFL is similar to the NFL, there are some big rule changes. The first change involves kickoffs: the kicker kicks from their own 30-yard line. The biggest difference between kickoffs is that defensive players start on the opponent’s 35-yard line with the receiving team’s blockers lining up five yards away. No one can move until the designated kick returner catches the ball. The rationale behind this change is to reduce the amount of high speed collisions that normally take place during NFL kickoffs.
Another place where the NFL and XFL differ are what happens after a touchdown. In the NFL, you can choose between kicking a 33-yard field goal for one point or running a play from the two-yard line for two points. However, the XFL does not allow extra point kicks.
Instead, the offense can choose to go for up to three additional points. For one point, a play is run from the two-yard line. For two points, a play is run from the five-yard line. For the maximum amount of three points, a play is run from the 10-yard line. If the offense scores, they get the predetermined amount of points. However, if the defense scores a touchdown from a turnover, the defense will be awarded the points.
Overtime rules in the XFL are also different. Overtime consists of five rounds. In each round, each team has one play to get in the end zone from the five-yard line. If they successfully do this, they will be awarded two points. If the game is still tied after five rounds of overtime, the game continues until one team scores in the same round as the other team does not score.
Minor rule changes
Minor rule changes were made to speed up the game. For example, the XFL has a 25-second play clock, whereas the NFL has a 40-second play clock.
Players will only need to have one foot in bounds for a catch. Outside of the last two minutes of each half, the XFL’s game clock will also run after completions and going out of bounds. Teams are only allowed two timeouts per half game, as opposed to the three that the NFL allows.
Lastly, there can be two forward passes in one play as long the first pass was behind the line of scrimmage.