The friendly confines of Wrigley Field proved to be a little too confining Friday. Now, today’s college football game at the grand ballpark will be like something out of a backyard touch game. No matter who has the ball, there’s only one end zone, and everyone has to switch around when it’s their turn.
Turns out, that’s how Northwestern and Illinois will settle things today at Wrigley. The Big Ten announced Friday that the schools had agreed to drastic and unusual changes for the game at the home of the Chicago Cubs — including running all offensive plays toward the end zone that doesn’t happen to come within a foot or so of a brick wall.
“Last week, a Big Ten official performed an onsite visit at Wrigley Field, participated in a field walk- thru and raised no issue with the field dimensions,” Cubs president Crane Kenney said.
The problem is that the east end zone nearly abuts the right field wall, which has been heavily padded.
The Illini and Wildcats will run their offenses toward the dugout on the third-base side. All kickoffs will go the other way and after a change in possession, referees will reposition the ball to point offenses to the west.
“The more we looked at it, the more we dug into it and talking to the conference and everyone involved, we just felt that maybe it didn’t come out exactly the way we thought it potentially would,” Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips. “The timing isn’t ideal. I don’t dismiss that at all.”
