Last week, Michigan State football head coach Pat Fitzgerald publicly advocated for the Big Ten to change a rule that bothered him. Fitzgerald felt the travel roster (the number of players a team brings to a game) for in-conference away games should be increased from 74 to 80. According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the Big Ten met this week and voted on Fitzgerald’s proposition and passed it.
The biggest reason for the rule change is that the redshirt has been eliminated from college football thanks to the ‘five-for-five’ rule. In the past, teams would have several players taking a redshirt season, where they wouldn’t play and keep that year of eligibility. This made those players a natural fit to stay home when their team traveled on the road. Now that every player can have five years of eligibility no matter what, it means every player on the roster is eligible to play. By increasing the roster size, it allows teams to give more players an opportunity and allows them to have closer to their full depth on the road.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Big Ten passes rule expanding football travel rosters for league games
Reporting by Andrew Brewster, Spartans Wire / Spartans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andrew Brewster, Spartans Wire | USA TODAY Network
