West is best for Illinois-Northwestern contest

Associated Press

CHICAGO

It sounds like something out of a backyard touch football 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 at Wrigley Field after deciding that the friendly confines were just a little too tight — and a little too unsafe.

The Big Ten announced Friday that the schools had agreed to some 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 padded brick wall.

That change was approved along with a few others by the NCAA. And if the move sounds like a last-minute surprise, well, the Cubs thought so, too.

“The field dimension layout was delivered to the Big Ten approximately eight months ago and was approved by the conference,” Cubs president Crane Kenney said. “Last month, the field was built exactly to the dimensions previously approved by the Big Ten. 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, painted lines and boundaries previously approved by the Big Ten.”

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 only time a player would end up in the east end zone would be after a turnover, a punt or a safety.

Risk managers, safety engineers and others approved the east-west layout, which gives the most space for a football.