Jedd Fisch wants college football hash marks to match NFL

Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch wants college football to be more in line with the NFL, with the hash marks on the football field.

That’s his No. 1 requested rule change to the sport. In the NFL, the hash marks are 18.5 feet apart while in college, they are 40 feet apart.

Fisch was asked if he had any suggested rule changes for college football. He did more than mention the hash marks.

“Just one? I have two (laughter),” Fisch said at Pac-12 Media Days. “I want to move the hash marks. I want the hash marks to look like the NFL. That would be number one.”

Generally, the wider hash marks encourage teams to run to the wide side of the field. There’s a big difference between college and the NFL in that regard.

While Fisch would love that rule change, he has something else in mind other than hash marks.

“Number two is I don’t want to throw players out for targeting,” Fisch said. “I lived a terrible situation in 2015. The team captain at Michigan, Joe Bolden, starting linebacker, was from East Lansing, Michigan. We were playing Michigan State. It was Senior Day.

“The first play of the game, he went to hit a guy, and they called targeting. He got ejected from Senior Day (at) the game. And it was — A, it wasn’t targeting; but, B, at that point in time it was a hit that was a meaningless hit.”

Hash marks could change the game at the college level. But Fisch made a good point regarding targeting.

The initial ejection is too harsh for a first offense during a game.

“I just think if we could just look to see if there’s a way we can find a common ground of not ejecting a player, but penalizing a player, unless it’s obviously done with malice,” Fisch said. “That would be a great rule.”

Which rule change is bigger for the game in college? It could be targeting rather than the hash mark placement.

Either way, Fisch wants both instituted into the college game. The hash mark argument could change game planning based on schemes and having a wide side of the field and a short side of the field.

The targeting rule is in place for safety, but there’s been plenty of questionable calls from officials based on the letter of the rule.