Do the college teams in Canada play CFL rules or American rules football?
They play CFL rules with the exception of Simon Fraser University - plays American rules in NCAA.
Thanks for the answer. I have been a CFL fan for a long time, but never really thought about how the college teams played. I was a HUGE Birmingham Barracuda fan.
Then welcome to the cfl forums, tommy!! Don't be shy to drop in regularly and post your views often 
Whats odd in this is that in BC high schools play American rules.
That they do Flag, but the community teams play using the CFL rules... It really is odd!
if you're interested, here are the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) football teams. (Keeping in mind there are much fewer teams in the CIS than there are in NCAA as our population is about one tenth of that U.S.'s and we don't have the same football culture up here)
[url=http://english.cis-sic.ca/sports/fball/2010-11/standings-conf]http://english.cis-sic.ca/sports/fball/ ... dings-conf[/url]I do believe that a some provincial minor football programs use American rules as well...
That is also sad, in Canada playing stupid American rules!
The guy who started this thread professes to be a Canadian football fan. But he's obviously American. Do you really think it's wise to insult the brand of football that he's likely most familiar with? Have a little tact.
Being a CFL-only fan doesn't mean you have to insult the NFL and American football every opportunity you can.
argot has a severe hate on for American ball, and especially NFL. most of us respect the american style as atleast another sport.
And actually, when you think of it, I can understand high school coahces or peewee coaches wanting to play American rules. Their rules are easier, it's an easier game with the one more down and smaller field. As Warren Moon said, the CFL is much tougher on players because of the rules. It's a faster game in the CFL, and more is expected of the qb. But yes, I do watch the NFL because it's football and played by some great athletes. I just won't pay for it in Canada, if I want to go to an NFL game it has to be in the US where the American football culture is there and that's what I want when I want this. The NFL in the RC is a total disconnect in every way I can think of.
...I played NFL rules growing up in North Vancouver...my son played CFL rules growing up here in Calgary...from those two perspectives I agree with Earl, the NFL rules allow for a better developmental process to occur as your offense and defense are on the field longer...
...special teams, which at either the high school or community level, regardless of the rules being used, is a different breed altogether....
..........................This breed........................
....I'm satisfied with either, as long as the kids (pre-college/uni level) get the basics of the game down pat, but feel the CIS teams must play CFL rules, if only to eventually create an actual factory system that can provide the quota of players to the league without the requirement for imports...
Hmmmmm…thats a great point red…the american rules, which I have no problem with at all, do allow kids to be on the field longer as a rule and in some ways allows for a more structured way to learn the game at a young age. Never thought of it that way before.
Exactly, I agree. But man I do love the field possession game in the CFL (well, NFL as well but just not as important) with the emphasis put on punting. It's called 'football' afterall. But no question, 4 downs allows for youngsters to develop more without the pressure points of Canadian rules. It allows the qb who isn't that skilled to feel he's in control. In 3 downs if you can't "do it all" at times, you're not an asset to a team. You can't hid a crap qb in 3 downs but you can with 4 downs.
Great commentary in this thread in so many of the posts.
Earl from earlier posts I think you meant field position, not field possession, though of course in either game possession has importance too?
Allow me to attempt to shine some light on just why things are the way they are with the vast pay differential between pro leagues in our countries that is too high even allowing for the difference in population and with hockey as the top sport up there. I have only part of the picture of course, but here is some of what is overlooked. Much of what I discuss has to do with especially the QB position for which I had started a separate thread some time ago.
Even factoring in the above differences in the talent pool in our countries, based on skill sets there are too many American players chasing the wrong pro game down here based on the financial lures they get in their amateur careers en route to the NFL if they make it. And simply there are not enough Canadians with talent in either game altogether due to a far smaller amateur scene that does not develop enough of that Canadian talent.
I would submit at the very least even with CFL import quotas that there are right now definitely far more very young American players who could go up there to plug for years some serious talent shortages in positions such as QB, CB, and LB from what I have seen so far in CFL play.
And I don't see why with some basic re-focus at the youth level there could definitely not be more Canadians who could be groomed to be QBs there or here amongst any other positions especially such as some linemen down here too. At QB we are lacking proportionally more talent even with our vastly larger population.
How I wish as a greedy football junkie that I could just pick which players went to which league to see the best of them in optimal action instead of some of the current financial hijinks down here especially for too many players drafted in the first round of the NFL draft. All the same the greedy NFL owners are not pushing the taking of the savings, as would be created by a rookie salary cap, for re-distribution to the players. Rather the owners would pocket the money, so you see why with such greed on all sides the system in place down here can't work for anyone any longer?
That part is just the start of any inevitable changes to come in the business or "system" down here from youth to the pros.
Furthermore the amateur developmental system in place down here is corrupt at the first level with regard to the transition of players from high school to college with plenty of payola going to those surrounding the biggest prospects for NCAA football and their communities. Indeed the old dirty secret is that in the powerhouse football areas, most high school coaches and the schools any more have more incentives than ever to steer certain players to certain places. This is especially the case all over the American South, in Texas, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, in California, and in the Washington DC area.
Some guys with immense talent are marginalised at the high school level mind you due to a bad relationship with coaches or in their schools and then end up surfacing all of a sudden as walk-ons in various college programs and succeeding as non-Division I/FBS free agents in even the NFL. This is why you will hear often of many guys who are now starters in the NFL or CFL who went to any given smaller or obscure school in the US instead of any one of the hyped football schools.
And then these new college freshman passed through a woeful high school education in too many cases are supposed to be (cough, cough, cough) student-athletes. :roll: A few are legitimately, but most just plain are not just as I saw regularly even at my alma mater Notre Dame where I would say the percentages are higher in that regard than in most big football schools.
Then the corruption comes from others with financial stakes beyond mere agents who are often blamed, including many alumni associations for sake of their agenda leading up to stupid bowl games and especially our sports media ESPN in hyping up players about any pro potential even whilst still playing NCAA football and especially prior to the draft. Most hyped of all are certain underclassmen from certain schools thinking of leaving school early and featured to a higher degree on ESPN television coverage now more than ever as well.
I could give some examples another time. Considering the length of this post already, I took them out.
It's all about the money generated from the promotion and hype and not the athletic performance on the field for too many of those surrounding these guys you see in addition to the elite of these guys.
A lot of soft money flows the way of these amateur players steered to the NFL dreams with very few making it to the first round, which is where the dominantly highest potential lies unless perhaps one is a lineman for which there are good finds also into the third round for the offensive linemen.
Few such prospects make it to the NFL anyway of course given the high odds against them and immense competition, but for also too many, whether they make it or not, the whole machine down here makes the most money out of the hype on them every step of the way from their senior years in high school all the way to the draft. Heads they all win, tails the player loses you see.
And damn otherwise without all that steering for mostly that financial agenda of others instead of better direction, I would say many more of these guys could probably be not only better athletes, whether or not playing the Canadian game with their skill set for it instead of going for the NFL without enough to stay around long if at all, but also better people.
...uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, okay (I think)...
Hey sorry for the lengthy post all the same :oops: , but it's a hard topic to break down without having it go into about 30 threads otherwise 
.
We'll learn a lot about football all over North America as the corrupt NCAA feeder systems break down on entry and exit and after the inevitable set-backs to be suffered by any delay in play in the NFL.
Already we see signs of decline for the NCAA with lower interest than ever in the big bowl games, except from many of those living in SEC country in the American South, from fans who are not alumni of the teams competing.
The day is already here as the best US high school seniors playing football in many positions, akin to many an NBA player starting in the modern era with Kevin Garnett in 1995 and escalating with Lebron to be the norm now, look to play NCAA ball for two playing years at most before making the move to the NFL.
New Year's Day football has never been the same for at least three years already and just plain sucks.
All those developments down here affect greatly the NFL and CFL feeder systems with a considerable degree of misallocation of talent for some positions.
yikes…the ability to focus on the topic at hand is an elusive trait.
Picat said: The guy who started this thread professes to be a Canadian football fan. But he's obviously American. Do you really think it's wise to insult the brand of football that he's likely most familiar with? Have a little tact.
Being a CFL-only fan doesn't mean you have to insult the NFL and American football every opportunity you can.
Insult my foot, it would be equally stupid to play Canadian rules in the US.
That of course would never happen, as it is only here with our very huge Canadian inferiority complex that we allow this in some regions.
I stand by my comment.