Didn't make it on fourth down? Just try again on fifth!

One thing that has really grabbed me about Canadian Football (the "mutant form of football" according to Robin Williams).

Not the 12th man on the field.

Or the 55-yard line.

Or the receiver casually walking forward as the fall is snapped.

What really interests me is that there is no fourth down. Canadian rules gives teams only three downs to advance 10 yards, compared to the four downs enjoyed here in America. It is this, along with the differences in personnel on the field and the size of field itself, that causes the Canadian version of gridiron to be particularly fast-paced.

The Fifth and Goal Football Theory was originally concocted in early 2001 on a bus while coming home from a high school basketball game. It was later reconstructed for a final project in an English course at College of the Siskiyous.

The Fifth and Goal Football Theory states that the entertainment value and overall quality of American football would be improved if the current 4 down-10 yard system (hereby referred to as "4-10") was replaced with a new 5 down-15 yard system (hereby referred to as 5-15").

This theory was calculated to be the most successful alternative to 4-10 based on number of downs before turnovers, average gain requirements, and fan interest. These points will now be addressed one-by-one.

Number of downs before turnovers: This has to be gauged carefully because of knee-downs at the end of the game. With five downs, it could be possible for a team to start doing knee-downs before the two-minute warning. This is the major flaw in the 5-15 idea, but could easily be corrected by chopping some seconds off the play clock.

Average gain requirement: This is a mathematical calculation I came up with. Take the number of downs allowed, subtract 1, then divide that into the number of yards required. This tells you the average amount of yardage a team would have to gain per play to not turn the ball over. Here's a table of those results:

The Fifth and Goal requires a slightly larger average gain requirement than the current American system, which would require defenses to slightly "open up" giving offenses more playmaking opportunities. But, the average gain requirement is still not as large as the Canadian system, which is only realistic due to the much wider field.

Fan Interest: While I sympathize with all the defensive players out there, fans love offense. The Arena Football League has survived for 20 years because it's an offense-palooza. 5-15 creates some more scoring chances, but still doesn't open up the game to a point where defense becomes impossible.

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