Cael wants a pushout rule

[KennyEBHS]

He said it in his post-tournament interview.

[BaldAt23]

I do too

[scourge165]

I think that's a terrible idea. There's SO much great Wrestling on the edge. One of the big things that makes Wrestling better today than it was in the 90s... IMO. 

A pushout would change the sport. I also didn't hear Cael say that, so if you could clip when he said it or the interview, I'd appreciate it. I know him talking about how they need to figure out what a Takedown is, but not how he wants a push out. 

I found it;

"If they had a push out rule, that'd be great for our program. I hope they do. I was against it for all these years," and then... he goes into how it's hard to call stalling. 

Edited March 22 by scourge165

[TW8]

Folkstyle edge wrestling is awful.  Folk needs a shot clock.  After one minute in the 1st, if nobody has scored, someone is going on the clock.  

Edited March 22 by TW8
jungle

[KennyEBHS]

7 minutes ago, scourge165 said:

I think that's a terrible idea. There's SO much great Wrestling on the edge. One of the big things that makes Wrestling better today than it was in the 90s... IMO. 

A pushout would change the sport. I also didn't hear Cael say that, so if you could clip when he said it or the interview, I'd appreciate it. I know him talking about how they need to figure out what a Takedown is, but not how he wants a push out. 

Cael Sanderson publicly advocated for a pushout rule in collegiate wrestling following Penn State's victory at the 2026 NCAA Championships. 

Jay Luchs Group +1

While reflecting on his team's record-breaking performance, Sanderson noted the following regarding the rule:

• Shift in Stance: He admitted to being against the pushout rule for many years but has changed his mind because of the difficulty officials have in calling stalling.
• Benefit to Penn State: He stated that a pushout rule would be "great" for his program because his wrestlers are constantly moving forward and looking to score points.
• Addressing Stalling: Sanderson argued that referees often hesitate to call stalling even when it is occurring, and a pushout rule would provide a clearer, more objective way to penalize defensive wrestling. 
  Jay Luchs Group

Sanderson's comments came during a post-match press conference where he also discussed the team's culture of "following the rules" and maintaining a high standard of performance regardless of the outcome. 

[KennyEBHS]

Make is a two-feet pushout rule. 

[scourge165]

Just now, KennyEBHS said:

Cael Sanderson publicly advocated for a pushout rule in collegiate wrestling following Penn State's victory at the 2026 NCAA Championships. 

Jay Luchs Group +1

While reflecting on his team's record-breaking performance, Sanderson noted the following regarding the rule:

• Shift in Stance: He admitted to being against the pushout rule for many years but has changed his mind because of the difficulty officials have in calling stalling.
• Benefit to Penn State: He stated that a pushout rule would be "great" for his program because his wrestlers are constantly moving forward and looking to score points.
• Addressing Stalling: Sanderson argued that referees often hesitate to call stalling even when it is occurring, and a pushout rule would provide a clearer, more objective way to penalize defensive wrestling. 
  Jay Luchs Group

Sanderson's comments came during a post-match press conference where he also discussed the team's culture of "following the rules" and maintaining a high standard of performance regardless of the outcome. 

Yeah, I found the clip, I edited my post. 

I agree with his opinion from "all these years." Not so much now. 

They definitely call stalling less now than they used to it seems. With the mandatory stalling(the 5 count or whatever) it feels like refs ARE less likely. 

At the same time, two matches come to mind, that Lillendahl match. You have to be shooting and a bit more and the PJ Duke match vs Robideau where... he wasn't taking the normal shot attempts, it looked like he was trying to get a stall call. 

Anyway, the shot clock and the pushout, I don't like either. There are two very different types of matches that can be 0-0 one minute into the first. A Jax Forrest-Aaron Siedel match where there was some... incredible scrambling to start and a... Rocco Welsh-AJ Ferrari match where it's handfighting. 

I don't think it's wise to put someone on the shotclock because there's no scoring through 1 minute(to an earlier point). 

[boconnell]

I don't love the pushout.  I think the edge stall already made stalling in the circle almost allowed.  I think if we have a pushout you will be allowed to do nothing as long as you stay in bounds (like FS).  

I love the idea of a shot clock.  That 3 minute 1st period is long, and if we get 120-150 seconds in without a score, I love putting someone on the clock for the rest of the period.  I feel like if we make 0-0 after the first impossible, lots of the other stuff will take care of itself.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

So, if I work my butt off and escape on the edge and then immediately get pushed out, my opponent gets a point? That would be a problem. (Especially if the top man drove me to the edge with that reason in mind.)

[scourge165]

33 minutes ago, boconnell said:

I don't love the pushout.  I think the edge stall already made stalling in the circle almost allowed.  I think if we have a pushout you will be allowed to do nothing as long as you stay in bounds (like FS).  

I love the idea of a shot clock.  That 3 minute 1st period is long, and if we get 120-150 seconds in without a score, I love putting someone on the clock for the rest of the period.  I feel like if we make 0-0 after the first impossible, lots of the other stuff will take care of itself.

Ok... but you're going to have so many matches where you have 1 guy put on the shot clock, then the next guy because... that's just how they do it in Freestyle. 
And making it mandatory?

Lets just emphasize stalling. How guys can take basically the last 30 seconds of a match because they're up by 3 and literally jog or run, that's insane. Where in the rules does it say you can't hit someone twice in 10 seconds? If you're going to hop around the match and not engage, that's stalling. 

Make stalling a point of emphasis and make BLOCKING and PUSHING stalling again. That's also not Wrestling... maybe that shouldn't be "stalling" but... that part of what I don't like about the pushout rule, you could do just that or get in on a single and get a point. When did we decide we award partial points for shots? You have to FINISH in control. 

If Sinclair Wrestlers Ferrari... and I was pulling for Sinclair, but hypothetically, do we really want Sinclair to get 2-3 points on walking him out of bounds rather than having to finish that single? 

It's fine for freestyle, but again, folkstyle is about control. You should have to finish the shot. If the guy is too hard to finish the shot on... find another way. 

[scourge165]

9 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

So, if I work my butt off and escape on the edge and then immediately get pushed out, my opponent gets a point? That would be a problem. (Especially if the top man drove me to the edge with that reason in mind.)

That was a situation that immediately came to mind. You're riding... even if you don't really work that hard for it, You just come up, the top guy locks, drives you NEAR the edge, as soon as you cut and turn, he shots or runs you out... you just got that escape for nothing. 

Sooo many flaws with this. 

This was one of the best finals I've seen in a while. You have just SO many freshmen figuring out new ways to score. 

 

[Hammerlock3]

God bless Cael using his massive platform for something finally. 

[Offthemat]

Rather than push out or step out, award takedowns that are initiated inside the circle but land outside the circle.  This takes the edge sanctuary away if you continue to call stalling or fleeing as the rules are now. 

[boconnell]

11 minutes ago, scourge165 said:

Ok... but you're going to have so many matches where you have 1 guy put on the shot clock, then the next guy because... that's just how they do it in Freestyle. 
And making it mandatory?

Lets just emphasize stalling. How guys can take basically the last 30 seconds of a match because they're up by 3 and literally jog or run, that's insane. Where in the rules does it say you can't hit someone twice in 10 seconds? If you're going to hop around the match and not engage, that's stalling. 

Make stalling a point of emphasis and make BLOCKING and PUSHING stalling again. That's also not Wrestling... maybe that shouldn't be "stalling" but... that part of what I don't like about the pushout rule, you could do just that or get in on a single and get a point. When did we decide we award partial points for shots? You have to FINISH in control. 

If Sinclair Wrestlers Ferrari... and I was pulling for Sinclair, but hypothetically, do we really want Sinclair to get 2-3 points on walking him out of bounds rather than having to finish that single? 

It's fine for freestyle, but again, folkstyle is about control. You should have to finish the shot. If the guy is too hard to finish the shot on... find another way. 

Stalling is already the most subjective call in the sport.  It is the call with the least agreement among fans and the least consistency among officials.  Calling stalling more isn't going to make things better.  It will absolutely make things worse.  I don't want the refs we have making more subjective calls than they make right now.

[Idaho]

Maybe they just need to take away the stall warning and go directly to a point... 1 - 1 - 2 - 2 - DQ

[WrestleFan12]

3 hours ago, TW8 said:

Folkstyle edge wrestling is awful.  Folk needs a shot clock.  After one minute in the 1st, if nobody has scored, someone is going on the clock.  

You really think it would’ve been fair to put Davino or Jax on a shot clock last night?

I like action, but I’m against forcing guys to take shots when nothing is there.

[Caveira]

You can’t legislate points via rule changes d1 wrestlers are tough. 
 

who wants to see someone taking shitty shots cause they’re on a shot clock so so fan can satisfy his desire to have points on the board even if they are not good quality points.  

even Burroughs admitted in the  broadcast he would on a standing single run them out of bounds for a cheap 1 if he didn’t think he could finish 

This isn’t kids wrestling …. D1 wrestlers know how to defend.  It’s almost like they practice it lol 

make the td worth 50% more they said …. It will create action.   Wrong.  

Edited March 22 by Caveira

[headshuck]

So, if I work my butt off and escape on the edge and then immediately get pushed out, my opponent gets a point? That would be a problem. (Especially if the top man drove me to the edge with that reason in mind.)

AJ Ferrari would love this scenario.

[headshuck]

Someone threw out an idea a couple weeks ago that made a lot of sense. Save the push out for overtime and get rid of the ride outs.

[mr.nonothingatall]

If we are gonna talk rules we need to get the rule GOAT in here. @LemonPie what say you? Yes, no, need more time to formulate?

[mr.nonothingatall]

8 minutes ago, headshuck said:

Someone threw out an idea a couple weeks ago that made a lot of sense. Save the push out for overtime and get rid of the ride outs.

I cannot find the posts (I'm challenged) 

So from what I remember the remedy for not ending SV via stall, was to get rid of ride outs, and eliminate stall calls in sv, instead going with push out points in sv. (I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly)

Lemonpie was the brain behind it. I would like to hear what his take is on this thread and the topic at hand as well.

[de4856]

I would love to see the step out rule incorporated into College Wrestling 

[TW8]

1 hour ago, WrestleFan12 said:

You really think it would’ve been fair to put Davino or Jax on a shot clock last night?

I like action, but I’m against forcing guys to take shots when nothing is there.

Overall, yes.  Those two don't need the shot clock as they get after it as much as anyone.  It's for the vast majority of other matches.   

[Mamajack]

2 hours ago, scourge165 said:

That was a situation that immediately came to mind. You're riding... even if you don't really work that hard for it, You just come up, the top guy locks, drives you NEAR the edge, as soon as you cut and turn, he shots or runs you out... you just got that escape for nothing. 

Sooo many flaws with this. 

This was one of the best finals I've seen in a while. You have just SO many freshmen figuring out new ways to score. 

 

Maybe you can have the step out point “enabled” only when there is a reset to neutral (ie if you start in top bottom and someone gets an escape, there is no possibility of a push out point until there is a break in action (eg going out of bounds, blood time, challenge, etc). 
 

I do really think this is needed. It’s so hard to score already, let alone when someone has multiple stalls to give and can egregiously evade for 30 seconds at the end of a match. 

the rules right now basically give someone with a 2 point lead late permission to run with impunity in a way that is really incongruent with the spirit of the broader rule set. 

[forkemaz]

Heres an idea im sure people will hate. 

If there is a stall call in nuetral position the match is stopped and restarted in the center with an under over clinch. If you break the clinch and move backwards its a point, if you back out of bounds in the clinch its a point. This happens for the first stall call.