This week on the Double-A Zone:

• College baseball coaches will now be required to wear helmets when coaching bases. Baseball’s adoption of the rule comes on the heels of Major League Baseball requiring the same of their base coaches. What do you think of the new rule?

• Big 12 Conference football teams have participated in games from Wednesday to Saturday this week: Kansas State versus Louisville on Wednesday, West Virginia at Colorado on Thursday, Baylor and Connecticut on Friday and the normal slate of games on Saturday. While having games occur throughout the week can be good for the conference’s exposure, it forces student-athletes to miss unnecessary class time and places undue stress on their academics. Where do you stand on the issue? Is it OK for college football teams to play throughout the week and miss additional class time or should all games take place on Saturdays?

• You frequently hear referees say a successful game in their eyes is when no one notices them. Unfortunately, in the recent weeks, the referees have been in the spotlight at all levels of football, including a controversial play in Sunday's NFL game between the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos. Officials at all levels need to learn a lesson from what transpired in this game – do not blow the whistle until the play is absolutely over.  Weigh in on the debate.

• Matt Cassel’s skills at quarterback will be under the watchful eye of football fans around the nation this season. When you replace Tom Brady, the 2007 NFL most valuable player and three-time Super Bowl champion of the New England Patriots, life as you knew it no longer exists. Besides talent to play the position, New England liked the intangibles, such as leadership, that he could bring to their team. During his college days, Cassel displayed leadership qualities that reached beyond the football field by serving as member of the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

• Before coverage of the West Virginia/Colorado game, ESPN showed footage of a practice session with Ralphie, Colorado’s real-life buffalo mascot. Ralphie always leads the football team onto the field in a relatively controlled manner, but in this practice video, Ralphie was running loose with some of his trainers dragging alongside.  Apparently this is a new Ralphie and she was recruited for her speed.  Eventually, the trainers were able to restore order, although the whole ordeal was pretty scary to watch. The Ralphie incident got us thinking…Do you think potentially dangerous animals should be allowed at college sporting events?