Game Suddenly a Snap for Rubio

Seemingly overshadowed in the new tiebreaker procedure in college football this season was another rule change that prohibits a defensive player from hitting a long-snapper until one second after the ball is centered on a punt or placement kick.

Chris Rubio didn’t miss it.

Life for Rubio, UCLA’s long-snapper, got a little easier and safer--and cleaner.

“Now you don’t have somebody in front of you, spitting on the ball or breathing on the ball or yelling at you, ‘Don’t snap it, Rubio,’ ” he said.

Spitting? “Yeah, that was on punts,” he said. “On extra points and field goals, they’d be over the ball, breathing on it.”

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Running back Akil Davis, primarily a special teams player, had arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday and is sidelined four to six weeks.