I personally believe that if the 9 man game would be played on the 8 man field...there would be much less resistance. I understand that 9 man is played on a "regulation" size field, but these 8 man schools don't have one of those. I get it, move the goal posts and be done with it. However, some of these fields also have fences, parking lots, etc. 8 man has become their tradition.I still think that 9 man is a great transition between 11 and 6 man. You can play it on an 11 man field, and you can play 11 man style ball without the tackles. Class C2 teams often struggle to field 11man teams, so a class they can easily move to makes sense without changing their field and without changing their schemes all that much. 8 man football is a drastic departure scheme wise from 11 man. Nebraska has to get in front of sub 11man football being played by most schools. I'm a tradition guy, but don't see how changing from 8 to 9 destroys that.
I don't really care one way or another. I don't see much difference between the two.