Here we go again. More tinkering with the rules, mainly in an effort to reduce the length of games. The NCAA rules oversight panel met in April and made several significant changes to the rules of college football. But let’s face it, how many people were paying attention back in April. Now that football season is just around the corner I thought it would be a good idea to bring everyone up to speed on what to expect this fall when the Tiger’s kickoff their run for an ACC championship.

Time Changes

For the third year in a row they have changed when the clock is to stop and restart. The clock will now stop on all out of bounds plays but will restart once the referee has spotted the ball and signaled it is ready for play. During the final two minutes of each half the clock will restart on the snap of the ball.

My Take: For some reason the NCAA thinks college football games last too long. Come on, we only get 13 or 14 games a year and it goes by fast enough as it is. Put the clock rules back to the way they were. If you really want to speed up the game then eliminate the number of commercials during televised games instead of stealing time from the game itself. This just proves that the NCAA is more concerned about the $$$ than the game.

40/25

College football will now use the same play clock format as the NFL. After a play is blown dead the offense will have 40 seconds to snap the next play. The offense will still have 25 seconds after a timeout or change of posession.

My Take: I think I like this change. We’ve all seen situations where the defense is trying to come up with a big stop late in the game in order to get the ball back in the hands of the offense, only to have the ref take his time spotting the ball, thus delaying the start of the play clock. This will make the play clock more consistent and take it out of the hands of the refs. But I’ll reserve final judgement until the end of the season.

Face Mask

The five yard incidental face mask penalty is gone. A defender can grab a player’s face mask as long as he doesn’t twist, turn or pull. Any twisting, turning or pulling still gets you 15 yards.

My Take: About time! the purpose of the face mask rule is to protect the players. As long as you don’t pull on the face mask the player is not going to be injured.

Replays

If a coach’s first challenge is successful he get’s one more, but no more than two during the game.

My Take: Well, it’s a step in the right direction but why is there a limit to successful challenges?

Field Goals

Field goals can now be reviewed if the dispute is whether the ball passed over or under the crossbar or if the ball was inside or outside of the uprights as long as the ball passed below the top of the uprights. If the ball passed above the top of the uprights no review is allowed.

My Take: Sounds like common sense.

Sideline Warnings

In the past the referee had to issue a sideline warning before penalizing a team. With this rule change there is no warning. If players or coaches are outside their defined boundaries during the game the team will be penalized 5 yards for delay of game. On the third infraction they will receive a 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty.

My Take: Was this really such a problem that it needed a rule change?

Stealing Signals

It’s now a violation to make audio or video recordings in an attempt to steal the signals of an opposing player or coach.

My Take: Thank you New England!