NCAA Approved Rule Changes

According to Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved several rule changes for college football. All the rules that were passed today were procedural with the intent of creating a faster and smoother game.

Players ejected for targeting will no longer have to take the long walk of shame to the locker room but will now be allowed to stay on the sidelines. Players who commit three targeting fouls in a season will be suspended for one game.

The committee also restricted all replay reviews to two-minutes or less with the idea of speeding up the game and limiting the stoppages. In addition to the replay restriction the committee made a specific ruling on the end of a half. Should the clock expire and replay officials determine there was still time left on the clock, there must be at least three seconds remaining in order for an additional play to occur.  If there is less than three seconds on the clock, the half would be over.

This rule would have directly affected the end of the Alabama vs. Auburn game this past season. Auburn was able to kick a field goal at the end of the half after replay officials determined the Auburn runner was downed with one second left on the clock. With this current rule now in place, the half would have been ruled over.

The committee also made rulings on jersey numbers for the upcoming season, teams can no longer have more than two players wearing the same number. For the Crimson Tide this would affect the game day roster for the number 16, Drew Sanders, Will Reichard and Jayden George are currently listed with the same number.

In addition, the NCAA is now allowing players to wear jersey number 0 as a legal number.

Officials will now have game jurisdiction 90 minutes ahead of the game instead of the old 60-minutes. The extra 30 minutes of jurisdiction will give officials more control in pregame over potential physical altercations between opposing teams.

These rules have been agreed upon to create a smoother product and keep the game action flowing.

You can read the full NCAA press release here.