NCAA Rules Committee Proposes Several Changes

[Mavric]

Nothing major but a few would be noticeable:

• Allowing an eight-person officiating system to be utilized. A center judge was used experimentally in several conferences during the past two seasons. The benefits of having the extra official included getting the ball spotted more efficiently and detecting holding and hands-to-the-face penalties.
• The ineligible downfield rule was adjusted from three yards to one yard past the line of scrimmage. To be legal, a lineman who is more than one yard past the line of scrimmage must be engaged with a defensive player when a pass is released.
• A 15-yard unsportsmanlike foul will be called on players who push or pull opponents off piles – for example, following fumbles.
• If a helmet comes off a defensive player in the final minute of a half, there will be a 10-second runoff of the game clock and the play clock will be set at 40 seconds. Previously, the play clock was set to 25 seconds.
• Officials will return to giving teams an initial sideline warning when their personnel move out of the designated team bench area.
• Officials are to treat illegal equipment issues – such as jerseys tucked under the shoulder pads and writing on eye black – by making the player leave the field for one play. The player may remain in the game if his team takes a timeout to correct the equipment.
• Allow instant replay review to see if a kicking team player blocked the receiving team before the ball goes 10 yards on onside-kick plays.
• Teams must be provided at least 22 minutes prior to kickoff for pregame warm-ups. Teams may mutually agree to shorten this time period.
• The calling of team timeouts by the head coach will be instant-replay reviewable at any time.
• If the play clock runs to 25 seconds before the ball is ready for play, officials will reset the clock to 40 seconds. Previously, the play clock would be reset when it reached 20 seconds.
• Based on research findings of the National Football League, non-standard/overbuilt facemasks will be prohibited.
• The committee also discussed length-of-game issues in the sport, meeting with television partners in an effort to find ways to reduce dead time in the game. In the 2014 season, the average game in Football Bowl Subdivision was three hours and 19 minutes.

Link

 

[BigRedBuster]

This one really surprises me. This can be filed under the label....Ummm...why is this even being changed? They are only giving them one yard? Heck, one big step in the wrong direction puts the lineman in the wrong place and a penalty. I don't believe that is the intent of the rule and I see many times this could be called when a lineman being two yards down field instead of one really has nothing to do with the play being successful or not.

• The ineligible downfield rule was adjusted from three yards to one yard past the line of scrimmage. To be legal, a lineman who is more than one yard past the line of scrimmage must be engaged with a defensive player when a pass is released.

 

[ZRod]

This one really surprises me. This can be filed under the label....Ummm...why is this even being changed? They are only giving them one yard? Heck, one big step in the wrong direction puts the lineman in the wrong place and a penalty. I don't believe that is the intent of the rule and I see many times this could be called when a lineman being two yards down field instead of one really has nothing to do with the play being successful or not.

• The ineligible downfield rule was adjusted from three yards to one yard past the line of scrimmage. To be legal, a lineman who is more than one yard past the line of scrimmage must be engaged with a defensive player when a pass is released.

I'm fine with one yard. Three yards is a lot, you're basically run blocking at that point.

• Officials will return to giving teams an initial sideline warning when their personnel move out of the designated team bench area.
• Officials are to treat illegal equipment issues – such as jerseys tucked under the shoulder pads and writing on eye black – by making the player leave the field for one play. The player may remain in the game if his team takes a timeout to correct the equipment.

Glad sideline warnings are coming back, was surprised when I saw a few instant penalties last year.
About the bold; BRING IT BACK!!! Let em rock the half jersey again. Saw quite a few guys during bowl play doing the tuck job, and they were never penalized.

 

[Omaha-Husker]

If a helmet comes off a defensive player in the final minute of a half, there will be a 10-second runoff of the game clock and the play clock will be set at 40 seconds. Previously, the play clock was set to 25 seconds.

This makes no sense. Why would you award a 10 second runoff to the defense late in the game?

 

[BigRedBuster]

If a helmet comes off a defensive player in the final minute of a half, there will be a 10-second runoff of the game clock and the play clock will be set at 40 seconds. Previously, the play clock was set to 25 seconds.

This makes no sense. Why would you award a 10 second runoff to the defense late in the game?

I thought the same thing. Makes no sense.

 

[gbr93]

If a helmet comes off a defensive player in the final minute of a half, there will be a 10-second runoff of the game clock and the play clock will be set at 40 seconds. Previously, the play clock was set to 25 seconds.

This makes no sense. Why would you award a 10 second runoff to the defense late in the game?

I believe the rule only applies when the defensive team is losing.

 

[Mavric]

Yeah, the "offended" team has the opportunity to decline the runoff if they so choose. At least that's the way those rules work now.

 

[ZRod]

The helmet rules are stupid to me. If it's becoming an issue during the game then warn the offending coaches and start making players leave the field after that. I've seen plenty of times now where a player's helmet comes off due to a defender making a non football move, or illegal move but without being penalized so he has to leave the field.

I really don't think they ever needed to go any farther than barring participation during the play if your helmet comes off.

 

[Saunders]

This one really surprises me. This can be filed under the label....Ummm...why is this even being changed? They are only giving them one yard? Heck, one big step in the wrong direction puts the lineman in the wrong place and a penalty. I don't believe that is the intent of the rule and I see many times this could be called when a lineman being two yards down field instead of one really has nothing to do with the play being successful or not.

• The ineligible downfield rule was adjusted from three yards to one yard past the line of scrimmage. To be legal, a lineman who is more than one yard past the line of scrimmage must be engaged with a defensive player when a pass is released.

It's to slow down/stop the pop pass on read plays.

 

[cg_8]

This one really surprises me. This can be filed under the label....Ummm...why is this even being changed? They are only giving them one yard? Heck, one big step in the wrong direction puts the lineman in the wrong place and a penalty. I don't believe that is the intent of the rule and I see many times this could be called when a lineman being two yards down field instead of one really has nothing to do with the play being successful or not.

• The ineligible downfield rule was adjusted from three yards to one yard past the line of scrimmage. To be legal, a lineman who is more than one yard past the line of scrimmage must be engaged with a defensive player when a pass is released.

It's to slow down/stop the pop pass on read plays.

Bye Bye packaged plays. We just got used to you...

 

[Count 'Bility]

This one really surprises me. This can be filed under the label....Ummm...why is this even being changed? They are only giving them one yard? Heck, one big step in the wrong direction puts the lineman in the wrong place and a penalty. I don't believe that is the intent of the rule and I see many times this could be called when a lineman being two yards down field instead of one really has nothing to do with the play being successful or not.

• The ineligible downfield rule was adjusted from three yards to one yard past the line of scrimmage. To be legal, a lineman who is more than one yard past the line of scrimmage must be engaged with a defensive player when a pass is released.

It's to slow down/stop the pop pass on read plays.

Otherwise known as the "Baylor Rule"

 

[Saunders]

The NCAA's football rules committee has proposed a change that could diminish the pop pass, the newer breed of option plays that include play action. The concept's become more and more popular in college football, even making appearances in the NFL.

The current rule allows offensive linemen to advance 3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage on passing plays. The proposed change would limit that to one yard, like the pros.

Combining run-blocking schemes with forward passes is not a strategy teams are going to give up. It's a continuation of play-action and option football, married into a single concept. Evolving the sport to feature exciting playmaking and faster tempo is good for the game, especially when it comes to appealing to millennials.

The suspicion amongst offensive coaches seems to be that the defensive guys are appealing to the rules committee to deliver them from a concept they've struggled to stop. Much like when Bret Bielema and Nick Saban appealed to stop up-tempo offenses in the name of player safety, this rule is said to be in the interest of making the illegal man downfield rule easier to enforce.

Sure it is.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/2/16/8045869/pop-pass-ncaa-new-rules-option-play-action-auburn-kansas-state-baylor

 

[Red Five]

SI.com's Andy Staples on the proposed OL down field rule. Explains it well. And the link contains videos and screen-shots.

http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/02/16/recruiting-social-media-punt-pass-pork?page=2&devicetype=default

6. The news that the NCAA Football Rules Committee had proposed adjusting the rule for linemen downfield on a forward pass beyond the line of scrimmage shot through the college football world Thursday night. The battle lines may seem similar to last year, when a few coaches tried to ram new clock rules down the throats of everyone else so they could handicap hurry-up offenses, but this is a little more complex.

7. At issue is the fact that officials across the country have been ignoring the existing rule that states linemen cannot be more than three yards downfield before a thrown ball crosses the line of scrimmage. Some coaches have noticed this and taken advantage.

There are offenses that will call a “packaged” play—a handoff or keep option for the quarterback followed by the option to throw downfield—without varying the protection scheme at all based on whether the play is a run or a pass. That’s fine in and of itself. After all, play-action passes require the linemen to simulate a running play.

What’s not fine is when those linemen drift as many as five yards down the field. At that point, safeties and linebackers who know the rules are trained to close toward the line of scrimmage because a forward pass would be illegal. By rule, such a play must be a run. But if the linebackers and safeties close, the quarterback throws the ball to a wide-open receiver and no official throws a flag, then it’s a touchdown on a play the defense could not possibly defend.

8. Want to see one? Watch this Kansas State touchdown against Oklahoma last season.

When a lineman is drive-blocking a linebacker six yards beyond the line of scrimmage, no one in the secondary is thinking pass.

Or check out this screen shot from the Notre Dame-Arizona State game.


NCAA committee proposes illegal man downfield rule adjustment. http://t.co/8vZppcuQoM pic.twitter.com/PoyZ1KBKrN

— CoachingSearch.com (@coachingsearch) February 11, 2015

There are teams that almost always ask their offensive lines to block the run, no matter the play. This isn’t lazy coaching, either. It’s a recognition of the officials’ unwillingness to enforce the rule, and it allows offenses to take advantage by fooling defenses that are trained to expect the offense to follow the rules.

9. Why have officials ignored the breaking of this rule? Because with huge people moving around at high speed, it’s awfully difficult to tell if a player is three or four yards from the line of scrimmage while also looking for various other infractions. And what if the official is wrong and the lineman is only three yards away? Then a touchdown might be taken off the board unfairly.

The rule change seems like a lowering of the speed limit. If you want to ticket people driving 60 mph, you would probably lower the limit from 55 to 45. Cops will rarely ticket someone driving 5 mph over the limit; they’ll frequently ticket someone driving 15 mph over the limit.

Where this could become a problem is if officials decide that now they actually want to call this to the letter of the law. At one yard with officials calling the rule strictly, it would be difficult to run a legal play-action pass.

10. The best solution to keep the game flowing and help the defense is to leave the rule at three yards and station an extra official on the sideline three yards from the line of scrimmage. His only job would be to watch for linemen too far downfield on passes. Given the proliferation of packaged plays, this would be a full-time job on a lot of Saturdays.

Unfortunately, this round of changes just added an eighth official. The center judge stands in the offensive backfield opposite the referee. This solution would require a ninth official, which would be fine in the Power Five conferences but probably not in the less wealthy ones.

Another option is to leave the rule at three yards and tell officials to make it a point of emphasis. As defensive coordinators have been screaming about this during games for years, that probably isn’t going to work.

If the one-yard rule passes the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, defensive coaches across the country will rejoice. But offensive coaches who rely on packaged plays will have to hope the committee reduced the number to one yard so that officials would actually call the three-yard rule they should have been calling in the first place. Because if the rule is called strictly, a few offensive linemen will finally learn how to pass set.

 

[BigRedBuster]

The last two posts explains why I don't like the rule change. It virtually makes many play action passes impossible to run.

The answer to the problem is to leave the rule the way it is and actually enforce the existing rule.

 

[ZRod]

The last two posts explains why I don't like the rule change. It virtually makes many play action passes impossible to run.

The answer to the problem is to leave the rule the way it is and actually enforce the existing rule.

Virtually impossible? All it means is that you can't have guys blocking 3 yards down field. You can still have the action in the backfield, you can still have a pulling blocking scheme on PA like we used to run, you just can't have guys blocking in what is almost drag route territory. In fact you can still have the pop pass, you just have to coach your linemen not to be quite as aggressive in getting to the second level.

God forbid a modern football organization makes a rule that actually favors the defense for once.