There will be some changes in the way game is played when the 2008 college football season begins. Most will be quickly noticeable to fans and will have significant impacts.
Following are each of the changes, with some input from Redding on each one:
The 25-second clock has been replaced by a 40-second clock that will begin as soon as officials blow the previous play dead.
“The way it's going to work is, when the ball is dead without any signal from the referee, just a dead ball signal from the covering official, the 40-second clock will start ticking down. So that's the length of time the team will have to put the ball in play. The referee will not declare it ready for play. It will be ready for play when the umpire places the ball on the ground and steps away.
“There will be many times in the game when we will go to the 25-second clock because of administrative stoppages - if there's a penalty enforcement, a timeout, a media timeout, injured player, dog runs on the field, any number of things that will cause us to shut it down and then go to 25 seconds. In those cases, the referee will chop it or start the 25-second clock as he always has in the past. Most of the time, the clock will go to 40 seconds after every play, then start clicking down. So that's a major change.
“Another change with regard to the clock rule is when the ball goes out of bounds. Again, for all of our lives, when the ball has gone out of bounds, the ballcarrier goes out of bounds, fumble, backwards pass goes out of bounds, the clock will stop, and will continue to stop like it always has. Now, instead of starting on the snap, the clock is going to start when the ball is ready for play, when the referee gives the line the clock signal, except in the last two minutes of each half.”
The 5-yard incidental facemask penalty has been eliminated. All facemask penalties will be 15 yards.
“It will be a foul if the player grabs the facemask, twists it, turns it or pulls it, and that it's a safety issue. The rules committee is made up entirely of coaches, the voting members are. And they felt this was not a safety issue with just grasping the facemask. But if it's twisted or turned or pulled, then that will continue to be a 15 yard penalty.”
Grabbing the inside of the back collar of the pads or jersey or the inside collar of the pads or jersey and pulling a runner down immediately will be a personal foul.
“It's the so-called horse-collar tackle. What the rule says is that it's going be illegal to immediately pull a runner down if you grab by the inside collar of the jersey or the shoulder pad or the back of the jersey or shoulder pad and pull the player down.”
Additional plays will be reviewable with Instant Replay, and coaches will potentially have two challenges in a game.
"Scoring plays, if there's a question about whether on a field goal attempt the ball was above or below the crossbar, that is now reviewable. And also it's reviewable as to whether or not the ball was inside or outside the uprights as long as it's below the top of the uprights. We're not going to review it if the ball goes high above the top of the uprights, but it's reviewable if it's within the uprights, inside or outside, and above or below the crossbar. “We've always had a difficulty with an instant replay if the runner is ruled down on the field. We couldn't review that. The play is dead as soon as he's ruled down. Now, if the ball comes out and the ball is recovered in the continuing immediate action following the play, if the runner has been ruled down, the ball comes down, it's recovered, that can be reviewable. That's a little bit of a change as far as the reviewability of plays is concerned.
“The committee felt like there were a couple of situations in bowl games where the coaches seemed disadvantaged by challenging something that was just obvious to everybody. The coaches will continue to have one challenge a game, as long as they have a timeout available to them, but the difference this year is if that first challenge is successful, the coach retains that challenge and may use it again one more time. There's a potential for two challenges during a game. That gives the coaches a little more flexibility around challenging a play that is reviewable under the Instant Replay rules.”
The sideline warning has been eliminated.
“The coaches on the committee said ‘let's don't give a free warning anymore.’ So it's a 5-yard penalty from the get-go. Last year if we would have thrown a flag for a sideline warning, that will be a 5-yard penalty. If we ever get to three and four, those will be 15 yards each.”
Want to see some real rules changes? GO HERE
