NCAA Press Release on 2008 Rules

[Dommer1]

I started a new thread on this, hope that's ok.

NCAA News Release

 
NCAA Football Rules Committee Proposes Rules to Enhance Student-Athlete Safety and Encourage Consistent Pace of Play

 
For Immediate Release

Wednesday, February 13, 2008
 Contact(s)

Ty Halpin
Associate Director for Playing Rules Administration
317/917-6136

 
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INDIANAPOLIS --- The NCAA Football Rules Committee proposed changes intended to enhance and more strictly enforce rules related to student-athlete safety. The committee, which met February 11-13, addressed helmet contact, players that target a defenseless opponent, horse collar tackling, and enhanced rules dealing with dangerous chop blocks. Additionally, after a year of consideration, the committee proposed a 40/25 second play clock system to encourage a consistent pace of play. All rules proposals will be sent for membership comment and considered by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel before taking effect.

“A main charge of the rules committee is to enhance the safety of our student-athletes,” said Michael Clark, chair of the committee and head coach at Bridgewater (Virginia) College. “In recent years, the committee has attempted to address head-down contact and dangerous helmet contact in general. The committee is directing game officials to strictly penalize head-down contact as well as players that target defenseless opponents.”

The committee has proposed adjusted wording to curb the incidences of dangerous helmet-related contact. In this change, the committee is giving game officials better guidance to penalize these hits.

“The committee is giving our game officials more tools to penalize potentially dangerous contact,” said Rogers Redding, coordinator of officials at the Southeastern Conference and secretary-editor of the committee starting March 1. “Specifically, the committee is addressing players that use the crown of their helmet and players that target defenseless opponents when making contact above the shoulders.”

A proposal relating to the chop block rule clarifies this area and will assist in officials and coaches in the understanding of this foul.

“Previously, this rule had many factors that officials had to consider,” said Redding. “We have eliminated many of the conditions which made this difficult to officiate while retaining the illegality of the dangerous aspects of this foul.”

Another safety proposal deals with a dangerous tackle – commonly referred to as a “horse collar.” Any player will now be prohibited from grabbing the inside back collar of the shoulder pads or jersey, or the inside collar of the side of the shoulder pads or jersey, and immediately pulling the runner down.

Two other major proposals deal with the pace of play. The rules committee passed a 40/25 second play clock system in an effort to standardize the pace of play. Unless the game is stopped for administrative reasons (e.g., change of possession, injury, etc.), the offensive team will have 40 seconds to snap the ball after it is declared dead.

Additionally, the committee made a change in the timing of the game after a play in which a runner goes out of bounds. Except in the last two minutes of each half, the game clock will start on a signal from the referee, rather than on the snap.

“This is a part of the continuing efforts to maintain a reasonable length of games and create a consistent pace of play at all levels,” said Clark.

The committee also made the following proposals:

In the rules relating to instant replay, plays where a fumble leads to an immediate recovery may be reviewed.
In replay rules, a coach that challenges a play and is successful will retain the right to challenge one more time for a maximum of two.
When a kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team may accept the ball at the 40-yard line instead of the 35.
The incidental five-yard face mask foul was removed. All face mask fouls (pulling, twisting or turning) will be a 15-yard penalty.
A yardage penalty for sideline control was instituted.
 

[zebra99]

Thanks for quickly posting the press release.  I was very impressed by the Committee's efforts throughout the meeting to help officials by attempting to simplfy rule language and reduce complexity.  I beleive this will be a continuing theme in years to come.

All coaches were very sympathetic to the difficult job we have and continually expressed support for officials.  There was no negative comment whatsoever regarding officials other than the obvious that neither officials nor coaches are perfect.

I'm very encouraged by the process and direction the Committee is heading.  I also beleive that Rogers Redding is a very valuable asset and we'll see excellent semantical and well thought out editorial changes in the coming years.

[Andrew McCarthy]

All coaches were very sympathetic to the difficult job we have and continually expressed support for officials.  There was no negative comment whatsoever regarding officials other than the obvious that neither officials nor coaches are perfect.

They're always very cordial until the season starts.

I'm not sure I like getting rid of the 5-yard face mask rule.  I think you'll see a lot of fouls go unenforced because they're "not worth" 15 yards.

[Rulesman]

Agreed

[txheadlinesman]

So I am reading this as there will be no stoppage after first downs, correct? Similar to the NFL?

[Dommer1]

I can't see that it says that anywhere.

There is only one proposed change to the game clock here, and that is to wind it after an OOB play with more than 2 minutes left in a half.

[jrh]

I like the idea of the 40/25 sec clock to establish a uniform pace to the game, I'm just not sure how well this will work at the D3 level.  It kind of depends on the electronics of the clocks.  If they can be easily programmed to handle two different time periods, then we may be ok.  It's my understanding that the rule makers do not want two sets of rules, so I would think that they would have to consider all the D3 schools out there....

[zebra99]

Regarding your comments about the 5 yard FM going away - the discussion which was persuasive is that the brief grasp without more shouldn't be penalized because, in their opinion, it did not create an advantage/disadvantage justifying a penalty.  Further, it takes away one more judgment we have to make evidencing their desire to make things simpler for us.  Now we must see a twist/turn/pull otherwise no foul.

I respectfully disagree that many fouls under the new rule will be unenforced.  I think we are pretty good at the 15 yard FM - my observations led me to conclude that we (myself included) sometimes rule a 5 yarder when it really should have been a 15 yarder.  

Given that, of course, we will miss some no matter what the rule is or isn't.

[zebra99]

I like the idea of the 40/25 sec clock to establish a uniform pace to the game, I'm just not sure how well this will work at the D3 level.  It kind of depends on the electronics of the clocks.  If they can be easily programmed to handle two different time periods, then we may be ok.  It's my understanding that the rule makers do not want two sets of rules, so I would think that they would have to consider all the D3 schools out there....

Remember what's interesting is that the Rules Committee has more DII and DIII members than DI and it takes 2/3rds majority to change a rule.  I'm sure they considered the 40/25 second technical aspects of their play clocks.  Apparently it's quite easy to convert them with changing a chip or something.

[Andrew McCarthy]

Further, it takes away one more judgment we have to make evidencing their desire to make things simpler for us.  Now we must see a twist/turn/pull otherwise no foul.

Strange- before we had 2 judgements to make- was the face mask grasped and was there a twist/turn/pull.  It seems they've gotten rid of the "easier" judgement.

[Dommer1]

Unless the final wording turns out to be that any grasp is a foul. Which is what I think it should read.

[Andrew McCarthy]

Unless the final wording turns out to be that any grasp is a foul. Which is what I think it should read.

I'm assuming zebra99 is in the know on what their intent is.

Anyone know what the odds are of the Playing Rules Oversight Panel approving all of these?

[zebra99]

Unless the final wording turns out to be that any grasp is a foul. Which is what I think it should read.

no - the discussion was to eliminate the grasp only - they wanted the twist/turn/pull to be the only FM foul.  Of course I was not present during their private discussions and voting so that's always going to be a caveat.

[Dommer1]

I'm guessing, without any real insight to the process of course, that the PROP will take a long hard look at winding the clock after OOB plays. The last time the NCAA tried to shorten the length of games, well, we all know what happened. Although this proposal makes better football sense (and I like it personally), wouldn't this shorten the games even more than winding after a COP?

But I like most of the stuff, pretty much everything except the "horse collar" rule. But I guess that just had to come... I really like that they are simplifying the chop block rule.

[zebra99]

I'm assuming zebra99 is in the know on what their intent is.

Anyone know what the odds are of the Playing Rules Oversight Panel approving all of these?

For the first time, I beleive, a member of PROP was present throughout the meeting to hear the give and take.  I think that will enhance the chances that PROP approve the rule changes.  PROP's mission is not to independently go through the process from the start - their job is to insure no unintended consequences (primarily on safety and financial) slip through.  It's members include 7 athletic directors and 5 conference commissioners - none claim expertise in the intricacies of the rules - and it's the same committee which reviews rule changes in all NCAA sports.

[ALRef]

So there was no mention of not stopping the clock on first downs? Also, when would the 40 second play clock not apply? At one time I thought they were considering going back to a 25 second play clock after out of bounds & incomplete passes as well as penalties, etc. Is that still the case?

[zebra99]

I'm guessing, without any real insight to the process of course, that the PROP will take a long hard look at winding the clock after OOB plays. The last time the NCAA tried to shorten the length of games, well, we all know what happened. Although this proposal makes better football sense (and I like it personally), wouldn't this shorten the games even more than winding after a COP?

But I like most of the stuff, pretty much everything except the "horse collar" rule. But I guess that just had to come... I really like that they are simplifying the chop block rule.

Again with my usual caveat of not knowing exactly what was voted on - the discussion regarding the chop block centered around eliminating the "delay" component and making any HL/LH/LL block illegal anywhere except the immediate LL block right after the snap by linemen.  Again, no sense in over-analyzing this until we see the exact wording of the new definition.

[Diablo]

Reworking the chop block rule is long overdue.  The number of variables in the current passages make the rule difficult to explain & learn and near-impossible to apply in all the scenarios.

Any insight into the new wording?  Simplification, I hope.  

[zebra99]

So there was no mention of not stopping the clock on first downs? Also, when would the 40 second play clock not apply? At one time I thought they were considering going back to a 25 second play clock after out of bounds & incomplete passes as well as penalties, etc. Is that still the case?

There was lots of discussion on all aspects of clock management including not stopping the clock on 1st downs.  It appears that it didn't get through the voting process.  The 40/25 play clock discussion was centered around the NFL rule.  The Committee instructs the Secretary/Rules Editor in general terms what they want, then he crafts the exact language so we can't speculate on anything other than it looks like there will be a 40/25 clock rule similar to the NFL's with most administrative stops will probably result in the 25 second clock.

The primary concern was the apparent inconsistency between referees in their RFP - while acknowledging the inconsistency isn't great, a matter of a few seconds, they desire uniformity and exactness.  With that said we heard statistics that over 60% of plays would still result in a 25 second clock under NFL rules.

[Dommer1]

60%? That's a surprise to me seeing as you would have a 40-second clock on all plays that end inbounds, out-of-bounds and incomplete passes. But I'm sure they got their stats from somewhere. I hope they copy the NFL rule as far as possible, that would minimize confusion for all involved.

zebra99, thanks a lot for providing some insight into all this, very much appreciated!

[zebra99]

you're welcome - BTW:  they passed out the survey results - in counting the number of responders by position we were lumped in with Coordinators but with that said - our combined category showed 794 responders - got to assume well over 750 were officials!  great response and it did not go unnoticed by the committee - the power of numbers when it comes to charts!

[ALRef]

That 60% number sounds really high to me too. In the NFL, the only time a 25 second play clock is used is after penalties, injuries, timeouts, changes of possession and before tries. It seems like the vast majority of plays would utilize a 40 second play clock. I had heard earlier that the NCAA was planning on a 25 second play clock after first downs, incomplete passes, fumbles (not necessarily a change of possession) and out of bounds plays. It doesn't make sense to have a 25 second clock after out of bounds or incomplete passes. We should still be spotting the ball in the same amount of time. An argument could be made for a 25 second clock after first downs if the game clock isn't stopped.

[Andrew McCarthy]

If the idea of the 40-second clock comes about because there is often more or less time than "normal" coming off the running game clock before the RFP, then it makes sense to use that only when the clock contimues to run.  If the clock is stopped for ANY reason it should be a 25-second play clock.

If we're winding after stopping for a first down or (now before the last 2 minutes of the half) on an out of bounds play it makes no sense that our wind (RFP) would be at some random time on the 40-second clock.

[zebra99]

That 60% number sounds really high to me too. In the NFL, the only time a 25 second play clock is used is after penalties, injuries, timeouts, changes of possession and before tries. It seems like the vast majority of plays would utilize a 40 second play clock. I had heard earlier that the NCAA was planning on a 25 second play clock after first downs, incomplete passes, fumbles (not necessarily a change of possession) and out of bounds plays. It doesn't make sense to have a 25 second clock after out of bounds or incomplete passes. We should still be spotting the ball in the same amount of time. An argument could be made for a 25 second clock after first downs if the game clock isn't stopped.

Not sure about your statement "I had heard earlier that the NCAA was planning on a 25 second play clock after ......."  There is no "planning" prior to the Rules committee meeting other than to gather all proposals and their various iterations.

Also, please don't take my 60% plus comment as gospel - we heard a ton of statistics - I could have something wrong.  But my impression was that their study indicated many more 25 second type plays under the NFL 40/25 given other college rules than most originally thought.

[ALRef]

I think the idea is consistency - whether the game clock is running or not. After a play is over, the offense would have 40 seconds to snap the ball - period. The 40/25 rule in the NFL works fine. Is there a reason our rule couldn't be the same?