BisonNeil
06-05-2008, 11:53 PM
The rest of you are likely not as dense as I am, so you already know these rule changes. A few are fairly significant.
So, for those of you as out of touch as I am, read on:
1) The clock will stop on an out of bounds play, as it always has, but this year the referee will re-start the clock when the ball is ready to play as opposed to when the ball is snapped. (This is the 3rd yr in a row that the rules committee has attempted to speed up games without affecting the number of snaps in a game.)
2) The play clock has been changed to a 40/25 sec clock, like that used by the NFL. (When a play is blown dead the offense will have 40 sec to snap the ball. They used to have 25 sec after officials signaled the ball ready for play, however, there is still a 25 second play clock after the change of possession.)
3) All face mask penalties are 15 yds. (This is huge, I think, since there is no more 5 yd penalty for incidental face mask. The idea is for officials to not make a judgement as to the severity of the infraction.)
4) No more sideline warnings, first infraction can be a 5 yd penalty. (Previously the officials handed out two side-line warnings, not anymore. The value of the coach watching the sideline just increased. For the Bison, I think a good thing, Kramer is excellent at keeping the team away from the sideline and in the box.)
5) A coach who successfully challenges a play gets another challenge, but there is still a limit of two per game. (In other words, a coach can use two in one half if you want to, rather than one per half. This really only affects FCS when they play FBS.)
There you have it. The most significant change IMO is the face mask penalty being 15 yds, no matter what.
So, for those of you as out of touch as I am, read on:
1) The clock will stop on an out of bounds play, as it always has, but this year the referee will re-start the clock when the ball is ready to play as opposed to when the ball is snapped. (This is the 3rd yr in a row that the rules committee has attempted to speed up games without affecting the number of snaps in a game.)
2) The play clock has been changed to a 40/25 sec clock, like that used by the NFL. (When a play is blown dead the offense will have 40 sec to snap the ball. They used to have 25 sec after officials signaled the ball ready for play, however, there is still a 25 second play clock after the change of possession.)
3) All face mask penalties are 15 yds. (This is huge, I think, since there is no more 5 yd penalty for incidental face mask. The idea is for officials to not make a judgement as to the severity of the infraction.)
4) No more sideline warnings, first infraction can be a 5 yd penalty. (Previously the officials handed out two side-line warnings, not anymore. The value of the coach watching the sideline just increased. For the Bison, I think a good thing, Kramer is excellent at keeping the team away from the sideline and in the box.)
5) A coach who successfully challenges a play gets another challenge, but there is still a limit of two per game. (In other words, a coach can use two in one half if you want to, rather than one per half. This really only affects FCS when they play FBS.)
There you have it. The most significant change IMO is the face mask penalty being 15 yds, no matter what.