2020 Proposed Rules Changes

[IndyBison]

What does this mean? The play will continue and the penalty enforced or declined after the play?

The current rule is if you have 12 defenders in formation and the snap is imminent shut it down and penalize. Now you let it go and flag it as a live ball foul at the snap. I guess it gives the offense a chance to possibly gain more than 5 yards and decline the penalty. It's not common. Usually the defense realizes it and runs the 12th guy off. If he doesn't make it, it was and still is a live ball foul.

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[IndyBison]

One rule change I'd like to see is a two-tier system for targeting similar to how flagrant fouls are in college basketball. "Targeting 1" and "targeting 2" would both be enforced as personal fouls but a targeting 1 foul would only disqualify a player if it was his second such foul of the game and a targeting 2 foul would be the same immediate ejection rules as they have now. The problem is differentiating them but there's a difference between that targeting call that got the Nicholls' DB ejected last year in the Fargodome in the playoffs and something like this:



They'd probably have to try to judge intent somehow to determine which to call but I'd think officials, especially with the benefit of replay, would be able to differentiate them. What do you think Indy???

They are still trying to get defenders away from blowing up opponents on plays like this. If you attempt to wrap up and tackle rather than blow up you are much less likely to commit targeting. You don't always target on the blow-up hits but sometimes it's not for lack of trying.

The survey we got seemed to indicate they discussed a 2-tier foul so it may happen. If it goes that way I hope they go with the default being no ejection and only flagrant hits be an ejection. If they had a 2-tier foul a hit like Clowney on Wentz is probably not an election. It wasn't obvious in real time and didn't jump out. It didn't look like a foul until you slowed it down.

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[stevdock]

Indy, what are the odds that the NFL, NCAA and HS can get together and just make one set of rules for all of football? One of the most frustrating parts of football is not knowing if that was a penalty on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

[IndyBison]

Indy, what are the odds that the NFL, NCAA and HS can get together and just make one set of rules for all of football? One of the most frustrating parts of football is not knowing if that was a penalty on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

That will never happen. The games exist for different reasons at different levels and their rules reflect that. The quality of the playera and officials go up as well. The NFL rules are very complex compared to NFHS and HS officials would struggle to learn and enforce those rules. The NFL would never adopt HS rules.

A lot of the rules are relatively similar and the game itself isn't vastly different. Things like XFL and Arena football are much more different.

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[JDZ]

The current rule is if you have 12 defenders in formation and the snap is imminent shut it down and penalize. Now you let it go and flag it as a live ball foul at the snap. I guess it gives the offense a chance to possibly gain more than 5 yards and decline the penalty. It's not common. Usually the defense realizes it and runs the 12th guy off. If he doesn't make it, it was and still is a live ball foul.

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So, what if the defense lines up with 20 people in formation with the intent to smear the QB? Do the officials have an option to stop the play?

[IndyBison]

So, what if the defense lines up with 20 people in formation with the intent to smear the QB? Do the officials have an option to stop the play?

That was something another official brought up. Our consensus was to shut that down and flag the coach for unsportsmanlike conduct on the basis of making a travesty of the game. Then the question was where is the line? Do we do this if they have 16 players? What if it's 13? I'm sure we'll get some guidance on that between now and August.

[IndyBison]

These have not been spruced yet, but they are the ones being sent to the executive committee. Most are not major from a fan perspective. The one that has officials talking the most is the one with officials being on the field 90 minutes before the game. That could mean even earlier mornings to get to games for pregame.

1. Targeting – a player disqualified specifically for TGT will no longer be required to leave the field enclosure. They may remain in the team bench area even though they are no longer permitted to play in the game. It will be up to the head coach to determine the protocol (e.g. take his helmet, take his jersey, or send him to locker room).

2. Unsportsmanlike behavior (pre-game) – Game officials’ jurisdiction will now begin 90 minutes before kickoff as opposed to 60 minutes. At least three of the game officials will be on the field at 90 minutes. The “L” warm-up will take effect at 90 minutes. Any time a player is on the field, even if before the 90-minute mark, they must have a countable coach on the field with them. Additionally, any player on the field pre-game at any time (before or after the 90 minute mark) must have his number readily visible (doesn’t have to be the game jersey, can be a t-shirt, sweatshirt, etc.).

3. Substitutions – the defense having more than 11 on the field is now a live ball foul.

4. Instant Replay & Game Clock – if time expires in a half, and based upon the previous play, the game clock would have started on the ready for play whistle, there must be at least three seconds remaining on the clock in order for replay to restore time to the game clock.

5. Player Safety – Defensive linemen (within one yard of the L.O.S.), on scrimmage kick plays, must be aligned completely outside the frame of the snapper.

6. Player numbering – no more than two squad members may be assigned or wear the same number. The number zero is now also allowed to be worn and it is an eligible number.

7. Uniforms – wearing a fully compliant second jersey on top of another jersey will now be permitted by rule. Vests and/or altered jerseys are not allowed.

8. Penalty enforcement – all fouls that can be carried over the succeeding kickoff may also be carried over to the succeeding spot in extra periods. The fouls for improper jerseys regarding contrasting color with the opponent and/or numerals not contrasting with the rest of the jersey will now be penalized the same with both the loss of timeout and a 15-yard foul at the start of each half.

9. Instant Replay – wording will be added to the rule book that the expectation is that review times will not exceed two minutes. This will not expressly prohibit a review from going longer than two minutes, for example an end-of-game situation.

10. To note:
a. Kickoff rules will remain as they were in 2019.
b. Feigning injuries (by defensive players) was thoroughly discussed as a problem but there was no action taken to change the rules. The rules committee expects discussion between coaches and AFCA to eliminate this practice.
c. Uniforms – eliminating the practice of t-shirts hanging out from the bottom of jerseys and/or jerseys tucked under the pads will be a point of emphasis.

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NCAA announced approval of rule changes. Not all of those submitted by the rules committee were included on the press release so I'm not sure if they weren't approved or just not listed. Those not listed are in red above. Here is the official press release.

http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/...ain-bench-area