The helmet communication won't affect fans watching games at all. They claim the 2-minute warning will replace one of the existing TV time outs so it shouldn't affect the length, but it will affect the strategy at the end of a half. Expanding the 10-second run-off situation will impact more games. There aren't many horse-collar tackles in the tackle box anyway, but this added protection will simplify the rule. The first down clock rule was already in D1 and D2 last year, and it only cut games by 3-4 minutes. Very insignificant. Glad we'll be consistent in D3 though.

The biggest one I'm curious to see is the uniform rule. There are so many rule violations in D1 games it makes it very difficult for us to enforce in D3 ("but they do it!"). The last thing they want to do is send out the star running back because he refuses to tuck in his jersey or pull his pants down to cover his knees. I'm assuming this is being added to get teams to comply without having to enforce, because I still can't see them sending out a player for this reason in a B1G game.

These rules have not been approved officially yet so they aren't final. I don't expect much push back on this list though.

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2024/3/1/m...ogy-rules.aspx

  • Helmet Communication for FBS only. Experimental in other levels. Sideline technology now allowed for all levels
  • 2 minute warning with recommendation to sync up the runoff rules to align with the warning
  • Uniform penalty changed to a warning and player must exit the game on 1st violation. Subsequent violations are a charged time out or DOG if no time outs left.
  • Horse-collar within the tackle box in now a penalty
  • Clock will run on 1st Downs in D3
  • Collaborative Replay formally added to rule book.