With the college football season less than 10 days away, time to review the rule changes invoked by the NCAA rules committee. Nothing too complicated, at least not on the surface:
- Both teams can now wear colored jerseys as long as the home team agrees and the home team’s conference agrees that the colors are sufficiently contrasting.
- Conferences will review video of certain plays deemed dangerous due to helmet contact and, if necessary, impose further punishment. If a player is ejected, the review is required.
- Punters will lose special protection if they run outside of the tackle box before kicking the ball, a change that primarily applies to rugby-style punters.
- The offensive formation rule now limits backfield players to four, thus eliminating illegal-formation penalties if only 10 men are on the field. Previously, the rule required seven players on the line of scrimmage.
- End-of-quarter penalties won’t cause an extra play if the infraction results in a loss of down.
Sorry. Nothing about shortening those lengthy TV timeouts.