The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved on Thursday to allow coach-to-player interactions through the helmet to one player on the field for all Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
A green dot will appear on the back midline of the player’s helmet to identify them.
The coach’s communication with the player will be switched off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever occurs first.
Meanwhile, teams have the option of using tablets to view in-game video only in all three divisions of college football. The video can include the broadcast feed and camera angles from the coach’s sideline and coach’s end zone.
Teams can have up to 18 active tablets for use in the coaching booth, sideline and locker room. Tablets can’t be connected to other devices to project larger additional images and cannot include analytics, data or data access capability or other communication access. All team personnel will be allowed to view the tablets during the game.
Other changes include:
Two-minute timeout
The panel approved adding an automatic timeout when two minutes remain in the second and fourth quarters.
This rules change synchronizes all timing rules, such as 10-second runoffs and stopping the clock when a first down is gained in bounds, which coincides with the two-minute timeou
First-down timing rules
After a year of review, Division III committee members decided to adopt the timing rules where the game clock would continue to run when a first down is gained in bounds. The game clock will stop when a first down is gained during the last two minutes of either half. Division I and II schools used this timing rule last season.
Other rules changes
- Allowing conferences the option of using a collaborative replay review system. This will be formally added to the rules book; it had been an experimental rule.
- Penalizing horse-collar tackles that occur within the tackle box as a 15-yard personal foul. Previously, a horse-collar tackle within the tackle box was not a foul.
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- Additionally, head coaches can conduct interviews with broadcast partners after the first and third quarters. This was allowed on an experimental basis last season and will be added as a permanent rule.
