Rule Changes to NCAA Football

[UNTLifer]

There are a couple of changes I would love to see in regards to the rules of collegiate football.

1. If a runner goes down on their own and is not touched by a defender, then they can get up and proceed with the play.

2.   Yards lost to sacks not be deducted from a QB's rushing total.

[meaniegreenie]

27 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

There are a couple of changes I would love to see in regards to the rules of collegiate football.

1. If a runner goes down on their own and is not touched by a defender, then they can get up and proceed with the play.

2.   Yards lost to sacks not be deducted from a QB's rushing total.

Not sure how many times #1 occurs during a game/season, so don't know how much impact it would have.
It is an odd that the rule exists as it is.  I guess there's still the exception of intentionally "downing a knee" which allows a player to end the play.

But now, we'll start getting reviews of:
 - did the player first go down to a knee before getting hit?
 - did the player get touched while he was on the ground?

Since your change is the way it is in the NFL, I guess we could look to that to see how often it occurs and how often it needs to get reviewed.

[El Paso Eagle]

I hate thinking that we need more rules, but something they have to address is the players that are faking injuries to slow down the momentum of another team and the ones that are just straight out flopping onto the ground to try and get a penalty thrown against the other team. 

Edited 22 hours ago by El Paso Eagle

[Graddean]

If I am not mistaken, the NFL deducts sack yardage from passing stats.  It may give a more accurate picture of rushing and passing offense.  It doesn’t change total offense.

[GMG_Dallas]

2 hours ago, meaniegreenie said:

Not sure how many times #1 occurs during a game/season, so don't know how much impact it would have.
It is an odd that the rule exists as it is.  I guess there's still the exception of intentionally "downing a knee" which allows a player to end the play.

But now, we'll start getting reviews of:
 - did the player first go down to a knee before getting hit?
 - did the player get touched while he was on the ground?

Since your change is the way it is in the NFL, I guess we could look to that to see how often it occurs and how often it needs to get reviewed.

I watch more NFL than is healthy and it's really not a common review. In today's college game, you're still reviewing if a player was down. The situation where a player went down without giving himself up and wasn't touched are pretty slim. The question is usually just was the player touched and/or was the player actually down (already happens in college). In the NFL, a player doesn't have to be touched *while* on the ground if the contact resulted in the player going down so that's rarely a question. The most common reviews relating to that is when a player is rolled over another player's body and then keeps running without going down which is already reviewed in college or when a player recovers a turnover, goes down in the process, but it's questionable if he was touched which is rare.

I'd welcome the change. It would help the defense really turn the tide with a big play. 

[DentonLurker]

Targeting has to change. There’s too much nuance to it. Helmet to helmet gets a 15 yard penalty. Period. No conditions. If the replay official deems it intentional, they can eject or suspend a player.

[Hunter Green]

16 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

There are a couple of changes I would love to see in regards to the rules of collegiate football.

1. If a runner goes down on their own and is not touched by a defender, then they can get up and proceed with the play.

2.   Yards lost to sacks not be deducted from a QB's rushing total.

What I'd really like to see is changes to NIL and the portal!

[cousin oliver]

14 hours ago, Graddean said:

If I am not mistaken, the NFL deducts sack yardage from passing stats.  It may give a more accurate picture of rushing and passing offense.  It doesn’t change total offense.

Yes they do and it works for me.

[Green Otaku]

15 hours ago, DentonLurker said:

Targeting has to change. There’s too much nuance to it. Helmet to helmet gets a 15 yard penalty. Period. No conditions. If the replay official deems it intentional, they can eject or suspend a player.

You wouldn't be able to have a play without a penalty with a rule like that.

[DentonLurker]

1 hour ago, Green Otaku said:

You wouldn't be able to have a play without a penalty with a rule like that.

You’re probably right, but something has got to give. It has to be more clear.

[golfingomez]

my biggest request has been the same as it has been for the past ten+ years... make the coaches challenge a play for it to go to review (unless it's under 2 minutes in the half). No more booth initiated reviews

I am baffled that so many plays get auto reviewed for a game like ours, where there are 3 cameras being operated by college students and no clear view of the play. 

In addition, limit replay time to 90 seconds max, if a decision can't be made by then, the play stands. 

[Rudy]

Changes to the NIL and the portal #1

 

Stepping out of bounds and first downs automatically stop the clock, and it doesn't restart until the snap. 

 

Go back to the old OT rules and end this new bullshit about trading two points conversions.  If ESPN is crying because the games are too long, well stop taking so many damn 3 minutes media timeouts during the game. 

 

When the offense changes players, and the refs stand over the ball preventing the offense from running a play, the play clock and game clock both stop until they are clear to run a play.  

 

[golfingomez]

On 1/8/2025 at 6:04 PM, Rudy said:

Changes to the NIL and the portal #1

 

Stepping out of bounds and first downs automatically stop the clock, and it doesn't restart until the snap. 

 

Go back to the old OT rules and end this new bullshit about trading two points conversions.  If ESPN is crying because the games are too long, well stop taking so many damn 3 minutes media timeouts during the game. 

 

When the offense changes players, and the refs stand over the ball preventing the offense from running a play, the play clock and game clock both stop until they are clear to run a play.  

 

I forgot about this... I don't hate the rule, but the refs need to start a 10 second countdown when they do this... i roll my eyes when the defense slowly trickles in players just to get the delay of game penalty

[NT93]

There needs to be review of blatant missed calls on pass interference and roughing the passer.  The whole point of instant replay is to get the calls correct.  They’ll slow a video down frame by frame to determine when a player’s knee went down or to see when/if a player was out of bounds, but they can’t review a call that is obviously wrong in real time?  That makes no sense.

[golfingomez]

3 hours ago, NT93 said:

There needs to be review of blatant missed calls on pass interference and roughing the passer.  The whole point of instant replay is to get the calls correct.  They’ll slow a video down frame by frame to determine when a player’s knee went down or to see when/if a player was out of bounds, but they can’t review a call that is obviously wrong in real time?  That makes no sense.

NO! cut down on replays! what you are describing are subjective calls that take the longest to review!

[rcade]

On 1/8/2025 at 7:04 PM, Rudy said:

Stepping out of bounds and first downs automatically stop the clock, and it doesn't restart until the snap.

Stopping the clock on every first down would make games seven hours long.

[NT93]

2 hours ago, golfingomez said:

NO! cut down on replays! what you are describing are subjective calls that take the longest to review!

I get that and I agree.  I think there needs to be less reviews (or at least less time per review), but I also think it’s ridiculous to say, “They obviously missed that call, but it’s not reviewable.”  I mean they spend 5 minutes reviewing a spot to move the ball 6”, but they don’t review the two 15 yard penalties I mentioned?  Hell, refs mis-spot the ball a little bit all the time, but we’re not reviewing that (thank goodness).  
 

Replay should be used only for clearly egregious calls.  Honestly, I don’t think I’d be opposed to only reviewing at game speed.  If you can’t tell in game speed, it’s not egregious.  On top of that, look how many times they go to review and still miss the call.  There were about 3-4 at least in our game vs TxSt.  
 

Bottom line:  Replay needs A LOT of tweaking.

Edited 2 hours ago by NT93

[Rudy]

25 minutes ago, rcade said:

Stopping the clock on every first down would make games seven hours long.

How?  You stop the clock, set the ball, start the play clock.  It's not a timeout.  High school games aren't 7 hours long.

[meaniegreenie]

On 1/8/2025 at 6:04 PM, Rudy said:

When the offense changes players, and the refs stand over the ball preventing the offense from running a play, the play clock and game clock both stop until they are clear to run a play. 

Yeah, was going to suggest this one when I saw the thread title.
I'm okay with it, but they've stopped doing the the clock reset that they used to do when the defense slowly substitutes.  Several times I've seen the offense be down to less than 10 seconds before the ref moves away. 

[rcade]

58 minutes ago, Rudy said:

How?  You stop the clock, set the ball, start the play clock.  It's not a timeout.  High school games aren't 7 hours long.

You said you want the clock stopped until the snap. At present the clock only stops until the refs place the ball, if I understand correctly. That seems like enough time to me.

One of the worst things about the new overtime rules is that even in the third-and-later rounds where teams just go for two points each time, coaches get one timeout. It grinds things to a halt like the end of an NBA game.

[rcade]

2 hours ago, golfingomez said:

NO! cut down on replays! what you are describing are subjective calls that take the longest to review!

I hate how long instant replay takes in all sports that use it. Instead of waiting for certainty before making a call, they should look at replays for a set amount of time. When that time runs out, treat it as "the call stands."