NCAA college football rule changes for 2019 season should help speed up the game and reduce player’s injuries.

The start of College Football is right around the corner, and with that announcement comes NCAA’s announcement that they have approved several changes to the game.

NCAA approves new college football rules, including change to overtime, sports.yahoo.com/ncaa-approves-new-college-football-rules-including-change-to-overtime

One of the changes that will really affect the way College Football is played will be the change to overtime.

Before the change, if the game had to go into overtime, each team had a chance to score.

They would flip a coin to see what team went first, then that team would have to chance to score first, whether the team scored a touchdown or a field goal, the other team would then have a chance to either tie the game, thus sending the game once again into overtime, or win.

Example would be if the first team only scored a field goal (3 points) than the other team scores a touchdown, and therefore wins the game.  Another example would be the first team to score a touchdown and the other team was only able to score a field goal, thus losing.

The only problem with this is that we saw 2, 3 and even 4+ overtimes before a winner was declared. The rule change is only a slight tweak to the overtime rule, but at this point any change will be welcomed.

The change is as follows; if a game advances to a fifth overtime, the teams will run alternating two-point plays instead of regaining possession from the 25-yard line like in prior overtime periods.

Also included in this change is that the NCAA is instituting two-minute rest periods after the second and fourth overtimes.

The NCAA says the changes were passed in an effort to “limit the number of plays from scrimmage and bring the game to a conclusion”.

 In addition to the overtime tweak, as per the NCAA article is the panel approved two changes to the controversial targeting rules, and this is a good thing.

Starting with the upcoming season, penalties for targeting will either be confirmed or overturned.

There will be no more plays where a call on the field “stands” like in a situation where a replay review is ultimately inconclusive.

In the past, if instant replay officials could not conclusively state that targeting occurred, a play ruled targeting on the field would “stand” and the player would be ejected.

Only targeting fouls confirmed by replay will be upheld. The update to the rule removes the middle ground.

“If any element of targeting cannot be confirmed, the replay official will overturn the targeting foul,” the NCAA said.

There are several other changes being made and if you are an avid college football fan, you really need to read the full article, here is the link again.   sports.yahoo.com/ncaa-approves-new-college-football-rules-including-change-to-overtime

The College football season officially starts August 24^th with Florida taking on Miami. fbschedules.com/college-football-schedule

College Football rankings as of June 2019. cbssports.com/college-football/rankings/cbs-sports-ranking

Hopefully the above changes to the game will not only speed of the game, but also reduce the amount of injuries to players that occur during overtime due to exhausting that comes from playing 2,3 or more overtimes.

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