2009 NCAA Division I FBS Football Season - Rule Changes For 2009

Rule Changes For 2009

The NCAA football rules committee proposed several rule changes for 2009. Before these rules were officially adopted, these proposals had to be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel. The rule changes include the following:

• If the home team wears colored jerseys, the visiting team may also wear colored jerseys; so long as the two teams have agreed to do so. This comes after a traditional USC-UCLA game where both teams wore their home uniforms. Previously, the visiting team would be charged a first-half timeout for illegal equipment.
• If the punter carries the ball outside of the tackle box, he is no longer protected under the roughing the kicker penalty.
• Deliberately grabbing the chin strap is now included as part of the face mask penalty.
• The edge of the tackle box is defined as being five yards to the left and right of the snapper, rather than two parallel lines from the position of the offensive tackles.
• Periods will not be extended for plays that result in loss of down (i.e. illegal forward pass).
• If a defensive player is injured, the play clock will be reset to 40 seconds. The play clock will be reset to 25 seconds for an injury to an offensive player.