NCAA Football Panel Proposes Changes to Target Emissions

INDIANAPOLIS — Division I football rulemakers have proposed a one-year trial rule that the first time a player is ineligible to play in his team’s next game, a half penalty is assessed, the NCAA announced Thursday.

Currently, ineligible players must sit out the rest of the game and, if a penalty is awarded in the second half, sit out the first half of the next game.

Under the Division I Football Rules Subcommittee proposal, a player ineligible for a second touchdown in the season would sit the first half of the next game. A third targeting ejection in the same season will result in the offending player sitting out the entire next game.

Targeting is forceful contact with the opponent’s head or neck area where the offensive player often uses the crown of his helmet to make contact or launches his body into the opposing player above the shoulder.

Oversight committees for bowl subdivisions and championship subdivisions must approve proposals before they become official. The committee will meet next month.

“This continues the evolution of our goal setting rules and balances important safety implications with an appropriate penalty framework,” said AJ Eads, rules subcommittee chair and Big Ten vice president of football administration. “We will closely monitor this one-year adjustment, and the committee believes that progressive penalty increases are important to ensure proper coaching and player education.”

dress code:

The rules subcommittee has proposed that players wear leg coverings from the top of their shoes to the bottom of their pants. Players must wear the same covering style and color for that particular game.

Players out of compliance must leave the game for at least one hour and correct the problem. A team will receive a warning for the first offence.

If a team commits a second offense under this proposal, the offending team will be assessed a 5-yard penalty. Any subsequent violation of the rule will result in a 15-yard penalty.

“The current look of the uniform is clearly not meeting the expectations of the college football community,” Eads said. “It will take a concerted effort by administrators, coaches and officials to communicate expectations to players and equipment managers. This proposal, we believe, is affirmative and gives us the opportunity to apply it consistently throughout Division I football.”

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was amused by the proposal, saying, “I’m just trying to figure out how we go from police socks to pants.”

“The NFL has those rules and they fine players when they don’t meet their uniform requirements,” he said. “Are we hiring uniform police like the NFL does, and they come in and they evaluate every player and when they’re properly suited they pay them and they fine them? I’m assuming we’re going to stick to our shirts without worrying about pant socks? We’ve got T-shirts hanging on, but now we have so many things that we have for so many things. It seems kind of weird.”

Fair catch kick:

Under one proposition, a team may attempt to kick a fair catch after a completed or awarded fair catch. The kick will be a field goal place kick where the holder or a drop kick where the returner caught the ball. The defense will be at least 10 yards away from the kick.

If the subsequent kick goes through the uprights, it is worth three points.

Subcommittee members believe adding the rule will align Division I rules with the NFL and high school football. A rarely used play came up in 2024 when Cameron Dicker of the Los Angeles Chargers converted from 57 yards against the Denver Broncos.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.