Immediate Football Rule Change
Athletic Directors:
Please share this important rule change with your football coaches immediately
TAPPS received notification today from the State TASO office of a last minute change to the NCAA Football Rules which is in effect for the current season. The NCAA Football Rules Committee made a change yesterday to the 10 second runoff rule at the end of the 2nd and 4th quarter as outlined below. This rule change will apply to the current season in all TAPPS football games. The UIL has adopted this change as well.
Questions are currently being raised from coaches concerning end of game scenarios and how the 10-second runoff rule would be administered. Specifically, the questions surround how feigning an injury after making a 1st down inbounds could avoid the 10-second runoff rule.
The CFO, LLC Board of Managers (All FBS commissioners and two FCS commissioners) discussed this on its preseason call yesterday and approved language to close a potential loophole in the rules. If no adjustment is made, a team could gain a first down in bounds and gain a significant clock advantage by having an injury (feigned or real).
Therefore, to prevent teams from taking advantage of this loophole in the 10-second runoff rule, the CFO commissioners unanimously approved the language below that would close this loophole, and we received an immediate endorsement of this language from the rules committee members:
“If a player injury occurs on a play where there is a temporary stoppage of the clock for a first down, and the clock is stopped with 10 seconds or less remaining in the 2nd or 4th quarters, the opponent has the option of a 10-second runoff. The 10-second runoff may be avoided by the use of a charged team timeout if available.”
The timing of the request isn’t ideal, but we need to manage this well. The commissioners view this as similar to the adjustment made after a quarterback faked a slide but used that rule protection to his advantage. That loophole was closed immediately with full support of the rules committee.
Please share ASAP with your Referees and crews as we head into Week 1, and coaches as needed.
Please reach out to the TAPPS office if you need assistance, [email protected] or 254-947-9268.