It’s official, Kenny Pickett has changed the NCAA.
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved measures to ban the fake slide, strengthen the accuracy of targeting calls, limit blocking below the waist and address teams that appear to fake injuries during play.
Under the current rules, a confirmed targeting call in the second half of a game leads to a suspension in the first half of the following game. Under the new rules, the penalty of sitting out the first half of the following game is eligible for further appeal.
The impacted conference would submit a video of the play to the NCAA national coordinator of officials to review the play, and if a “clearly obvious” wrong call was made, the penalty would be overturned.
With the rise of “fake injuries” over the last handful of seasons, new rules would also involve a reporting and investigation process for teams awarded an injury timeout through deceptive actions.
“Schools and conferences will be able to report questionable scenarios to the national coordinator of officials, who will review and provide feedback to the conference for further action,” the press release shared. “Any penalties levied would be up to the conference office or school involved.”
- Blocking below the waist will only be allowed by linemen and stationary running backs inside the tackle box
- In the event of a ball carry initiating a feet-first slide, a la Pickett, the runner will be ruled down at the spot of the initiated slide
- Defensive holding will always result in an automatic first down but stay a 10-yard penalty
All of the new rule changes initiated by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel will go into effect starting with the upcoming season.
