It’s the time of the year when the NCAA’s Football Rules Committee gets together in Indianapolis to discuss potential changes to the rulebook. With player safety continuing to be an emphasis, the committee will review rules related to targeting, kickoffs, and blocking below the waist.
“We will thoroughly review all aspects of the rules, including targeting,” said Steve Shaw, secretary-rules editor of the committee, in a released statement from the NCAA on Wednesday afternoon. “The targeting rule has changed player behavior and has made a positive impact on the game. In all areas, the committee continues to investigate ways to improve our rules for student-athlete safety and fairness of play.”
Shaw notes the targeting rule has had a more positive impact on the game, but the flip side of the coin here is just how inconsistent and controversial the implementation of the rule has been since being introduced a decade ago and undergoing some recent renovations such as allowing the instant replay booth official to stop a game to bring a possible targeting foul to the attention of the on-field officials. The focus may be on reducing the jarring blind-sided hits in the game to some degree, but the rule continues to be interpreted differently from week to week, game to game, conference by conference. The rules committee will be tasked with addressing how to improve on the idea of the targeting rule without eliminating the safety precautions the rule has in mind.
This is also part of the reason the rules committee will have to review the blocking below the waist rules.
“The rules that deal with blocking below the waist are difficult to coach and officiate,” Shaw said. “The difficulty is balancing style of play concerns and player safety to create rules that are not too complicated to understand and that are good for the game.”
One proposal to the blocking below the waist rule will aim to prohibit low blocks more than 10 yards down the field.
