College football’s changed in immeasurable ways in its 150-year history. And 2019 is no different in that it will make small changes to the sport’s DNA. It won’t deliver sport-altering rule changes like the 2018 offseason did – a redshirt rule shift, the addition of the transfer portal – but there are a number of rulebook alterations that greatly impact the on-field product.

Let’s review some of the notable changes to the college football blueprint.

A Targeting Tweak

Few rules have festered more confusion than college football’s targeting penalty. Thus, the NCAA’s Playing Rules Oversight Panel is tweaking things once again. There are two major changes to the targeting rule in 2019:

Every targeting call will either be confirmed or overturned after it's reviewed in the both. There will no longer be a “stands” ruling when the replay is inconclusive. Now, only targeting fouls that are confirmed will be applied. It removes some of the grey area with those judgement calls.



“If any element of targeting cannot be confirmed, the replay official will overturn the targeting foul,” the NCAA said in a statement.

“If any element of targeting cannot be confirmed, the replay official will overturn the targeting foul,” the NCAA said in a statement. Additionally, players who are hit with three targeting penalties in the same season will face a one-game suspension. Players who are called for targeting are already suspended for their next half of football – be it the second half of the current game or the first half of their team’s next contest.

No More Blindside Blocks

Arguably the biggest change of the offseason is the elimination of the blind-side block. Any block deemed to be of the blind-side variety will be a 15-yard-penalty. Expect to see plenty of controversy about this rule as referees prioritize this change early in the season.

The NCAA defines a blindside block as: “An open-field block against an opponent that is initiated from outside the opponent’s field of vision, or otherwise in such a manner the opponent cannot reasonably defend himself.”

An Overtime Change

Texas A&M’s epic (and exhausting) seven-overtime win over LSU sparked a slight alteration to the NCAA’s overtime rules. If a game advances to a fifth overtime teams will now run alternating two-point players instead of starting their possession at the 25-yard-line. Previously, teams could infinitely match each other’s scores and start every possession at the 25-yard line. Teams were already required to attempt a two-point conversion (instead of an extra point) starting in the third overtime.

“This rules change was made to limit the number of plays from scrimmage and to bring the game to a conclusion,” the NCAA’s statement said.

No More Two-Man Wedge Blocks

The NCAA opted to eliminate the two-man wedge on kickoffs. Simply, the NCAA does not want two or more players aligned shoulder to shoulder within two yards of each other on kickoffs. It’s a live ball foul regardless of if there’s contact. The only exception in this case is during an onside kick situation. There will be no foul called if the kick results in a touchback, fair catch or lands out of bounds.

Previously, it was illegal for three or more players to form a wedge.

Bonus: Everybody’s Got Two Bye Weeks

This isn’t an NCAA-mandated change, but it will have a huge impact on the 2019 season.

Thanks to a quirk in the calendar, every FBS team will receive a second bye week. This means the college football calendar, which will officially begin Saturday, will encompass 14 regular-season weeks before conference championships games. Usually, the college football regular season runs on a 13-week calendar.

If you’re wondering why there’s an extra week in 2019, thank the Gregorian calendar. Most years there are 13 Saturdays from the Saturday prior to Labor Day until the Saturday after Thanksgiving. But this year Labor Day falls earlier than usual, while Thanksgiving landed as late on the calendar as possible (Nov. 28) – Thanksgiving fell on Nov. 22 last year. Anyway, the short of it is we get an extra week of football.

The last time a double-bye format occurred in college football was 2014.