The NCAA Football Rules Committee believes teams that wear colors that match their playing field may have an unfair advantage (Photo: EWU Athletics)Eastern Washington will be directly affected by a rule being proposed by the NCAA Football Rules Committee to legislate what color jerseys players can wear on the field.
The Committee proposed a rule to have teams' jerseys contrast in color to the playing field. More specifically aimed at Boise State for wearing blue jerseys on a blue field, the rule would also prevent Eastern Washington from wearing red on its red field. But teams that wear green would also be affected: Colorado State, Baylor, Sacramento State, South Florida, just to name a few.
Speaking to The Spokesman-Review, EWU athletic director Bill Chaves said he isn't worried about the possible rule change. He said the players like wearing black anyway, even though the red jerseys fit better over the pads.
Other rules being considered include:
- Making the rule for targeting players above the shoulders. In addition to a 15-yard penalty, players who intentionally hit above the shoulders would be ejected from the game.
- Run 10-seconds off the clock if an injury happens on the field when there is less than a minute left on the clock in either half. The change is meant to prevent players from faking injuries to get a timeout.
- Disallow spiking the ball to stop the clock when there is less than :03 remaining.
- Allow officials to use electronic communication devices on the field.
- All the Big 12 to experiment with an eighth official on the field. The additional crew member would be in the backfield with the referee to see more holding on the offensive line.
All rules will be formally presented and voted on next month.
