Rules updates

College football fans will note several new rules with the season getting started in earnest this Labor Day weekend.

The most noticeable update will be the advent of fair catches on kickoffs inside the 20-yard line, which will give the offense the ball on the 25. After the ball started to be placed at the 25 following touchbacks beginning in 2013, the NCAA football rules committee noted a rise in deep sky kicks intended to land inside the 10 yard line and force returns. Because kickoff returns have been demonstrably shown to produce the highest risk of head injuries, the committee adopted the new rule to reduce them.

Also new this year, a team that scores on a field goal on a play with a defensive penalty can now choose to keep the three points and accept the enforcement of the penalty on the ensuing kickoff. Previously, the scoring team was forced to decline the penalty to take the points or have the points wiped off to accept the infraction.

Rules for blocking below the waist also have been modified, with the biggest change being that no blocking below the waist is legal beyond 5 yards from the line of scrimmage.

From a uniform standpoint, all pants must go beyond the knee and include knee pads.

In the pace-of-play category, a 40-second play clock will be used between a touchdown and an extrapoint try, as well as a kickoff and the first play of a series.