College Football Adds Two-Minute Warning, Helmet Communication for 2024 Season

College football is making big changes for the 2024 season. The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel has approved use of a two-minute warning, as well as helmet communication and sideline tablets. Those are massive changes that will have real impact on games starting this fall.

The two-minute warnings will come at the end of the second and fourth quarters just like in NFL games. Unlike the pro game, those stoppages will not add additional TV timeouts. It will be an open spot for a media timeout if necessary, but will not add another slot for a break. The change gives trailing teams another stoppage when attempting to come from behind and should create more exciting end-of-game scenarios.

Like the NFL, college teams will now be able to use helmet communication as well. One player on the field can use the technology and communication would be cut off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the ball is snapped. Conferences will be in charge of hiring, assigning and managing the cutoff operators. A team may use the communication devices even if an opponent chooses not to, but if one team's devices go down, both must cease using them. It's not hard to see this rule change being a response to Michigan's sign-stealing scandal that rocked the sport last fall.

Another approved change is allowing the use of sideline tablets for viewing in-game video. Teams will be allowed to use up to 18 tablets and the videos could include broadcast feeds and multiple other angles. That is different from NFL rules, which only allow images on tablets.

All of these changes seem like moves to modernize college football and align it more closely with the NFL. The two-minute warning should create more drama at the end of games, while tablets and helmet communication seem like an obvious next step in the game's evolution.