NCAA Approves Two New College Football Rules; How Ohio State Buckeyes Are Adapting

The NCAA approved the use of helmet communication devices and the addition of a two-minute warning for the 2024 college football season and beyond.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approved two new rules on Friday that make college football more like the NFL. Helmet communication devices and a two-minute warning will both be in use beginning this season.

Beginning with the former, one player per team will be allowed to have a device within his helmet that allows for direct communication with coaches and sideline personnel. The purpose of the device is to minimize the time necessary for calls to make their way to the huddle, thus speeding up the game.

Dec 29, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said he has already begun to implement these devices at practices, in order to get his players familiar with them before the season begins in late August.

"It's been good to work through that," Day said. "The easy thing is, when you're in the huddle, you just call the play and the quarterback calls the play and that's simple. But there are other ways to build in different hybrids between signals and calling it into the quarterback. There's verbal and then there's the physical signal. ... It's something new in college, each day we're learning a little bit more about it."

There is a limit, however, to when in-helmet communications can occur between a player and the sideline. Use of the device is prohibited both within the final 15 seconds of the play clock and once the ball has been snapped.

The other major change from the NCAA regards an automatic stoppage of play at the end of the second and fourth quarters. Teams will be allowed a chance to regroup following the first dead ball within the last two minutes of each of those periods, just like in the NFL.