As USF football prepares for the season, refs and coaches have new rules to remember

Having entered the 21st century with liberalized rules about player compensation through NIL, a 12-team playoff, and whatever the major conferences look like today, the barons of college football decided not to stop there.

When you attend or watch a USF game this season, you must adapt to many more changes to the game we’ve all come to know and love.

There are multiple rule changes that even the coaches aren’t quite sure how to handle yet. Click here for an excellent primer on the new stuff while we here at Green, Gold and Bold try to hit on the major points.

A two-minute warning

For the first time, college football will follow the NFL model with clock stoppages two minutes before the end of the second and fourth quarters.

How will that affect USF?

Probably not that much. As we know, the Bulls like to go, go, go on offense. A mandatory break could disrupt their momentum if they’re driving for points near the end of the half or game, but head coach Alex Golesh didn’t seem concerned about that.

“Your guys have to understand what's going on, but in terms of pace of play and how you play, we're built for it,” he said. “Now, can the two-minute warning stop momentum? It'll either stop momentum, or if it ain't going real good, it kind of lets you reset a little bit. So I think it can go either way and certainly defensively, it allows you to regroup a little bit.”

Sideline to helmet communication

A coach can communicate directly with his quarterback through his headset to a receiver in the player’s helmet. It’s designed to cut down on sign stealing and there are safeguards involved.

The helmet communication will be shut off 15 seconds before the end of the play clock and only player with a green dot on his helmet can receive the sideline message.

Also, all FBS teams can use up to 18 tablets to view replays, broadcast feeds, and various camera angles.

Interestingly, if a coach tries to show an official a replay on the tablet to make his case, it’s an automatic 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

How will that affect USF?

In theory, the helmet communication could help the Bulls play even faster, but we’ll see how that goes.

The tablets could be interesting, but Golesh said playing in the Boca Raton Bowl last year, where tablets were legal, helped introduce the staff to how that works.

“So, there's a lot of things that are different. It's just a matter of, as a coaching staff, being prepared. That's my job. That's our job, to make sure that our kids know the situation.”

Oh, and there’s this…

Only head coaches may be interviewed during the time between the first and second periods and the third and fourth quarters. They can’t occur during live action.

Of course, I don’t think any sideline reporter would be bold enough to interrupt a live play and ask, “So, coach …”

But you know those rule-makers. They like to cover all angles.