Right after the season ends, college football usually hits a slow period until March. But this year? It’s been the busiest stretch we’ve seen in the last couple of years, all thanks to major changes in the NIL era. Well, there’s a new change coming up. The NCAA is gearing up to tackle the sport’s most hated rule: targeting.

The NCAA Football Playing Rules Committee is meeting this week at the NFL Scouting Combine to talk about rule changes for next season. The main topics are the punishment for targeting penalties and the enforcement of equipment rules. It included ensuring players wore their pants properly. After the meeting, the committee will gather feedback before making final decisions in March.

One big change under discussion is removing the carryover suspension for first-time targeting penalties that occur in the second half of a game. Right now, if a player is called for targeting in the second half, he must sit out the first half of the next game.

Under the new proposal, officials would still penalize the player 15 yards and eject him from the game. Yet, he would not miss time in the next game. However, players who commit targeting more than once in the same season could still face tougher punishments.

This rule affected the national championship this season. Miami player Xavier Lucas had to miss the first half of the championship game because of a targeting penalty he got in a previous playoff game. Miami coach Mario Cristobal said the punishment felt unfair because it impacted such an important game.

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The targeting rule has evolved significantly since its 2008 introduction as a mere 15-yard penalty. The stakes shot up dramatically in 2013 with the addition of ejections. In 2019, full-game suspensions got added for repeat offenders, though an appeals process was added in 2022 to mitigate some of the harshest outcomes.

Over the years, the number of targeting penalties has decreased. The average dropped from 0.27 targeting calls per game in 2020 to 0.14 per game in 2024. Officials and rule-makers believe it has reduced dangerous head hits and made the game safer.

“Everybody’s done a tremendous job, and now it doesn’t feel like the punishment fits the crime, where the majority of these are just football plays. We’ll see if there’s enough impetus to get rid of the carryover, but the rule has worked,” Dean Blandino, a rules expert for Fox Sports, said.

Even though some people want to change the punishment, there is little support for removing the targeting rule itself. Many leaders believe the rule is working and has helped lower the number of head injuries. They are also concerned that weakening the rule could cause legal problems in the future.

This year, the Division I Football Oversight Committee will approve any proposed changes in March instead of waiting until April. Beyond targeting, the committee is also cracking down on long-ignored equipment rules.

NCAA games have a peculiar problem

Another big topic at the meeting is equipment rules that are rarely enforced. The committee is considering adding real in-game penalties for teams that break these rules. Here, the idea is to give a warning for the first offense. If it happens again, the team could lose a timeout. If they have no timeouts left, they could get a delay-of-game penalty. The goal is to make players and coaches take the rules more seriously.

One main issue is pant length. Almost 10 years ago, the NCAA adopted a rule requiring football pants to cover the knees. However, many players now wear very short pants. The most notable case was when Oklahoma State’s Tate Sandell wore extremely short shorts. That prompted ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit to joke on live national television that it should be a penalty. Some officials believe the look has worsened each year.

There are two main reasons for the pants rule. First, officials believe very short pants do not look professional in a team sport. Second, and more importantly, short pants can cause thigh and knee pads to be worn incorrectly, creating a safety risk.

It’s not just pants causing concern. Some players attach multiple mouth guards to their helmets but don’t use them. Additionally, some players are once again wearing short jerseys that show their midriffs, even though they got banned years ago. In the NFL, officials closely monitor uniform rules and fine players who break them. But in college football, no single person oversees equipment checks.

If officials approve new penalties, referees or replay officials will enforce them. The goal is to issue a few early penalties to quickly fix the problem.