NCAA Announces Changes to Instant Replay, Targeting Starting in 2020 Season

The NCAA announced planned changes to rules regarding instant replay and targeting beginning with the 2020 season.

According to a release sent out Tuesday, players who are ejected for targeting will be allowed to stay on the sidelines with their team. Previously, they were forced to spend the rest of the game in the locker room.

Additionally, the NCAA will institute a two-minute time limit for instant replay reviews. The rule change was supported in effort to increase the pace of play. Games have steadily moved toward the four-hour mark, a trend the NCAA is looking to reverse, along with nearly every major sports league.

The NCAA also added a new clock administration rule regarding replays, explained as such:

"If the game clock expires at the end of a half and replay determines that there was time remaining and the clock should start on the referee’s signal after review, there must be at least three seconds remaining, when the ball should have been declared dead, to restore time to the clock.

"If less than three seconds remain on the game clock, the half is over."

No additional changes to the targeting rule were put into place. Referees began reviewing "all aspects" of targeting calls last season to ensure proper enforcement; targeting rules have been in place since 2013.

Other rule changes include limiting the number of players who can have the same number to two and having officials on the field 90 minutes prior to kickoff rather than 60 to limit "negative interactions" between teams.