From Ivy Football Media Day: big changes on the field

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This morning the Ivy League office hosted its annual football Media Day Teleconference this morning, and it began with Ivy Coordinator of Football Officials Jim Maconaghy introducing and explaining some new rules. (And sidenote: the Quakers were picked to 3-peat, receiving 12 of 17 first-place votes.)

• Obviously the biggest change here is the decrease in full-contact practices during the week. Since that rule has been hashed out here and in several other media outlets, Scottie Rodgers and Robin Harris (at the League office) didn't spend too much time discussing it.
• Unsportsmanlike conduct: In an effort to place player discipline at the top of its priorities list, the NCAA instilled a new rule that, unlike many of this season's rule changes, is not quite in line with that of the NFL. If a player is running into the endzone/about to score a touchdown, and he engages in unsportsmanlike conduct, a 10-yard penalty will be assessed and the score will not be counted. Examples include any type of taunting before the score, and unnecessary dives into the endzone (ie: no defenders are nearby). League referees have been advised that in the case of uncertainty, a dead-ball foul should be called.
• Intentional grounding: The previous rule stated that if an eligible receiver was in the area of a pass and had the "opportunity" to make the catch, intentional grounding would not be called. The last part of that rule — "opportunity" to catch — has been deleted. This season, as long as an eligible receiver is in the area of the pass, it is not intentional grounding. Maconaghy said this helps the officials in making clearer calls.
• 10-second runoff: If a foul is committed with :59 on the clock or less, the offending team has a few options: a) take the 10-second runoff and accept the foul b) accept just the foul c) buy out of the runoff if the team has a timeout remaining. (Previously, a team could accept the runoff without accepting the foul. No longer will that be an option.)
• Blocking on FG kicks: If 3 defensive linemen line up in front of a lone offensive blocker on the line of scrimmage then attack during the kick, the defensive team will be penalized on that play. It was brought to the league's attention that this was occurring, and the rule was changed in order to protect players from such occurrences.
• Helmets knocked off: The Ivy League will count and record the number of times helmets are knocked off players throughout the season and use that information to address that issue in the future.
• Head umpire will not move positions: There was some talk of moving the umpire to the offensive backfield for protection, but as of this season that change will not occur.