The NCAA football rules committee made rule changes for 2008, including the following:[3][4]
Teams have 40 seconds from the time a ball is declared dead to snap the ball. The 25 second play clock will still be used for administrative stoppages and penalties.
The 15 second play clock after a TV timeout (adopted in the 2007 season) is repealed and returned to 25 seconds.
Outside of the final two minutes of each half, if a runner goes out of bounds, the game clock restarts after the ball is spotted.
The penalty for kicking the ball out of bounds on the kickoff is increased, placing the ball at the 40-yard line, similar to the NFL.
Reinforcing that contact that leads with the crown of the helmet to another player (targeting) is a foul, penalized 15 yards.
All face-mask penalties result in a 15-yard penalty. Incidental contact with the face mask is no longer penalized.
Sideline warnings are now penalized five yards for the first two occurrences, and 15 yards (unsportsmanlike conduct) for the third and subsequent violations. Previously the officials gave teams two warnings before a five-yard penalty was called.
If a coach challenges a play, and he wins the challenge, then he is given a second challenge to use later in the game, but each coach has a maximum of two challenges per game even if both are decided in his favor.
Conference and program changes
Western Kentucky upgraded from Division I FCS and played the 2008 season as a transitional Division I FBS member.
Rankings reflect the AP Poll. Rankings for Week 8 and beyond will list BCS Rankings first and AP Poll second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted.
After the completion of the regular season and conference championship games, seven teams had secured BCS berths: ACC champion Virginia Tech, Big East champion Cincinnati, Big Ten champion Penn State, Big 12 champion Oklahoma, Pac-10 champion USC, SEC champion Florida, and Mountain West champion Utah, who qualified as the highest-ranked BCS non-AQ conference champion. With Oklahoma and Florida being selected to play in the championship, Texas and Alabama assumed their conference's berths in the Fiesta and Sugar Bowls, respectively. The remaining at-large berth was awarded to Ohio State, who were selected despite being ranked No. 10 by the BCS, behind No. 9 Boise State. BCS No. 7 Texas Tech did not receive an at-large bid because the Big 12 had already been awarded the maximum of two BCS selections per conference.
* - The AFCA requires that their voters make the winner of the BCS Championship at the number one position in the final poll. ≠ - Kyle Whittingham, head coach of Utah, broke the AFCA requirement and voted his team number one on his ballot.
^Western Kentucky University was in a two-year process of transition to FBS status in 2008 (completed in 2009), and, therefore, some sources list the total for 2008 as 119.
^ ab"Plenty Of Reasons For Hope" (Press release). Purdue University Athletics Department. January 11, 2008. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
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