Earlier this week, the NCAA announced the current transfer rules were being examined and could potentially be changing. Following that news, the NCAA announced Friday that another committee is looking into potentially changing the length of the college football season, as well as changes to the redshirt rule — something the majority of SEC coaches have expressed their support for should the amendment pass.

The Division I Football Oversight Committee will be the ones in charge of examining these potential changes. The topics up for discussion are a 14-week college football schedule, which would allow each school to have two byes during the regular season, determining when a season of eligibility should be considered used up by an athlete and reviews to the size of school’s support staffs across the country.

Two of these rules, in particular, could lead to huge benefits in terms of player safety, as an additional week off during the season and the ability to use more players in a finite amount of games could result in fewer snaps on the field for more experienced players. The number previously suggested, although not referenced by this committee, was allowing players to participate in four games without losing a redshirt.

Bob Bowlsby, the current commissioner of the Big 12 and acting oversight committee chairmen, had this to say regarding players losing a year of eligibility after being forced into limited action following an injury to a veteran player.

“When that happens, it is unfortunate,” Bowlsby said. “We are going to look at it. There could be other implications that we need to take into consideration.”

A good example of this scenario happened last season in Oxford, as Ole Miss burned the redshirt of quarterback Shea Patterson when Chad Kelly suffered a season-ending injury with only three games remaining. Now imagine Patterson got those three games of experience last season and still had the possibility of playing four more years for Ole Miss.

Following a lengthy review of these potential changes, the committee’s final recommendations will be presented in early October.