Page 151 - 2019-20 NJCAA Handbook - May, 2020

E. In the event of a tie for the No. 1 position in the poll, the number of overall first place votes from all 16 members of the voting panel
will be used to break the tie. If a tie should still exist, all football panel members shall be immediately polled again by NJCAA National
Office and asked to rank only the teams that were tied.
F. Football coaches are to input their scores and stats to the NJCAA Stats System website and submit their scores to their District
Director on Sundays. The voting panel will then submit their vote of the Top 20 teams in the country to the NJCAA National Office by
Monday at 1:00 PM ET.
G. NJCAA National Office will begin weekly football poll releases on September 3, 2019. The first four rankings will be done exclusively by
the voting panel. Beginning in Week 5, the FCR component will be included.
H. All regular season games must be completed by November 10, 2019, and the Final Season Poll will be released on November 11,
2019. The Championship Poll and All-Americans shall be released after the final postseason bowl games.
I. Panel Directors: The Regional Directors in multiple regions shall determine each year during the NJCAA Annual Meeting which
Regional Directors will become Panel Directors. The regions for the purpose of football ratings shall be grouped as listed:
2019-20 DISTRICTS
DISTRICT REGION(S) DISTRICT REGION(S) DISTRICT REGION(S) DISTRICT REGION(S)
1 3, 15, 19, 21 3 4, 11, 12, 24 5 6, 16 7 18
2 17, 22, 23 4 13 6 12, 5, 14
J. Poll Dates: August 19^, Sep. 3*, 9, 16, 23, 30, Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28, Nov. 4, 11, Dec. 9+
^Preseason poll, *Poll is released Tuesday due to a Federal Holiday, +Postseason poll
K. Team and individual statistics will be submitted by the college to the NJCAA Stats System.
Section 6. All-American Nomination Guidelines
A. See procedure listed in the All-American Awards section of the NJCAA Handbook & Casebook.
Section 7. General Rules
A. All practice and play shall be conducted according to the NCAA Rules of Football with exceptions only as noted in this
section. NOTE: This is inclusive of the elimination of football two-a-day practices during the preseason.
B. All teams must have a minimum of 10 practice days prior to a game or scrimmage with another team. The first three days of these
10 shall be non-contact. These three days are to be a conditioning period with no contact between players and the players will be
allowed to wear only t-shirts/jersey, shorts, shoes, helmets and shoulder pads. During this three-day period, only one three-hour
practice may be held.
1. Subsequent to the three-day period, institutions may practice in full pads.
2. Student-athletes shall not engage in more than three hours of on-field practice activities.
3. On-field walk-throughs are not considered an on-field activity provided protective equipment (e.g., helmets, shoulder
pads) is not worn and equipment related to football (e.g., footballs, blocking sleds) is not used and conditioning activities
do not occur.
C. It is recommended that colleges cease all football activity for a minimum of one day per week.
D. All physical exams shall have been completed prior to the first practice of theindividual.
E. The visually enhanced football shall be an accepted ball.
F. Games played on high school fields will be allowed to use the wider high school goal posts.
G. Use of the 25-second field clock will be required for all football games during the season and for the National Championship Game if
such game is played.
H. Football jersey must be full-length and tucked into the pants as stated in the current NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations.
I. Adhere and follow the NCAA Fight Rule (Rule 2 and 9) and the following addition for players leaving their designated bench area:
1. No player may leave their designated bench area to participate in any on or off the field altercations and/or fights. If
such player or players are involved in this altercation, they will be disqualified for the remainder of the game and will
serve a two-game suspension to be served during the next two regularly scheduled or postseason contests.
Suspension at the end of a season of play shall carry over to the following season. If a player is disqualified for
fighting a second time during that season, he shall be disqualified for that game and suspended for the remainder of
the season.
2. The home team is required to film/video the entire game and the post-game until all players and coaches have left the
playing area in order to obtain the specific jersey number(s) of the player or players involved.

Section 8. Football Signing Date – Recruiting Dead Period
The signing date for football each year will be 8:00 a.m. (local time) on the first Wednesday in February. The dead period begins Monday
12:01 am (local time) prior to the first Wednesday in February and ends Friday 12:01 am (local time) following the national signing day.
The dead period is that period of time when it is not permissible to make in person recruiting contacts or evaluations on or off the member
institution’s campus or to permit official or unofficial visits by prospects to the institution’s campus.
The provision of complimentary admissions to a prospect during such a dead period is prohibited. During the dead period, a coaching
staff member may not serve as a speaker at or attend a meeting or banquet at which prospects are in attendance and may not visit the
prospects’ educational institutions. It remains permissible, however, for an institutional staff member to write or telephone prospects
during such a dead period.