USFL Rules

Mike Pereira Discusses USFL Rule Changes Coming in Season 2

Things have been heating up towards season 2 of the USFL. The hubs are official, and now all eyes are on the draft, training camp and kickoff.

With a little over two months to go, we’re now starting to hear about some of the rule changes we’ll see in season 2.

Mike Pereira joined OutKick 360 earlier this week, in which he discusses some of the updates that are coming down the line.

I’m assuming we’ll have some adjustments to some rules, because I know you’re all about implementing other things that you couldn’t do in year one as you got things off the ground. What are we looking forward to this spring with USFL from your department?

Pereira starts by touching on the subtle adjustments due to the expanded hubs. First and foremost, the league will be adding more officials. 80% of which are part of the  NFL developmental program.

From there he dives into the updates for 2023.

We looked at the rules and we were pretty pleased with last year, we were still a little bit concerned about game times. Especially now in the hub format, you’re going to have the possibility of one game playing into another… Last year we wound the clock after incomplete passes in the 1st and 3rd quarters, which sped up our game. We thought it was a good change, but still we think it wasn’t quite enough. So, we’re going to wind the clock in the 2nd and 4th quarters also after incomplete passes, up until the five-minute mark of the quarter. And we’ll see in the first of couple weeks where that makes our timeframe fall.

If the gametime gets where we want it to be, I think it’ll be a good change.

Additionally, Pereira speaks on changes to the forward fumble rules.

We’re listening to the fans and we’re listening to the critics. So, a forward fumble into and out of bounds in the endzone will go back to the spot of the fumble and the offense will keep the ball.

Lastly, he touches on a minor change the USFL kickoff rule.

We’re going to make one slight adjustment to the kickoff. We like kickoff returns, 81% of our kickoffs were returned last year kicking off from the 25. Well, we want to get it to the 90, so we’re going to kickoff from the 20. We are likely to push that number up toward 90% of kickoffs being returned.

Other than that, he believes the USFL ruleset is pretty good. Unlike the first year, they’re hoping not to adjust any rules mid-season.

In our opinion, this is a good sign. It’s natural to make rule changes from one season to the next, but it’s positive that we’re not seeing a lot out of the USFL. They’re confident in the game they laid out last season, and are truley working towards perfecting it for season 2 and beyond.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming USFL rule changes? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below or join the conversation on Discord.

You can watch the full segment with Mike Pereira below.

Owner/Editor USFL Newsroom
  1. Hi, I think stats last year were a little on the light side and football geeks, like stats and Fantasy sports, meaning less plays make for less stats. I understand the 35 second clock will allow more plays than the 40 so that will offset some of the lost plays from the 1st and 3rd quarters, but I think the 100 yard rushing game and the 300 yard passing game could go the way of the complete game shutout. The league leader could have 400 yards rushing. Not a great advertisement for your league. In a league where quarterbacking is not strong at this moment, you would allow stats to only make it look worse whatever the numbers are. A way for the league to manufacture points is kicked balls out of bounds start on the 50 is ridiculous and a kickoff from the 20 is almost as ridiculous. Why don’t we just play Indoors and use a 50 yard field. If you want to make your offense score points and get even remotely strong stats, you cannot have a running clock in the 2nd and 4th quarters. You think you are improving the game, but you are making it worse. You aren’t taking out sitting on the sideline time. Since the clock was stopped, a new play would ensue as soon as the ball is snapped. This would a play. By doing what you doing literally takes away from gameplay, a very poor thing to do when advertising your league is to “recognize the real”. Hoping you see the light and realize the part of the game you are taking away is the game, not the stagnant time. Give me a little credit. For years i have been saying you need to dress 3 quarterbacks in the NFL. One thing I have noticed when researching USFL prospects are how many players were active for a game that didn’t even get a snap in a game. I know he wasn’t on the team, but let’s just say they signed Case Cookus after the Rams let him go, he would havd been a viable option in the NFC Championship. Likely he would not have been able to pull it off, but it would have been something to root for and maybe the Eagles would have felt more pressure than to run the first 2 downs for much of the 3rd quarter. Anticlimactic for sure. I also commented that it would be better for Bryan Scott to sign with the USFL over the XFL for many reasons. The many reasons for them releasing have certainly not disproven any of the reasons he should have just stayed in the USFL, but you have to find out for yourself and it’s possible he could still sign with the XFL as there are still plenty of teams he could start for, but he would have the same, non experienced coaches in the XFL. Not saying I am perfect and surely you know more than me, but we the people who actually like football plays. Moving this to the 2nd & 4th quarters is actually for people who don’t like football and want it to end. Is that what we are going for?

  2. To provide a little more clarity….Say in a regular NFL game a quarterback goes 24-38. That would be 14 incompletions, where 30 seconds would run off the clock before another play starts. That would take 14 plays from Team A. If Team does the same that would be another 14 or 28 missing plays. Yes you get some back due to the 35 instead if 40 second clock, maybe like 5 or 6 plays, but that is likely taken up as we cannot count on 63% completion percentage so losing 28 plays does not intrigue me. If you want to say we do it for the first and 3rd, I will deal with that, but if you are proposing a 2nd and 4th quarter why even play the game? If I were the XFL, I would make fun of the USFL and hold it against us. And to be honest we wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. I know Fox owns the league, but this is a football league not cookie cutter programming. I think you need to realize that before you lose this fan. Just a note I have bought at least 6 or 7 items from the website or the stands at the USFL Championship so I am a real fan, but I have a very busy life and cannot be the fan of something that is not real.

  3. I’ll make mine short. I am against the clock change 100 percent. You don’t shorten the game and rob teams from possible scoring chances because you caused possible scheduling issues. Not a good move.

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