(Chicago, IL) — As the college football season kicks off this week, there are a few new rules and guidelines fans will notice, mostly centered on technology. Big Ten Conference coordinator of football officials Bill Carollo says the three major changes fans will see will be: The in-helmet communication between a single coach and a single player on each side of the ball during the game…

…The accepted use of tablets or small video screens on the sidelines to help watch game action and devise strategy…

and, the addition of a two-minute warning at the end of each half.

Carollo says the two-minute warning is not an additional break in the game, it will simply replace one of the television timeouts that was already on the commercial log.

It will also sync all late-game timing rules to change at the two-minute warning. In addition, Division III football officials will adopt what D-I and D-II referees did last year in that the clock will not stop on first downs gained if the play was stopped in bounds. The clock will stop on first downs gained in play in the final two minutes of each half until the chains are ready for play. One other note for Big Ten play, the conference has opened a multi-million-dollar video replay review center in Chicago, which will serve as the central command for all officiating reviews in all Big Ten home games.

The review center will have 24 video stations, 18 devoted to replay and six dedicated to medical observation. Big Ten Conference football play begins on Thursday night when Minnesota hosts North Carolina, Illinois entertains Eastern Illinois, and Rutgers welcomes Howard.