What is a sideline warning in college football?

Watching a college football game when the refs announce a team has been hit with a sideline warning and wondering what it means?

College football has a ton of rules and it’s tough to keep up with all of them.

And then when you think you have a good grasp of the rules, the NCAA will make tweaks to them, just as they did with the overtime rules for the 2021 season.

One of the rules that has been a point of emphasis in recent years for college football referees is the sideline warning.

What is a sideline warning mean in college football?

Here’s how the NCAA defines a sideline warning in college football:

"An important point of emphasis for the rules committee and the officials is keeping the sidelines clean. This means that players and coaches are not allowed in the restricted area—the space between the sidelines and the coaches’ box and team area. For a long time, the first infraction led to a sideline warning, with no yardage penalty. After a few years the rule was changed to assess a five-yard penalty for the first offense. Now, we are returning to the warning for the first infraction. No yardage penalty will result until the second offense."