NEW NCAA Rule: Clock No Longer Stops on First Downs

[Stern]

Thank the lord. We have a rolling clock now in NCAA football starting ASAP. Clock will now only stop after first downs the final 2 minutes of the half/game.

 

[PhatOrange]

Pretty major rule change

 

[ForCuseSake]

Hello under 3.5 hour televised games!!!

 

[OrangeAl]

So, more and longer commercial timeouts are balanced by less football being played!
Will we reach the four-minute commercial break?

 

[Stern]

So, more and longer commercial timeouts are balanced by less football being played!
Will we reach the four-minute commercial break?

Who do you think is driving this change? The TV Networks

The games are too long. They had to move the National Title kickoff up an hour this past year because the games are just going too long. They want to speed up the action and get to the next game on your run-of-the-mill-Saturday. You won't see longer commercial timeouts.

 

[DPCuse]

The commercial breaks are brutal if you are in the stadium. I realize you need to pay the bills but can't we reduce the length of the media timeout by 30 seconds? If I recall, they are 2:30-3:00 minutes. Cut them down to 2:00.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Thank the lord. We have a rolling clock now in NCAA football starting ASAP. Clock will now only stop after first downs the final 2 minutes of the half/game.

I don’t get why it has to be different under 2:00. Save your timeouts if you need to stop the clock.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

This is only going to reduce the number of plays per game by 7 to 10. It's a step in the right direction, but it's not a magic bullet.

 

[SanDiegoCuse]

I hate this and don't think the games are too long.

 

[All4SU]

This is only going to reduce the number of plays per game by 7 to 10. It's a step in the right direction, but it's not a magic bullet.

But do we really want to reduce the number of plays? Or do we want to trim the wasted time between plays - injury time, commercial stoppage, plays under review, - those are things that annoy me. I like the football.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

But do we really want to reduce the number of plays? Or do we want to trim the wasted time between plays - injury time, commercial stoppage, plays under review, - those are things that annoy me. I like the football.

Just a frame of reference for how much shorter the duration of the game is going to be. Fewer plays mean fewer opportunities for stoppages.

Commercial stoppages are the issue, but there's nothing the networks are willing to do about them.

 

[upperdeck]

well in some yrs this means about 3 less stopages for SU a game it seems..

I wonder what it brings for long plays that lead to a first down.. is the clock not stopping but the play clock is?

 

[UpstateSM]

Time to stop selling beer after the 3rd quarter instead of halftime

 

[sutomcat]

But do we really want to reduce the number of plays? Or do we want to trim the wasted time between plays - injury time, commercial stoppage, plays under review, - those are things that annoy me. I like the football.

I think they do want to reduce the number of plays. Accoriding to this link, which is to a premium site, the number of plays in an NFL game is 155 while the number of games in a college football game is 180. This includes special teams plays.

Every play is another opportunity for players to get hurt.

This change won’t bring the number of plays down to the level of NFL games but it will help reduce injury risk for college players somewhat. It is better than doing nothing. I think changing the number of or length of timeouts is problematic with TV. Lost time from plays under review needs to be addressed. Disappointed that even with review, it looks like there are several plays each game that are called incorrectly. I am tempted to say ‘they can’t get it right no matter what, so why bother to do reviews at all’, but the reviews do at least address most of the bad calls.

NCAA to adopt 3 football rule changes next season

The rules are aimed at shortening games and reducing the number of plays per contest.

theathletic.com

 

[All4SU]

Does 10 - 15% fewer plays translate to 10 - 15% less scoring? Who wants to sell that?

 

[upperdeck]

My question is does less running reduce injuries or less passing..

throwing more passes increases plays.. a good running game reduces plays.

if they really want less plays then start the play clock at 40-45 once the play is over on every play, pass or run and teams will adjust to it.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Sucks. Long games in baseball blow but I love them in CFB. I don’t have anything better to do/watch and the extra hour is no biggie.

 

[Stern]

I don’t get why it has to be different under 2:00. Save your timeouts if you need to stop the clock.

makes the games more exciting. Either its a 2 min warning like the NFL or do it this way

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Making comebacks harder doesn’t really make games more appealing.

 

[FrancoPizza]

makes the games more exciting. Either its a 2 min warning like the NFL or do it this way

Ehh… it distorts space and time. 2 minutes in reality is more like 5 minutes when you factor in all the stoppages.

 

[OrangePA]

I hate this and don't think the games are too long.

The games are too long. Oftentimes four hours. Too long

 

[Newhouser]

Good first step but more needs to be done if they want to attract the casual fan.

 

[Chip]

I like the change. Didn't really make sense to stop after EVERY first down. It's not used strategically until the end of half/game anyway.

 

[bt4421]

I don’t get why it has to be different under 2:00. Save your timeouts if you need to stop the clock.

Agree with this. Its time to drop all the nonsense of the notion that just because the clock says X, the rules of the game change. This includes replay rules, whatever. The reality is, EVERY play throughout the game is equally important to the ones during the last 2 minutes. Perception is they're more important, but not in reality. Sure strategy might change, but that's just part of the game. Let it go...

 

[Chip]

Next thing they have to tackle is replay. They have to stop replaying meaningless plays. 3rd and 10, did he actually catch that 2 yard pass before going out of bounds or was it bobbled? We must know!

And then it's an obvious call, but since they went to TV timeout, we have to wait 2 more minutes.