Report: NCAA football considering major rule change affecting passing game
Nearly everyone agrees that college football games are taking too long to complete. Not everyone agrees about the best way to shorten the game.
Example: According to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, the sports’ higher-ups are considering a rule change that would let the clock run after incomplete passes.
According to Dellenger, that is one of four major proposals to shorten the game. One proposal would prohibit consecutive timeouts. Another would eliminate playing an untimed down after a penalty at the end of the first and third quarters. Another would eliminate stopping the clock on first downs except in the final two minutes of the game.
As for the fourth, Dellenger writes, “In a more controversial fourth proposal, the clock will continue to run after an incomplete pass once the ball is spotted for play.”
Both college and professional football starts the clock once the ball is spotted after plays that go out of bounds. An exception is the final two minutes of the first half and the final five minutes of the second half.
But both college and the NFL stop the clock on incomplete pass with the clock restarting at the snap of the ball for the next play.
Back in September, NCAA Coordinator of Officials Steve Shaw said that running the clock after a made first down would not save as much time as running the clock after incompletions.
“Even though you think, ‘Man you’d save 10 seconds every first down,’ you really probably won’t,” Shaw told The Athletic. “That probably won’t have as big an impact as restarting it after incompletions.”
“College football conducted a field study last season to ascertain the impact of the proposed changes,” reports Sports Illustrated. “A running clock after a first down would eliminate about seven to nine plays per game. A running clock after an incomplete pass could eliminate more than twice that number.”
While I’m all for shortening the length of the games, I don’t think I’d be for continuing to run the clock after incomplete passes. For one thing, it takes longer for the receivers to return to the huddle after a pass play than when a team runs the football. The rule change would also affect the strategy in late-game and two-minute situations.
Dellenger says the rule changes would be for the upcoming 2023 college football season but are weeks away from being approved.
Sports Illustrated reports the average FBS game lasted three hours and 21 minutes. In 2018, the average game lasted 3 hours and 16 minutes.
Here’s the length of Kentucky football’s games in 2022:
- 3:16 - Miami of Ohio
- 3:35 - Florida
- 3:07 - Youngstown State
- 3:04 - Northern Illinois
- 3:07 - Ole Miss
- 3:04 - South Carolina
- 3:19 - Mississippi State
- 3:21 - Tennessee
- 3:29 - Missouri
- 3:09 - Vanderbilt
- 3:12 - Louisville
- 3:04 - Iowa
This story was originally published February 20, 2023 at 2:35 PM.
