OK, so they want to shorten the amount of time that it takes to play a game, and of course they're not going to give up commercial time. Why not simply implement the NFL clock rules? Those games, even with probably more commercials than college games, tend to be over in a little over 3 hours. A google search turned up this: http://www.centralohio.com/ohiostate/stories/20040923/football/1289919.html That article is from 2004, but I bet the average length of NFL games hasn't gone up that much from that time. The NCAA sometimes seems to go out of its way to avoid using an NFL rule, even if there are years of statistics to judge the rule's effectiveness.
:rofl: That would be awesome. I can envision Mr. "This is our country" Mellencamp having a coronary in a mascot uniform. Brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. As for this thread, I absolutely hope they get rid of this silly rule. It's horrible, and cuts down on the most dramatic parts of the game anyway.
The problem is that the powers-that-be don't want games taking 3.5 hours to complete. They want it to be much closer to 3 hours. The NFL games are an average 3 hours, 8 minutes long (that was from 2005, the latest average I could find). The NFL has a 12 minute halftime, while NCAA games have a 20 minute halftime. That's 8 minutes right there they can shorten a game by. Then implement the rules about first-downs, the 40 second play clock, and when to stop and start the clock, etc. that the NFL has, and NCAA games should also finish in about the same amount of time. Maybe change it up a little, and stop the clock on 1st downs only within the last minute of each half.
The amazing StatTiger on the AUtigers.com board posted these numbers to show what the clock rule has done to the game. Number of teams averaging at least 400 yards on offense: 2000: 38 2001: 43 2002: 30 2003: 39 2004: 33 2005: 40 2006: 17 (LSU-11th) Number of teams averaging 30 pts or more per game: 2000: 37 2001: 33 2002: 36 2003: 34 2004: 29 2005: 36 2006: 20 (LSU-9th) Number of teams allowing less than 300-yards per game on defense: 2000: 13 2001: 10 2002: 12 2003: 11 2004: 13 2005: 9 2006: 26 (LSU-3rd) Number of teams allowing less than 14 pts per game on defense: 2000: 4 2001: 4 2002: 2 2003: 1 2004: 3 2005: 2 2006: 7 (LSU-4th) Number of teams averaging 200 yards rushing or more: 2000: 20 2001: 23 2002: 27 2003: 19 2004: 19 2005: 21 2006: 8 (LSU-31st) Number of individual rushers averaging 100 yards rushing per game or more: 2000: 26 2001: 30 2002: 35 2003: 28 2004: 23 2005: 34 2006: 18 (LSU=0) Conclusions: 1. The clock change definitely shortened the game with offense stats down and defense stats up. 2. LSU was not particularly hurt by the change except in rushing.
I don't know anyone who wants games under 2-1/2 hours. The article says the average televised game was 3:07 minutes. So, TV games are about 37-minutes longer. with the new rules. If that doesn't prove the rules were changed for TV, I don't know what does. That's what get me, it wasn't a change for the sake of the game, but for the sake of TV commercials...If the NCAA want's to speed up the televised game, get rid of the TV time out. Don't let them run the game clock. When the teams are ready to play - they play - whether TV is back from their 4-minute break or not. Dave.
Of course it's about TV. There are two things to keep in mind: 1) The NCAA and the networks think that the games (pre-2006) were too long on average. 2) The networks will not agree to give up any commercial time, and the NCAA is not going to demand that they do so. Does anyone here know of any complaints about the way the NFL rules deal with the game clock? Apparently their average game lengths are about the same as what the NCAA rules last year achieved. Granted, a 12-minute halftime will cut into college halftime shows.
The NFL also has a longer play clock, which allows more time to runn off during each play. I think that has something to do with it.
