Proposed Rule Changes Good For College Football
posted by Scott Hood on Friday, February 15, 2008
Two years ago, the shirt and tie brigade that controls/manipulates college football (i.e. senior executives at ABC, ESPN, CBS and Fox) came together and mandated games had to be shorter.
Unfortunately, in order to accomplish their goal, they came up with a bizarre and peculiar set of new clock rules that can only be described as laughable. The outcry from coaches, players and fans was so obnoxiously loud that the decision makers went back to the old rules after just one season.
Now it looks like they’ve finally got it right.
The NCAA Football Rules Committee has recommended a series of rule changes for the upcoming season designed in part to speed up the game. I’m all for that, but not at the expense of fewer plays and points.
One of the most important recommendations made by the committee was adopting the NFL’s 40-second play-clock rule. Starting next season, the 40-second play clock will start as soon as each play is over.
On a change of possession, a team will have 25 seconds to run the first play.
The recommendations made by the Football Rules Committee will be considered and, hopefully approved, by the NCAA’s Playing Rules Oversight Panel in April. Ah, I love bureaucracy.
Under the old 25-second rule in college football, the play clock didn’t start until the officials marked the ball ready for play.
I’ve advocated college football converting to the NFL play-clock rule for a long time, so I’m pleased with this decision.
Why it this such a good rule? Because it takes the subjectivity by the game officials as to when the play clock started out of the equation. They had too much power in that regard.
Depending on how long it took to spot the ball, officials could dictate how many plays were run in a certain game. It shouldn’t be that way.
I’ve read where some coaches that favored the 40-secnd clock rule thought officiating crews varied too much in the amount of time it took to spot the ball. I agree. It wasn’t just a conference-to-conference thing, but crew-to-crew within each conference, especially the SEC.
Consistency is a good thing. I just wonder if anyone has told the SEC coordinator of football officials that.
In my opinion, the less SEC officials have to think about, the better. Let’s face it, they need all the help they can get. I’ve seen numerous play clock blunders by SEC officials over the years.
I saw a quote from Steve Spurrier where he suggests teams that run a no-huddle offense will have an advantage because the new clock rule will allow the quarterback a longer time to see the defense.
I say that’s a good thing. In fact, I can’t see how this new rule won’t benefit USC next season, especially if redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia wins the QB duel with Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley.
With the clock rule issue settled, SEC officials can now work on spotting the ball better on fourth-down plays. As we saw in the USC-LSU game, that still needs some work.
There were some other positive rule changes, as well. The “horse-collar” tackle has been banned and will draw a 15-yard personal foul penalty. The NFL banned that type of tackle prior to last season for player safety reasons. I think that's a good rule.
In addition, when a players runs out of bounds starting next season, the game clock will start as soon as the official spots the ball ready for play. However, it will not apply in the final two minutes of the first half and the final two minutes of regulation.
Incidental face-mask penalties will no longer be a 5-yard penalty, and the rules on chop-blocking will be clarified and simplified so players and coaches will be able to understand them better.
Finally, if a kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team will get the ball at the 40-yard line rather than the 35.
Again, colleges are following the NFL in this regard.
While I understand college football would like to retain its own identity separate from the NFL, in this situation, especially when it comes to the play clock, following the lead of the pros is not a bad thing.
When they’re right, they’re right.
- Permalink, Discuss, Blog Home
In case you haven’t heard, changes are coming – again – to college football.
Two years ago, the shirt and tie brigade that controls/manipulates college football (i.e. senior executives at ABC, ESPN, CBS and Fox) came together and mandated games had to be shorter.
Unfortunately, in order to accomplish their goal, they came up with a bizarre and peculiar set of new clock rules that can only be described as laughable. The outcry from coaches, players and fans was so obnoxiously loud that the decision makers went back to the old rules after just one season.
Now it looks like they’ve finally got it right.
The NCAA Football Rules Committee has recommended a series of rule changes for the upcoming season designed in part to speed up the game. I’m all for that, but not at the expense of fewer plays and points.
One of the most important recommendations made by the committee was adopting the NFL’s 40-second play-clock rule. Starting next season, the 40-second play clock will start as soon as each play is over.
On a change of possession, a team will have 25 seconds to run the first play.
The recommendations made by the Football Rules Committee will be considered and, hopefully approved, by the NCAA’s Playing Rules Oversight Panel in April. Ah, I love bureaucracy.
Under the old 25-second rule in college football, the play clock didn’t start until the officials marked the ball ready for play.
I’ve advocated college football converting to the NFL play-clock rule for a long time, so I’m pleased with this decision.
Why it this such a good rule? Because it takes the subjectivity by the game officials as to when the play clock started out of the equation. They had too much power in that regard.
Depending on how long it took to spot the ball, officials could dictate how many plays were run in a certain game. It shouldn’t be that way.
I’ve read where some coaches that favored the 40-secnd clock rule thought officiating crews varied too much in the amount of time it took to spot the ball. I agree. It wasn’t just a conference-to-conference thing, but crew-to-crew within each conference, especially the SEC.
Consistency is a good thing. I just wonder if anyone has told the SEC coordinator of football officials that.
In my opinion, the less SEC officials have to think about, the better. Let’s face it, they need all the help they can get. I’ve seen numerous play clock blunders by SEC officials over the years.
I saw a quote from Steve Spurrier where he suggests teams that run a no-huddle offense will have an advantage because the new clock rule will allow the quarterback a longer time to see the defense.
I say that’s a good thing. In fact, I can’t see how this new rule won’t benefit USC next season, especially if redshirt freshman Stephen Garcia wins the QB duel with Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley.
With the clock rule issue settled, SEC officials can now work on spotting the ball better on fourth-down plays. As we saw in the USC-LSU game, that still needs some work.
There were some other positive rule changes, as well. The “horse-collar” tackle has been banned and will draw a 15-yard personal foul penalty. The NFL banned that type of tackle prior to last season for player safety reasons. I think that's a good rule.
In addition, when a players runs out of bounds starting next season, the game clock will start as soon as the official spots the ball ready for play. However, it will not apply in the final two minutes of the first half and the final two minutes of regulation.
Incidental face-mask penalties will no longer be a 5-yard penalty, and the rules on chop-blocking will be clarified and simplified so players and coaches will be able to understand them better.
Finally, if a kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team will get the ball at the 40-yard line rather than the 35.
Again, colleges are following the NFL in this regard.
While I understand college football would like to retain its own identity separate from the NFL, in this situation, especially when it comes to the play clock, following the lead of the pros is not a bad thing.
When they’re right, they’re right.
- Permalink, Discuss, Blog Home
Previous Blog Entries
Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.