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An oversight: Longer play clock won't slow offenses
By Matt Hayes - SportingNews
Maybe it's just me, but have you ever -- in the history of breathing -- heard anyone complain that a football game is too long?
Yet here we are, for the second time in three years, watching the NCAA football rules committee tinker with the pace of the game. Because apparently it's broken -- despite the fact that college football never has been more popular, never has produced more revenue.
Here's the kicker: the explosion of offense over the past three or four years -- a trend that many coaches don't like -- will get only worse with the proposed rules. One of the recommendations: a 40-second play clock that begins at the end of every play.
Guess whom that favors?
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If the 40-second play clock is approved by the oversight panel in April, you'll see more teams move to the no-huddle offense from the ever-expanding/popular spread-option scheme. Imagine if you will, this scenario:
Noel Devine rips off a 25-yard run for West Virginia, the ball is spotted and the offense lines up with about 30 or so seconds on the play clock. That's an eternity to read a defense, find a flaw and expose it.
It's bad enough that no one -- no one -- has figured out a way to slow down the spread option. Now, we'll simply give teams who run the scheme more of an advantage.
But those in the rules committee think they've found a way to balance that out: the running clock. Under the new proposed rule -- which, like all the others, must be approved by the oversight council in April -- the official will start the game clock after a player runs out of bounds and the ball is spotted ready for play.
The proposed rule will not apply to the final two minutes of each half, but there still will be time lost from the change. How much? Likely not enough to impact a game -- and certainly not enough to slow down offenses.
Matt Hayes is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at mhayes@sportingnews.com.
By Matt Hayes - SportingNews
Maybe it's just me, but have you ever -- in the history of breathing -- heard anyone complain that a football game is too long?
Yet here we are, for the second time in three years, watching the NCAA football rules committee tinker with the pace of the game. Because apparently it's broken -- despite the fact that college football never has been more popular, never has produced more revenue.
Here's the kicker: the explosion of offense over the past three or four years -- a trend that many coaches don't like -- will get only worse with the proposed rules. One of the recommendations: a 40-second play clock that begins at the end of every play.
Guess whom that favors?
ADVERTISEMENT
If the 40-second play clock is approved by the oversight panel in April, you'll see more teams move to the no-huddle offense from the ever-expanding/popular spread-option scheme. Imagine if you will, this scenario:
Noel Devine rips off a 25-yard run for West Virginia, the ball is spotted and the offense lines up with about 30 or so seconds on the play clock. That's an eternity to read a defense, find a flaw and expose it.
It's bad enough that no one -- no one -- has figured out a way to slow down the spread option. Now, we'll simply give teams who run the scheme more of an advantage.
But those in the rules committee think they've found a way to balance that out: the running clock. Under the new proposed rule -- which, like all the others, must be approved by the oversight council in April -- the official will start the game clock after a player runs out of bounds and the ball is spotted ready for play.
The proposed rule will not apply to the final two minutes of each half, but there still will be time lost from the change. How much? Likely not enough to impact a game -- and certainly not enough to slow down offenses.
Matt Hayes is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at mhayes@sportingnews.com.
