Timing Changes - NCAA
 

I see numerous references to supposed timing changes in NCAA rules for this year. Since I've spent my recent time here on the baseball and softball sites and am just starting to get back into football (and since we have not had our first clinics yet for football), can someone eludicate me on what the changes may be or what is being discussed/edited right now?

Thanks!

In a nut shell, Clock will start on ready after change of possession.

It's good to see they're speeding up the game. Way too many 4 to 4 1/2 hours games.

I'd rather the game be sped up by limiting the number of commercials. We all know that's not going to happen.

TV usually takes a commercial break after the first punt of each quarter. Will that now be eliminated with the whistle going on the ready after a punt?

I don't think so. You'll just come back from the break. Get the go ahead from the red hat and then wind it instead of the regular chop in.

according to Dr Adams, it is not on a COP but after the clock was stopped to award B a first down......just a very minor picky point LOL

Speeding up the game
 

If they wanted to speed up the game, just keep the clock rolling on first downs by A.

You wouldn't have to change any other rules or make any other exceptions and you'd shave far more real time off a game than will happen with this new convoluted rule.

I can't wait to hear Musberger and Danielson this year the first time were up against the end of the 2nd or 4th quarters and the clock runs after B takes over when the previous play was an incomplete pass by A or a run out of bounds by either team -

Musberger - "Why is the clock running???!!! None of the officials can see it!!! It was an incomplete pass on 4th down!!!! It should start on the snap!!! Ohio State was cheated out of 24 seconds!!!!!!"

Danielson - "That's really poor officiating! These guys have really messed up!!"

Here's some examples of the new rule:

http://members.atlantic.net/~gilbertr/p-0601.htm

Hopefully, Brent's a subscriber to Rom Gilbert this year.

Anybody want to take bets on the likelihood of that?

Does anyone think this will provide a disadvantage to team B? If for example they are trailing by 1 with 28 seconds on the clock 1 time out, A has 4th and 15 @ B's 40 - too far to kick a FG, Punt only nets 20 yards if TB - so A decides to run a play and gets 13 yards and leaves ball at the center of the field (leads to quicker ready due to not having to relay ball back to hash marks etc.). Will B be able to get offense set and make a go out of it with the area of 20 or less seconds and the clock starting on the ready? Will they have to use their time out before even starting their possession? I know 20 seconds isn't alot of time, but losing even 2-3 seconds getting set is a big deal at this point. Also will officials counter this by taking their time signaling the ready? Will this be the job of the chain gang to slow things up?

I don't referee football, but I'm a huge CFB fan, and I am concerned on the effect of things like this versus the advantage of speeding up games. I just think this is almost the equivalent of starting the clock the instant a FT in basketball is either good or no good (before touched or before B throws the ball in). Sure it speeds things up, but at what cost? Just my 2cents.

IMO on a change of possession play the location of the ball at the end of the play has very little impact on the timing of the RFP. The RFP normally does not sound until:

- both teams have completed the offense/defense sub process,
- the ball is changed out (team B's ball in) and set,
- the chains are set,
- and the officiating crew has confirmed that they have completed all of their pre-snap duties and all are Ready For Play.

If teams are paying attention to the change and are up at the ball and ready to snap when the RFP sounds, then the new rule should have minimal impact on the game clock. The impact will be that teams will not now have the luxury of the 25 second play clock following the RFP before they have to snap the ball, unless they don't care that the game clock will be also be running.

With any luck there will be several "key" games where this becomes an issue and the involved coaches will lean on their brethren on the rules committee to correct this stupid mistake THEY made.

This will have a huge impact on the end of games.

Near the end the game, when the trailing team has to give the ball back to B, either by loss of downs, turnover, missed FG, what have you, B can run off an extra 25 seconds before A would have a chance to get it back.

i.e. Instead of the trailing team being able to take 3 timeouts after each of 1st, 2nd and 3rd downs, allowing the team that's ahead to have an entire possession only run 20-25 seconds off of the clock.... the clock will start on the ready before 1st down, meaning that no matter what, the leading team will get at least one play where they can run off the full play clock, and there's nothing that can be about it.

So aside from shortening the game in general, it also will shorten the end of games, and change the entire clock management strategy for coaches in tight ballgames. Considering that clock management is already the most overlooked part of coaching, it's only going to get worse.




Anyone else at the DIII level think we're going to see 2:15-2:30 games this year? These clock changes were designed for DI-A and their huge TV contracts.

How many changes of possession do we see in a typical game? 15-18, possibly more in some offensively challenged games. Now take about 20 seconds of playclock off for each of those. That's 5-6 minutes of GAME clock right there.

...and don't overlook #16 of Rom's Week 1 "Mini Missive"


RUN: Fourth and 3. A33 runs out of bounds for a gain of about three yards. Team B offside.


Even though A ran OOB, and B was offside, we're going to have to have a measurement to see when the clock will start.

Prior to '06, we'd just award the penalty, and go on the snap, since the play ended OOB.

Now, the play ends OOB, but if A was short of the line to gain, B would have been awarded a 1st down. So we'd go on the ready.

If A is short of the line to gain, they would accept B's penalty, and the clock goes on the ready.

If A made the first down, they would have the option of taking the penalty and going on the ready, or declining the foul and going on the snap, since the runner was OOB.


Boy are the coaches going to love that one late in the half/game, when they just quickly take the penalty since 5 is more than 3.

I LOVE the idea of this, but this does kind of cry out for an exception during the last 2 minutes of each half, doesn't it?

"If A made the first down, they would have the option of taking the penalty and going on the ready, or declining the foul and going on the snap, since the runner was OOB.

Boy are the coaches going to love that one late in the half/game, when they just quickly take the penalty since 5 is more than 3."

If A made the 1st down here, they can take the result of the play, or the penalty, whichever gives them the best spot. I either case, since A made the 1st down and run ended OB (clock did not stop to award B a 1st down), A will have a 1st down, clock on the snap.

Why would A have the option of going on the ready if they take the DOF? You still have a runner OOB.

If A made the 1st down here, they can take the result of the play, or the penalty, whichever gives them the best spot. In either case, since A made the 1st down and run ended OB (since clock did not stop to award B a 1st down), A will have a 1st down, clock on the snap.

If A had not made the line to gain and there was no penalty, even though the runner went OOB. clock would start on the RFP as Team B is awarded a 1st down. So if you measure and A was short of the LTG, then the clock was stopped for the "apparent" awarding of a 1st down for Team B. Clock would restart on teh RFP.

I agree......

But I'm saying that if A made the line to gain they would not have an option of taking on the ready since the runner was OOB.

That's correct, if A made the line to gain, either penalty option (accept or decline) will still result in a 1st down with the clock on the snap due to clock stopping for ball dead OB.

Disclaimer: I don't work NCAA rules, and my PDF of them may be out of date.

I recall there being heated debate about a similar situation in which I made a similar claim about an "apparent" B first down. Whoever was making the opposing argument was fairly convincing - the new rules say "when Team B is awarded a first down." There is no first down for B here, so the rule (3-2-5d & e) shouldn't apply, and we should go on the snap...

... except take a look at some of the A.R.s, especially 3-2-5-IV. Very different play, but it does include the phrase "The clock starts on the ready for play since the clock was stopped to award Team B a first down," and because of a penalty, there is no actual first down for B on the play. Now, the argument can be made that the clock actually stopped because of the OOB. But if there were no penalty, then the OOB wouldn't matter, we'd go on the ready.

In short - I'm rather glad I don't need to worry about NCAA rules at the moment.

Nobody should have been able to make much of a convincing argument either way since it is only inthe past few weeks that there has been any clarity on this issue. But the clarity is that, just as always, we have to consider the "apparent" awarding of the 1st down.

Sorry - I should have specified. It wasn't related to the new NCAA timing rules, but some other play that escapes me at the moment. I'll see if I can dig it up. (Though I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually on another board.)