Shortening Your Saturdays

The Wizard of Odds has been all over this wacky new rule in college football, rule 3-2-5-e. It's not getting a lot of attention from the major outlets, but it could have a major effect on college football games, and it has a lot of college coaches pissed off something fierce.

The new rule states that after every change of possession, the game clock and 25-second clock will start when the official spots the ball and blows his whistle. Under the old rule, the clock stayed still until the ball was snapped. It doesn't sound like a huge deal, but it could shave a lot of time and lot of plays off of each college football game. Coaches are 'clocked' by rule">Hawaii coach June Jones says his team will lose 12-to-15 plays per game, and thus, about 14 points.

I'd hate to see those WAC games go from 130-point totals down to about 100, but that appears to be how the NCAA wants it. The change (although no explanation has been given) has to be motivated by TV. I don't know which of the networks were pushing for it, but the end result is that we'll see less actual college football on ESPN, and more Mark May talking about football. There are no winners here.

Blowing the Whistle on Rule 3-2-5-e [The Wizard of Odds] New Rule Will Cut 20-30 Plays From a Game [The Wizard of Odds] Coaches are 'clocked' by rule [Nevada Appeal]