Eli Drinkwitz scoffs at NCAA changing clock rules

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz does not think the new clock rules in college football will have a drastic effect as everyone thinks.

The NCAA approved the significant changes back in April. It includes the clock no longer stopping after every first down so the chains can reset.

But Drinkwitz said it’s only going to eliminate a few plays and not necessarily speed things up in his mind.

“I think it’s a nothing burger because unless it’s I mean, the clock is still gonna stop inside of two minutes,” Drinkwitz said during SEC spring meetings. “So rolling the clock the last play of the game and when we’re talking maybe seven less plays …”

Drinkwitz is not a fan, to say the least. Perhaps it will affect offenses moving forward.

But since the clock is constantly stopped due to incomplete passes in a lot of spread offenses throughout college football, it’s no wonder the NCAA wanted to do something.

NCAA to change clock rules in 2023

The first down clock stoppage came to college football in 1968 and is one of the main rules differentiating the play between college and the NFL. With the elimination of the first down clock stoppage, college football rule makers are hoping to increase the pace of play, lower the number of overall plays and make the games run in less time.

Steve Shaw, the national coordinator of officials, told The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach in February that the committee was considering a change to clock stoppage rules. Currently, an incomplete pass stops the clock. However, given the increase in passing in college (and in the NFL), the clock stoppages are making games longer.

Shaw shared that, moving forward, the committee is considering likening an incomplete pass to a run out of bounds.

“That (rule change) probably would have the biggest impact of anything we could do because there are so many passes now, and, unfortunately in some of these long games, there are a bunch of incomplete passes,” Shaw said. “That could be a way to keep the game moving … and it would still leave the offense in control of not only the tempo but also the clock. If an offense said, hey, I don’t want to lose plays out of this game because they’re going to restart the clock, they can simply get to the line and get there quickly, so when the ball is there you can snap it.”

Andrew Graham contributed to this report