NCAA rules committee announces major changes to speed up college football games

College football interest is as high as it’s ever been. However, the NCAA has apparently been looking into ways to make the game even more interesting to watch. Now, as of today, three of their newest rules are officially on the table with the Rules Committee.

Ross Dellenger at Sports Illustrated was one of the first to report the four potential new changes last week. Now, three of them are up for conversation with the prohibition of consecutive timeouts, no untimed down at the end of the first and third quarters, and a running clock after first down conversions except within two minutes of the first half.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee has proposed several timing rules changes intended to continue the effort to control the flow of the game and encourage more consistent game management. https://t.co/eQ2hW5nKFg

— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) March 3, 2023

The point of all four proposed changes from the NCAA is to speed up the game. While the game clock only reads at 60 minutes, the games were averaging lengths from anywhere from three to three and a half hours plus due to several stops in play allotted throughout the contests. Based on these changes, these new rules would get rid of some of those specific allotments during college football games. In general, they’re just hoping get the games moving at a much faster pace overall.

As of now, this leaves one rule behind to be determined later on when it comes to the clock running on incompletions once the ball is placed rather than snapped. The rest could be approved as early as April 20th when the NCAA’s Playing Rules Oversight Panel meets.

With these three changes alone, we could see a much quicker product in college that’s more comparable to NFL speed. However, these are all things teams will have to take potentially take note of next season when it comes to clock management.

More on the NCAA’s newly approved clock rules

According to Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, college football could be making some changes to shorten the length of games. He reported that CFB executives are reviewing four rules that would cut into the total game length and downs played.

“Executives of the sport are moving closer to recommending several clock rule changes meant to reduce plays for both safety and game length reasons, multiple officials tell Sports Illustrated,” wrote Dellenger.

He then outlined the rules, two of which are minor while the others would make a larger impact on games:

“High-ranking college football leaders have been reviewing four specific changes to clock rules. Two of which are considered non-controversial, one that has garnered wide support and a fourth that has left some divided.”

“The non-controversial proposals include (1) prohibiting consecutive timeouts (ie, icing kickers) and (2) no longer extending a first or third quarter for an untimed down if the quarter ends on a defensive penalty (the down would be clocked starting the next quarter).

“In a third proposal that is garnering wide support, the clock will continue to run after an offense gains a first down except inside of two minutes in a half. In a more controversial fourth proposal, the clock will run after an incomplete pass once the ball is spotted”

Removing those stoppages would be another massive step in cutting back on game time. Though, per Dellenger, decision-makers are not all on that particular change. But even getting those first three changes would drastically alter game length. Overall, it would likely limit games that could go for four or more hours. College football fans know that those sorts of contests are far too common as is.