How can we fix the length of College Football games?

[outofyourmind]

You could make the clock run on all incomplete passes that don't actually touch a receiver.
Any out of bounds passes or overthrown passes, the clock keeps running like it was a running play.
Other than that, not sure much else can be done.

 

[TheDayMan]

You would have a point if I was the only one who had an issue with it. I'm clearly not

I'm sure you're not, I'm not seeing a whole lot of complaining though.

 

[TheDayMan]

Cutting down on the number of replays would be a good place to start (perhaps use the NFL model). Towards the end of the NCG, it seemed like the refs were reviewing everything, even the most obvious calls.

I like this idea. I don't know about a straight up NFL model though. College refs just suck too much. Maybe that would change if they changed the replay rules though. I think they kind of use it as a crutch sometimes. They know the play will be reviewed if they blow a call, so they're not as worried about it, kind of thing.

 

[wazzu31]

Put a clock like soccer? After 3 hours the game is over regardless, then my Cougar games won't get put on some shitty network that I don'the have while I have to watch some garbage SEC teams play.

 

[Olyduck]

NC game has always ran longer than normal due to extra commercials and advertising. most normal regular season games wont get close to running that long.

 

[BigRedMoe]

First world problems. If anything, make 'em longer so I can drink more beer. Baseball too.

 

[Deep Creek]

If I were king, I'd say:

• reduce halftime length (love bands but that's not why people buy tickets)
• reduce play clock length (forces coaches to get plays in quicker or makes players decide)
• limit play review (look at each angle once, make a decision and get the game going)
• only stop clock after first downs if it is stopped otherwise, i.e. out of bounds

 

[TheDayMan]

Here's the thing, the clock rules are fine. They're not new, and we've made it this far. Stopping the clock to reset the chains does make sense, the offense can't do anything until they're set, and it makes close games more exciting.

So, what's changed now? There's the replay thing that trojanfan mentioned, which has gotten way out of hand, and now almost every game is televised, and there's more viewers than ever, which has brought more and longer TV timeouts than ever. The game should not be changed to accommodate commercials and feelings that games now run too long. My solution is deal with it. Again, at no point during the championship game did I want the game to speed up so I could go to bed or whatever.

 

[GoldRusher]

Cutting down on the number of replays would be a good place to start (perhaps use the NFL model). Towards the end of the NCG, it seemed like the refs were reviewing everything, even the most obvious calls.

Big12 officiating crew, that wasn't the fault of having replay. Just need better officials, heck we are lucky Clemson scored with time still on the clock, God knows what may have happened otherwise.

 

[Wild Turkey]

Big12 officiating crew, that wasn't the fault of having replay. Just need better officials, heck we are lucky Clemson scored with time still on the clock, God knows what may have happened otherwise.

I thought the refs did a pretty good job. If anything there were more non-calls but it was split pretty even and they avoided the dreaded targeting call on 2 plays (which in the CCG is a good thing).

Can't really blame them for the reviews too much was at stake. I thought they did a great job of giving direction to the players and avoiding issues. Both head coaches were on their ass the whole game but they kept their composure and stuck to their guns.

Overall a very nice job especially with Big 12 refs.

 

[belcherboy]

I know it is the nature of the beast of college football, but it's funny how many commentators and fans I've heard complain about the length of the game and their solution is to speed up the game itself. We know the real problem is the media. The commercials, and halftime commentary made the game painstakingly long. I know ESPN paid billions for this game, so the commercial breaks are more likely to get longer than shorter, but the solution by most analysts I've heard is to shorten/speed up the game itself. I hate that solution, but it is likely the only way to have a real solution in shortening the total length of these games.

 

[4down20]

I give no shits about making the games shorter.

That's a TV station complaint, not mine.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

I don't know how this became a complaint, I'm fine with the length of the games

I hate the idea of running the clock after first downs, makes the game seem more slow paced and it prevents from the wild endings we often see

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

College football is in an amazing state right now

I wish the media would quit trying to screw it up by making changes.

 

[963BUSC]

Cutting down on the number of replays would be a good place to start (perhaps use the NFL model). Towards the end of the NCG, it seemed like the refs were reviewing everything, even the most obvious calls.

Give the coaches 2 challenges at most. If they want to challenge the really awful obvious botched calls that's fine. But about 80% of the slow down rewind for whether or not it was a catch is ridiculous. Whatever was called stands.

 

[4down20]

1 thing could help - prevent poor losing coaches like Jim Harbaugh from calling timeout at the end of games they have no chance of winning.

 

[lilchi721]

Here's an idea stop the replay people from reviewing every single touchdown.

 

[jwolt92]

The 1 and only thing I want changed is the hour and a half half time. Can't fuckin drink slow enough to accommodate half time and a full second half. I elect reduce half time

 

[BigAppleBadger]

1) Shorten halftime to 15 or 20 minutes

2) Only stop clock on 1st downs if less than 2 or maybe 4 minutes in a half

3) Cut down on the number of replay reviews, it seems like everything is reviewed now

4) No TV timeouts, just run commercials when the game is stopped (and perhaps more at half)

 

[BigAppleBadger]

You could make the clock run on all incomplete passes that don't actually touch a receiver.
Any out of bounds passes or overthrown passes, the clock keeps running like it was a running play.
Other than that, not sure much else can be done.

So you can't spike it? That changes the game.