The problem is commercials and reviews. Stopping the clock on 1st down is one of the things that make the college game different and unique. Yes it may get abused by a few hurry up teams, but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Do we really want to see fewer plays per game? (And yes there were games I would have liked to see fewer plays from our offense...). We are already making the college game more and more like the NFL - playoffs, with talk of expanding to 8 or 16 teams; paying players; lavish facilities and dining halls for athletes (I know my daughter wishes her honors dorm was as nice as the athletes dorms and sorry, but Broward dining doesn't compare to the new athletics dining hall, but I digress).
I like a time limit on reviews. Using coaches challenges is a bad idea, because the officiating in college is so bad. I do think you could reduce the halftime and not affect the bands, maybe go from 20 to 16 minutes, it's not a player safety issue, no idea where Dooley is getting that from. Also, let's make sure we start games on time, that could probably save 2-3 minutes per game. And I don't think commercials are out of. Ounds either. First, I believe you can reduce the number of commercials and charge more for The fewer slots, but you could also have 20 or 25 second commercials, that probably save 5-6 minutes per game alone. We need to do something, but please not at the expense of the game. KenK Sent from my iPad > On Jan 13, 2017, at 6:10 AM, Helen Huntley <hhsga...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > I think it's a great idea to tighten up the game. The American attention span > has gotten shorter as games have gotten longer. Of course when you're at the > game it's the TV timeouts that are most annoying. > > Sent from my iPad > >> On Jan 12, 2017, at 8:41 PM, Shane Ford <goufgator...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Dooley: One way to reduce length of college football games >> >> By Pat Dooley >> Gainesville Sun sports columnist >> Published: Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 5:03 p.m. >> Last Modified: Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 5:03 p.m. >> In the past 10 years, the time of the average college game has increased by >> 20 minutes. It has increased by seven minutes per game in the last four. >> >> This is not exactly breaking news here, but I love college football. I can’t >> get enough of it and my summers are spent looking forlornly into the >> gloaming waiting for another miserable offseason to end. >> >> So you would think that when all this talk cropped up last week about >> shortening the college game, I’d have been appalled. I want multiple >> overtimes. I want games to bleed into each other without the incessant >> pregame chattering about keys to the game. >> >> I want more football, not less. >> >> Of course, there is the other side, which is this nasty little monkey called >> deadline. And there is also this — the quicker the games I am covering, the >> quicker I get home to the reclining couch and get to watch multiple TVs. >> >> All of this aside, when you have a doctorate in football (I got it online … >> it says), you have to step away from your subjective feelings and study a >> situation like this. The national title game went four hours, eight minutes, >> which would even be too long for a massage from Scarlett Johansson. >> >> The conference commissioners, according to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, are the >> ones who are pushing for ways to change our games because they want to be >> out in front of the lengthening before it gets unbearably long. >> >> I don’t hear a lot from fans, but it’s possible that one reason for >> declining attendance in the sport is the length of the games. >> >> The commissioners, in this case, are basically acting as guardians of the >> game in their efforts to find ways to make the game shorter. >> >> Look, we all know that the NFL is strategically packaged in three-hour >> blocks so that games don’t run into each other and that the NFL is the king >> in this country. We don't want college football to be just like the NFL, but >> there are some answers to shortening the time of the games that would not be >> too intrusive. >> >> In the past 10 years, the time of the average college game has increased by >> 20 minutes. It has increased by seven minutes per game in the last four. >> >> I think I know why. >> >> While there are more commercials these days, we all know that decreasing >> commercial time is not a viable answer. Yes, ESPN and CBS, we’d like you to >> give us less money. >> >> The answer lies in the first down. >> >> College football simply needs to get rid of its antiquated rule of stopping >> the clock on every first down. The last two minutes? No problem. But the >> game has outgrown a rule that was instituted in 1970 so that the chain gangs >> could keep up. >> >> Heck, we’ve advanced so far that they had a digital down marker in the SEC >> Championship Game. Are the NFL chain crews that much more sophisticated that >> they don't need the clock to stop? I think not. >> >> Guess who led the NCAA in first downs per game last year? That would be >> Texas Tech. Guess who led the NCAA with the longest games last year at an >> average of 3:48. Yep, the Red Raiders. >> >> In 2006, Houston led the nation in first downs with 311. In 2016, there were >> 22 teams who had more. As offenses have gotten faster and created more first >> downs, there have been more stoppages in games and that has contributed to >> the length of games. >> >> First down stoppages are not the only problem, but they are the most >> solvable problem. >> >> I went back and looked at a handful of first-down plays in Florida’s Outback >> Bowl win over Iowa. Almost every first down resulted in the clock stopping >> for a minimum of 10 seconds. >> >> Florida, for the season, averaged right on the mark for game times with 3:24 >> per game. UF’s longest game was a 3:46 nightmare at Tennessee. Let’s just >> take that game as an example of how to shorten the times of the games. >> >> There were 39 first downs when the Gators and Vols met. None of them came in >> the last two minutes of either half. So without clock stoppage for first >> downs, the game would have been trimmed by 6½ minutes. It still would have >> been long, but not as long. >> >> There have been other suggestions. One is to trim halftime. College >> football’s is 20 minutes compared to the NFL’s 12. But with all of the >> emphasis on safety, do we really want to cut back the down time between >> halves? >> >> Besides, halftime shows by the band are a part of the fabric of the game. >> >> Certainly, there has to be a way to streamline the replay review system. I’d >> be fine with going to the NFL system (originally devised by the USFL) of >> requiring challenges instead of making each play open for review. I also >> believe that if the replay official or the centralized crews don’t see an >> obvious mistake within the first 60 seconds, let it go. >> >> But let’s start with the first downs and see where that takes us. Hopefully, >> it takes us home earlier. >> >> Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at pat.doo...@gvillesun.com. And >> follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Sent From Shane's iPhone >> Go Gators! & Skål Vikes! >> ALPCA #8756 >> Europlate #1045 >> -- >> -- >> GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! >> 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 >> National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 >> National Football Champions | >> Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), >> Tim Tebow (2007) >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "GatorNews" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to gatornews+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 > National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 > National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier > (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "GatorTalk" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to gatortalk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gatortalk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
