What's the rush?

College football is in a hurry. Over the past three seasons, there has been a movement in college football to make the games shorter. The idea is for a college football game to fit neatly into a three hour time block for television like NFL games. In 2005, the college game implemented speed-up rules as an experiment. The result was shorter games with less plays. The rules were quickly dropped for the 2006 season.

This season, college football will be using a 40 second play clock like the pros. In the past, the ball was whistled ready for play and a 25 second clock started. Now, a 40 second clock will begin once the previous play has ended. The change is expected to shorten games without losing a lot of plays.

The question is: what’s the rush? Does the average fan really care that a game goes 3 hours and 27 minutes rather than the target 3 hours flat? People that attend college football games are not exactly on a tight schedule. Same goes for the people watching them on TV. The biggest complaint people have about college football on TV is the number of commercials – the very reason televised games last so long to begin with. Your average football fan spends nine months out of the year waiting for football season to start. And when it gets here, the powers that be want to shorten the games. The game is fine. Leave it alone. Stop allowing television to control everything. There are plenty of TV stations that will gladly televise the games no matter how long they last.

If college football really wants to shorten the games, they should look at adopting another NFL rule – twelve minute half times. The length of games would be cut by eight minutes without losing a play. During most college half times, the home and visiting bands make an appearance. Rather than both bands, just have the home band do their thing (except when Carolina plays at home against S.C. State). I have sat through many a half time where only the home band plays. During the rest of the time, I watch the kickers and punters warm up. This is hardly riveting half time entertainment.

Unfortunately, this solution is shouted down because we will lose the “pageantry of college football.” This is nonsense. Exactly how much pageantry is there in watching a guy from the stands attempt a thirty yard field goal? And how much pageantry is there in watching a band perform a “Salute to Hanna Barbara” while marching in amorphous shapes. (For the record, bands should always be spelling something for the crowd, not doing abstract art. But that is another blog.) I am sure most fans would trade some “pageantry” for eight more minutes of football.