One of the features that has distinguished college football games from NFL games mow mostly is a thing of the past. The Football Rules Committee has announced that for all NCAA Division I and Division II games, the clock will continue to run after a first down is picked up except in the final two minutes of a half. The clock had stopped after every first down since 1968.
The committee also introduced two other rule changes. If a penalty is accepted at the end of the first or third quarter, it will be enforced at the start of the next quarter instead of on an untimed down. Also, back-to-back timeouts no longer can be called during the same dead ball.
Many college football fans probably won’t like the new first-down rule. But with the pitch clock doing its job of cutting out dead time in MLB, speeding things up is becoming a trend in sports. Besides, are you really a fan of three-and-a-half hour games? Think about it.
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