With a goal of shortening games by about 15 minutes, the committee decreed
that the game clock will start after a change of possession on the "ready
for play" signal from the officials. Previously, the clock didn't
start (after a change of possession) until the ball was snapped.
"I'm not a big fan of this change," said coach Tedford, "I
really believe it will change game strategies a lot. Nobody even seems to know
who came up with the idea - but I'm against it.
"Now, with a change of possession, the game clock will start immediately.
This might cut games down by as much as 10 minutes. An average game in the
Pac-10 last year had about 163 plays for both teams combined, so this change
will eliminate between 10 to 15 plays a game - and I'm not a fan of that.
"Also, this change could really have a big effect at the end of a game,
where a team might not be able to get a play off."
To illustrate, Coach Tedford outlined a scenario where the change could have
a dramatic effect:
"Suppose we are in a close game, 2 points behind, with the clock running
out. We receive a kickoff and run it back to the opponent's 25-yard line, and
there are 2 seconds left. With the clock starting immediately, there is simply
no time to get a field goal kicking unit onto the field to try to win the game."
"I just really hope that next year we are able to readdress this change - to
take a real strong look at it - and think it through completely before we implement
a rule. "
In other rules changes:
1. The kicking tee will be reduced from two inches to one in hopes of having
fewer touchbacks and more runbacks. Some have speculated that lowering the
ball will prevent the kicker from "getting under" the ball in order
to loft it for a longer kick. Coach Tedford expressed some doubts about that
analysis, saying, "We really don't know what the effect will be - it is
possible that kickers may learn to drive the ball better on a flatter trajectory
- and end up with more distance. The results of this change are still not clear."
2. Players may now wear only clear eye shields. In the past, players would
use dark shields to shield their eyes.
3. The length of a halftime is now optional. With the agreement of both teams,
halftimes can either be extended or reduced in length. The rationale for allowing
longer halftimes seems unclear given the goal of shortening games.
4. On kickoffs, the clock will start when the ball is kicked rather than when
it is touched by the receiving team. This will require difficult clock-work
by officials when a kick goes out of bounds - and raises the possibility of
using deliberate out-of-bounds kicks to consume the last few seconds of a game.
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