College football games are likely going to be shorter next fall.
The Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved three new rule changes on Friday that are expected to speed up college football games.
New rules that will go into effect starting this season include:
- The clock will now run after a first down with the exception of the final two minutes of either half.
- Teams may no longer call consecutive team timeouts.
- Any penalty that occurs at the end of the first or third quarter will carry over into the next quarter instead of ending the quarter on an untimed down. Either half cannot end on a defensive penalty unless it's declined by the opposing team.
Each of the rules passed is already employed by the NFL. Under the previous college structure, the clock stopped after every first down until the chains were set, so the average number of plays ran per game is expected to drop by about seven plays per game, national coordinator of officials Steve Shaw told CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd. Calling consecutive timeouts was most utilized by college coaches to ice kickers, so they will now only be able to use one timeout at a time for that purpose.
