Some observations about clock operation and clock management. Generally during any game, clock operations are imprecise. It’s common for the clock to be incorrectly paused or continued without the error ever being corrected. For example, sometimes an extra second or two elapses after a ball carrier crosses into the end zone for a touchdown or after a pass falls incomplete during the middle of a game. There’s usually an increased effort by referees and clock operators to be more precise in the final two minutes, but those efforts are still inconsistent. While it's frustrating to contemplate this in the context of the Oregon game, this approach generally makes sense to me. But there are definitely opportunities to operate clocks more accurately throughout any game.
Everyone remembers the final play of the 2023 Notre Dame game, right? Three seconds left. Third-and-goal from the one-yard line. Chip takes that hand off and dives into the end zone. A huge walk-off win, right? Oh, you’re saying it didn’t happen that way? Ohio State somehow ran a two-second play that left time for one more play? Yes, after that game-winning play, the Buckeyes actually had to kickoff and then play a down on defense.
Obviously, there is a difference in stopping the clock after a play that ends in a touchdown versus after a play that ends in the middle of the field. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a two-second running play before Chip’s TD dive. However, many times I have seen two seconds elapse during a “kill-the-clock” play where the QB just spikes the ball into the turf, and it really should have been one second or less. These are a couple c
Given that a game ends when the clock reads “0:00,” that means that when the clock reads “0:01” there is between one and zero seconds left (i.e., less than one second left). Likewise, when the clock reads “0:02” there is between two and one seconds left. With end-of-game clock management in football becoming more aggressive and precise like it is in basketball, it might make sense to show the tenths of a second in the final minute of each quarter. For example, at Notre Dame, were there 2.9 seconds left when Chip’s TD play started, or were there 2.1 seconds left? What motivated the decision to add a second after the play was over? Importantly, did the clock operator start the clock immediately when Chip’s TD play started, or did the cock start a little late? (We will never know the answer to that because a clock that doesn’t show tenths of seconds isn’t precise enough to tell us.) Adding a second didn’t change the outcome of that game, so that decision by the refs is mostly forgotten, but it illustrates the issue.
How many seconds were there when the Buckeyes started the final play in Oregon? 6.0 seconds? 5.1 seconds? We simply don’t know. There’s a small but real (~15-18%) difference between those times. Would Ohio State coaches or Will Howard have thought about the play differently if, from the start, they knew there were (hypothetically) only 5.1 seconds left and not 6.0 seconds? I don’t know, but to me, 6.0 seconds feels like enough time to plausibly sneak in a play and call a TO, but 5.1 seconds does not.
