The effects of college football's new clock rules have been a topic of conversation not just in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, but across college football.
Clocks now keep moving after first downs, and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has felt the difference since the first week of the Buckeyes' season.
“It means we have to be more and more efficient,” Day said Sept. 5. “You might get less possessions in that first half, so they’ve got to count. Then when we get into halftime, we can’t panic. We have to know that we have one less possession, especially if we defer. Then we’ve got to play really well in the second half. So if you’re executing well and converting on third down and doing well in the red zone, it’s not an issue. If not, then it is.”
Of course, every team across the sport has to deal with those new timing rules – but they may not be having as big an impact as thought by some. Turns out, the data shows that teams have only run 1.4 fewer plays per game thus far in 2023 than in 2022.
Related: The new clock rules are decreasing the number of plays per game overall, but not to an extreme degree. Here's the average plays per game (per team) this year compared to last year:
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) September 14, 2023
2023: 67.3
2022: 68.7 https://t.co/0L6XoAmtF2
Spread across both teams that's 2.8 fewer plays per game total, though that excludes special teams plays.
Ohio State has seen a slightly steeper decline, however.
After running 67.4 offensive plays per contest in 2022, the Buckeyes have run a combined 127 plays in their first two games of 2023, an average of 63.5 per game. That's 3.9 fewer, a deviation of 2.5 from the play decrease across the country.
| 2022 | 2023 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OHIO STATE | 67.4 | 63.5 | –5.78% |
| NATIONAL AVERAGE | 68.7 | 67.3 | –2.03% |
The game plans of Indiana and Youngstown State were a big reason Ohio State has seen a sharper decrease in plays per game so far. The Hoosiers came out with an unexpected triple-option attack that served to run plenty of clock, while the Penguins made use of every bit of play clock possible to take the air out of the football and keep the Buckeyes' offense off the field, Day said.
"I felt like, maybe, that would be their game plan but I didn't know that they would huddle and milk it all the way down to inside 10 seconds and then try to run it on third down just to keep the clock going," Day said after the Youngstown State game Saturday. "But they did, and that's smart on their end. Maybe some teams are going to do that more and more."
Day and company hope to get a few more opportunities on offense this week against Western Kentucky's air raid attack, which could reverse the trend of Ohio State running fewer plays per game.
"This week, you're going to see a team that throws the ball a lot more, plays faster," Day said Tuesday. "We'll just take it on a week-to-week basis. The bottom line is, if we get off the field (on defense) or we convert on third downs then we're moving more efficiently, and that's got to be the goal."
