Length of college games getting longer article

JCase

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Jan 29, 2005
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http://http://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/index.ssf/2014/12/college_football_games_are_get.html

In the NFL, the average number of offensive plays is 64 a game. It's 72 in the top tier of college football.
I read this article last week and found it interesting. Thought about this morning when looking at clemsons offensive plays (99) vs ours (66). Average 82.5.

I am of the opinion that they start with not stopping the clock on first downs. If nothing else it gives the zebras once less thing to do and speeds the game up.

Other thoughts?
 

Jessica4Bama

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Seriously a game that is 60 minutes in playing time shouldn't last 4+ hours. That is just ridiculous. Last night, I wanted to scream at all the tv timeouts they had. I know the players nor the fans can get into a rhythm, but we must pad the pocketbooks of the advertisers.
 

NationalTitles18

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May 25, 2003
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Seriously a game that is 60 minutes in playing time shouldn't last 4+ hours. That is just ridiculous. Last night, I wanted to scream at all the tv timeouts they had. I know the players nor the fans can get into a rhythm, but we must pad the pocketbooks of the advertisers.
ESPN managed it better than CBS or it would have been 5+ hours. Something should be done to shorten the game. It's gotten to a critical point and I would even support running the clock after an incomplete pass until the last 2 minutes of a half if it shortens the game
 

Snuffy Smith

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Interesting that this subject is being discussed at both the NCAA and the NFL level. I think they both realize there is a tipping point being reached with the fans.


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Con

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I love college football, but I don't have an entire afternoon/evening to watch some of the games. The DVR gets put to work a lot of the time to just watch a game the first time.
 

JCase

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The real question is whether there will be enough support to make a change. From reading the article linked above, it doesn't sound like ESPN has any motivation for them to be shorter. Could there be enough concern from the schools to warrant a change?
 

Intl.Aperture

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I posted an article like this from the WSJ at the beginning of the season and there were quite a few people who were of the mind that football is great and they'll take all they can get.
I agree with them that football is great. Too bad most of my time is not spent watching football but instead digesting all the info necessary for me to make an informed maxi pad purchase.
Many people DVR the game and fast forward through. I don't currently have that luxury with the cord cutting path I've chosen. It's ridiculous though. I've even taken to skipping the game and watching the 7 minute highlight compilations on YouTube from the NFL or various individual YouTube curators for college football.
 

Intl.Aperture

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The real question is whether there will be enough support to make a change. From reading the article linked above, it doesn't sound like ESPN has any motivation for them to be shorter. Could there be enough concern from the schools to warrant a change?
The longer people are in the stadium the more likely they are to buy products. That's just the first thing that pops in my head but I'm sure there are many more variables for the schools to consider.
 

Al A Bama

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If you are at the game or just sitting on a coach watching, that's a lot of restroom/bathroom visits in 4+ hours. You have to time it right so
you don't miss any plays. I bet that's hard to do at the stadium.
 

teamplayer

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Seriously a game that is 60 minutes in playing time shouldn't last 4+ hours. That is just ridiculous. Last night, I wanted to scream at all the tv timeouts they had. I know the players nor the fans can get into a rhythm, but we must pad the pocketbooks of the advertisers.
The commercials have gotten ridiculous, but the money for all these programs has to come from somewhere. I wish they would change replay because the way they do it drives me crazy. I wish they would simply give coaches one challenge per half. This ridiculous crap of replaying every play does not make sense and leaves us with three or four plays run in fifteen minutes at times, and the call is still wrong at times. It makes no sense whatsoever to me.
 

day-day

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If you are at the game or just sitting on a coach watching, that's a lot of restroom/bathroom visits in 4+ hours. You have to time it right so
you don't miss any plays. I bet that's hard to do at the stadium.

I knew our coaches had a lot on their shoulders, but goodness! ;)
Oh no, the Kiffin thread is going to start back to life...:eek2:
 
Last edited:

FThomas

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Oct 18, 2011
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It has become an absolute nightmare. The first half last night took 2 hours. It is all about the networks making money off of advertising. Ridiculous.
Yes it is all about making money. Frankly, I find it more and more irritating. The networks (and honestly it is the advertisers who want us to buy things we probably don't even need) have fishhooks into us and then just make us endure because like junkies we have to have our football fix. They will push us as far and as long as they can.

I do hope we reach a breaking point to where the universities take back college football, the games become shorter and that the financial aspects of the game become less important, but it doesn't seem to be the direction we are heading.
 

Snuffy Smith

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It has become an absolute nightmare. The first half last night took 2 hours. It is all about the networks making money off of advertising. Ridiculous.
This is kind of the elephant in the room (no pun intended) that neither league will address. It's not like baseball where you had batters going through 5 minute rituals between every pitch and pitchers constantly stepping off the rubber.

I know the offensive style has lengthened the game some - but the number and length of commercial breaks has far more impact on the length of football games than the actual time it takes to play the game now.


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Jessica4Bama

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But seriously how many times have you watched a commercial and said oh, I have to have that? Not many if any at all for me. I can't tell you how many chevy commercials I see everyday, but that isn't going to make me go buy one. I guess they must work since they still produce them.
 

Snuffy Smith

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But seriously how many times have you watched a commercial and said oh, I have to have that? Not many if any at all for me. I can't tell you how many chevy commercials I see everyday, but that isn't going to make me go buy one. I guess they must work since they still produce them.
Only when the Dos Equis commercials come on. [emoji481]


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CrimsonPride

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Dec 9, 2001
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It has become an absolute nightmare. The first half last night took 2 hours. It is all about the networks making money off of advertising. Ridiculous.
I agree and this why I don't think having a running clock will help shorten the games. The networks will just take that extra time to sell more ads and game length will either be the same or longer.
 

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