College football officials are scheduled to discuss adding a two-minute warning to games at a rules committee meeting later this month.
The possibility comes a year after the commission adjusted the clock rules to bring the college game closer to the NFL, keeping the clock running after a first down in all but the final two minutes. The idea of a two-minute warning, formally known as a stop or break, could serve the purpose of clocks, rule changes, and commercial breaks.
“By changing the clock rules, it now depends more on specific times of the game, such as first down situations,” NCAA national coordinator Steve Shaw said. The Athletic. “Determined, he can overturn all the rules of the clock with a two-minute break.
“Like today, the 10-second runoff vote (for penalty and injury timeouts) doesn't start until (with one minute left). So I thought maybe there was some value in the two-minute stoppage. After thinking about it, I decided to apply the post-time rule and limit everything to two minutes.”
The NFL has had two-minute warnings since 1942. The concept was first introduced because officials, rather than simply the stadium, controlled the official time, and interruptions allowed everyone to know what the clock was up to. As the sport grew, stadium clocks became official, television became widespread, and the two-minute warning remained in place to support commercials and drama.
It's unclear how much support there will be for changes at the university level. Shaw added that the commission could have simply left the current rules in place for another year and gathered more feedback before making any changes.
“I'd love to go to a meeting and talk about it and find out the thinking behind it,” said Northern Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock, another member of the rules committee. . “What are we going to change? From a strategy standpoint, it's going to change the strategy a lot in how we end the game. But in terms of the length of the game and those things. I’m interested in seeing the thinking behind it.”
Last year's NCAA clock changes included banning back-to-back timeouts by the same team and moving overtime downs from the first and third quarters to the next quarter. These were intended to reduce game time and reduce the number of “exposures” for players. (The committee submitted the idea of running the clock in case of incompleteness.)
Shaw said these changes reduced the total number of plays per game by about 4.5 and reduced game time by about four minutes in real time on average. Some coaches and fans were unhappy with this early in the season, but everyone has gotten used to it and the resulting difference has become almost negligible. It accomplished what it was supposed to.
A two-minute warning for a free timeout risks making the game longer, but Shaw said it would only replace the existing television timeout. Shaw said some broadcasters were concerned about complying with contractually mandated television timeouts in the face of last year's clock rule changes. Guaranteed breaks at the two-minute mark reduce the chance of continuous interruptions at other locations (touchdowns, commercials, kickoffs, commercials).
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“I definitely want to avoid back-to-back games. No one likes that,” Shaw said. “If we do that, the media partners have to hold the last timeout, so they can't take a timeout and win the freebies. It will give them confidence that they're going to buy into it. I think television will support that.”
Hammock, a former Baltimore Ravens assistant, said the two-minute break makes sense in the NFL, where many games are about the final possession, including Sunday's Super Bowl. It affects how a team uses up time or maximizes possession. That would be an impactful change.
It's too early to know how much momentum is behind the two-minute change. Other rules committee topics are also on the minutes, including helmet communication and the use of sideline tablets. A move to a Coaches Challenge has been discussed in the past and will likely be again this year, but the coaches' support is controversial. The idea of a two-minute warning is expected to gain even more attention this time around.
“It's going to be a hot topic,” Shaw said. “I don’t know if we’re going to make any changes.”
(Photo: Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire, Getty Images)
