NCAA Rules Committee Comes Running Back to Fans, Sanity.

by SMQ on Feb 14, 2007 4:43 PM EST in News Comment 0 comments

3-2-5-e = dust in the wind. The hated, football-stealing clock rule wasn't merely revised, reviewed or otherwise altered in some shuffling, ineffectual, cosmetic way to deflect criticism without any real change. It had a house dropped on it. The witch is dead, and thanks to in no small part toThe Wiz.

Awash in the glow of this historic restoration of good and right, a brief requiem: amongst many, many other detracors of every outlook and perversion, SMQ his own self specifically took the rule to task here, here and here. It was a dark, dark ~~year~~ nine month's in the nation's history, a time that will remain seared in its consciousness for generations, always striving to pass on its lessons to the next: never forget.

And now, victory! There's some other stuff, re: moving the ball back five yards on kickoffs and actual reductions in the play clock following TV timeouts and even in duration of timeouts, thus probably shortening commercial breaks. But in short, fans of actual football unequivocally win one for a change.

Update [2007-2-15 8:33:39 by SMQ]: From the NCAA's own estimates this morning, the final tally on the proposed changes and how they will make up the time "lost" by scrapping 3-2-5-e:

Action Taken	Elapsed Time Eliminated	Playing Time Impact
Limit the play clock to 15 seconds following a television timeout.	Three minutes (about 20 timeouts per game and about 10 seconds per timeout).	No effect
Kickoffs moved from 35-yard line to 30-yard line.	One minute (Average of 11 kickoffs per game; more kickoffs will be returned.)	No effect
Reduced charged team timeouts by 30 seconds.	3-6 minutes, depending on how many timeouts are taken in a game.	No effect
Penalties for all kicking team fouls that occur during the kick can be enforced at the end of the run.	About two minutes per game.	No effect
Encourage coaches, officials, game management personnel, media partners to manage the game in a more efficient manner.	Variable, but would reduce total elapsed time.	No effect
Play clock is started when the ball is handed to the kicker by the umpire on all free kicks.	About two minutes per game (about 10 seconds per kickoff with 11 kickoffs per game).	No effect
Limit instant replay reviews to two minutes to decide to overturn or confirm the ruling on the field.	Caps the review time to eliminate lengthy delays.	No effect
Total	11-14 Minutes	No effect

The third column, obviously, is the key. Slam dunk all around, by SMQ's estimation, especially in terms of reducing timeouts and applying the play clock to kickoffs. Well done, committee.