NCAA Approves Three Clock-Based College Football Rule Changes

A big change is coming after first downs.

College football is going to look a little different next fall after the NCAA passed three time-based rule changes on Thursday that are expected to shorten games.

As first reported by Sports Illustrated‘s Ross Dellenger in February, the NCAA was looking at ways to shorten games, and now, the rules have been made official. 

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved three key changes on Thursday that will be implemented at the Division I and Division II levels next season. The Division III Management Council requested that the proposal be sent back to the Football Rules Committee after there was opposition within its division to the changes.

As expected, the three clock changes passed their final hurdle and will be implemented this season:

1 No consecutive timeouts
2 No untimed down at end of 1Q/3Q
3 Clock runs after 1st downs except inside of 2 mins in a half

Our original story from February provides background: https://t.co/EBMt0B0F1h

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) April 21, 2023

The first change will make it so the game clock will no longer be stopped after first downs unless there is less than two minutes to play in a half. This changes the existing rule that was in place that stopped the clock after each first down was gained, regardless of when in the game it occurred.

In addition, teams will be prohibited from calling consecutive timeouts. This would occur most frequently when a team would attempt to “ice” an opposing kicker.

Finally, there will be no untimed downs at the end of the first and third quarters if a penalty occurs on the final play of the frame. Instead, penalties will carry over and be enforced on the first play of the following quarter.