What Tom Allen Said About New First Down Clock Rules in College Football

Indiana Coach Tom Allen spoke to media on Thursday and talked about the new rules involving first downs in college football for the 2023 season. For the first time in more than 50 years, the game clock will no longer be stopped after the offense picks up a first down.

Daniel Olinger | Aug 31, 2023

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Indiana Hoosiers

For the first time since 1967, the college football game clock is not going to stop whenever an offense picks up a first down.

The NCAA announced this offseason that it was reinstating the NFL-style clock keeping rule. Starting in 2023, the game clock will continue running after each new first down, save for the final two minutes of the second and fourth quarters.

On Thursday, Indiana football coach Tom Allen was asked what he thought of the major change to college football clock management.

"I've heard anywhere from 7-12 snaps it reduces in a game," Allen said. "We'll have the data here soon once we've had several more games being played. I've heard all of the offensive coaches complain about it because they want more snaps. As a defensive coach, you're always trying to find ways to keep your defense off the field and shorten the games."

For reference, Allen has long referred to himself as a defense-first coach, and was originally hired at Indiana's defensive coordinator in 2016 by Kevin Wilson before he was promoted to the head coaching position.

However, Allen also alluded to the not so subtle reason driving this change in college football's action on the field — TV commercial money.

The offseason was filled with talk of how quickly games might go with teams no longer forced to wait for the chains to be reset before the time could tick away. People thought it might have been a goodbye to drawn out four hour productions, and a nice step into tidy three hour games on the regular.

But the Week 0 games for the 2023 season showed that might not be the case.

Excluding Navy-Notre Dame, the average time of game yesterday was 3 hours and 29 minutes.

Small sample, but I think it's a decent bet they've just replaced that game time with more commercials.
— Colton Denning (@Dubsco) August 27, 2023

"When you think about the reasons why they're doing it, obviously we all know from a practical perspective they're not going to cut out the commercials," Allen said. "Because that's how things are financed."

There are far bigger tragedies in college football and in the world than the length of a college football game. It's just disappointing to see that the change was not driven by improving the college football fan's viewing experience. It was driven by money, money and even more money.

Was thinking about this answer from Tom Allen at today's presser and how it relates to what @Dubsco pointed out after the Week 0 games.

Feels like CFB no longer stopping the clock after first downs is actually just about getting more commercials, and nothing else. #IUFB pic.twitter.com/xMuKAjmjyP
— Dan Olinger (@dan_olinger) August 31, 2023

Allen himself that he's plenty fine with the change and curious to see how it changes the on-field product.

"I'm not necessarily against it, and I'm anxious to see how it impacts it," Allen said. "I know we've had two scrimmages with officials here, and it does feel a little different."

"I don't think it's a major change, or that there's going to be a massive difference in games, but I do feel like they're going to be a bit shorter with a few less snaps. The offenses that can stay on the field, and keep that clock moving, will shorten the game for sure."

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