Stopping the clock after a first down would be limited to the final two minutes of either half under a proposal submitted by the NCAA Football Rules Committee.
The proposal is among many that could be approved in a vote on April 20.
“The NCAA Football Rules Committee has proposed several timing rules changes intended to continue the effort to control the flow of the game and encourage more consistent game management. The committee anticipates the adjustments, which were finalized Friday in Indianapolis, would modestly reduce the number of plays in the game, something the committee will study closely during the 2023 season,” the committee said in a statement Friday.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart, co-chair of the committee, said the “rule change is a small step intended to reduce the overall game time and will give us some time to review the impact of the change.”
Other proposed changes include prohibiting a team from calling consecutive timeouts and carrying over penalties at the end of the first and third quarter to be enforced on the first play of the following quarter.
The committee approved “optional use of instant replay in games that do not have an instant replay booth official” after a pilot program in the Division II Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association allowed referees to utilize “available video” to make decisions on reviewable plays.
–Field Level Media