Ask most college football fans, and the games and college football season probably aren’t long enough. It would seem the NCAA disagrees, citing the need to cut down on the length of games. The average FBS game is now playing for 3 hours and 22 minutes.
Considering the average length of an MLB game is a little over 3 hours, the average FBS game length doesn’t seem unreasonable. But, with the average time increasing by 4 minutes over the past 5 years, the NCAA wants to prevent games from becoming any longer.
According to a report by The Athletic’s Seth Emerson, NCAA officials have found the cause of college football games that are getting longer and longer, year after year. According to officials, an increase in passing plays is the main culprit in lengthier games.
In order to keep FBS more concise, the NCAA has proposed treating incomplete passes like plays where the ball runs out of bounds — the clock would stop only until the ball is set to be hiked again. The clock would run except for in the last 2 minutes of the first half and the final 5 minutes of regulation.
We’ll see if the NCAA’s plan help the game run more smoothly, or just cut short the season.
