College football games are getting increasingly longer… and few are outraged

[MNGoldenGophers1]

I recommend Saturdays being longer.

Way ahead of you...

 

[Schnauzer]

Clock stopping on 1st downs is one of the things that makes college football great. I can't understand why anyone would actually argue for less football.

Exactly! There are a billion tv timeouts and the games are getting too long. Solution? Cut out the football part. Face palm.

 

[Donovan]

The number of timeouts is excessive. Some of the games have absolutely no flow. The Kent State game was a perfect example of this. It was painful.

Agree. Amazing how nicely a high football game flows. Being at the game live it can be annoying. I don't mind clock stoppages on the field for first downs and stuff like that. I can't stand the long TV timeouts. Often I sit and look at that guy in he red hat that the ref is watching. I mumble to myself, "come on, come on...." Watching games at home, I DVR everything.

 

[denguegopher]

NFL games are pretty consistent 3- 3.25 hrs. College games can go to 4 hrs or more. I do hear 'fringe fans' bring up the 4 hrs for a college game from time to time.

I'm not sure of the official game duration but the Colorado State game went for damn close to 4 hours. OK, it went into OT, but was still a slow paced game. A part of the problem with that particular game was the officiating. Those guys were constantly huddling and were repeatedly in discussions between plays. There also seemed to be excessive video reviews. Most of the game had no rhythm. I would greatly prefer games to move at a quicker pace. Go Gophers!

 

[BilldGopher]

The only good thing about the red cap guy is that you can see when the TV gods are going to let them play or not.

That is the main positive mitigating aspect I've come up with. It helps me to control my expectations as a spectator.

Another way the red cap guy is useful is when The 12th Man needs to step up coming out of commercial break. When he holds his arm straight out that means 30 seconds to the start of play. The Billds typically start making our loud "Go Gophers!" chant at about 15 seconds. By the time play starts most folks in 212 are revved up (if they are open to revving) and hopefully a play by the other guys is busted. The red hat helps here.

Someone noted going to non-televised, smaller college games to actually experience the intended flow of the game. I've pretty much forgotten what that feels like at the D-1 level.

But no doubt they are too long. And yes I too add 30 minutes to an hour extra on the DVR. Sad but true.

 

[Nomorefalsehope]

I don't seem to mind the length of Gopher games when they are long, but it drives me nuts when I'm watching another game and it goes so long.

I would have to guess that the faster paced offenses are the most responsible for this. I never used to be in favor of letting the clock run after a first down, but I am now. We could probably also do without the 25-minute halftimes.

The offenses that pass more are more likely to extend the game, due to incomplete passes. Teams that like to run the ball more burn up the clock. Big 12 teams pass a ton, and look at their game lengths.

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