Ticking clocks, both on the field and in the meeting rooms

There's going to be a healthy dose of football stuff coming in the next couple of days. The Gateway Football Conference is meeting Monday, and one of the main discussion topics will be whether to poach North Dakota State and South Dakota State. As far as we can tell, the league office is in favor of it and the league's coaches/athletic directors are mixed. The university presidents are the ones that decide. We don't have a prediction on how this one will turn out.

Meanwhile, the NCAA football rules committee voted on Wednesday to abandon the clock rules it instituted last year. The rules, which included starting the clock when the ball was placed after a change of possession, were designed to shorten games and they worked too well for some people's liking. In all 14 minutes were saved at the cost of 13 plays and five points per game. The NCAA still wants shorter games, so the tinkering will continue.

Here are the big changes:
-- Kickoffs will be from the 30 rather than the 35 in hopes of reducing touchbacks. Also, the play clock will start when the kicker is handed the ball rather that when it is placed on the tee. The game clock, however, won't begin ticking until the ball has been received.
--Following media timeouts, the play clock will be 15 seconds than the regular 25.
--Team timeouts will be shorted by 30 seconds.
--Replay reviews will be capped at two minutes, although this will mean very little at UC Davis.

In a shocking turn of events, all rules regarding the number and length of television timeouts will remain untouched.

Also, in 2008, the NCAA may adopt the NFL's play clock rules. Instead of starting the 25-second clock when the ball is officially spotted, a 40-second clock will be used from the end of the previous play. If that happens, it will be interesting to see how this works in conjunction with the clock stoppages while the chains are reset after every first down.