The NCAA approved a major rule change that will drastically impact college football. CBS Sports was first to report that the proposed change will allow the clock to run after first downs.
This change is expected to be implanted in all levels of college football except Division III. Stopping the clock for a first down has been one of the main differences in rules between the NFL and college football since the the rule was put into place in 1968.
On Friday, the Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP) decided to approve the proposal made in March to eliminate the stopping the clock when a first down is achieved. Despite this change, the clock will continue to stop after first downs during the final two minutes of each half.
Even though the Divisions I and II levels are adopting the the new rule, Division III continues to resist following suit. In fact, its Management Council announced this week there will be separate federated federated playing rules for that division.
CBS’ report suggests that allowing the clock to run is expected to reduce the number of plays by an average of seven per game, according to the secretary-editor of the rules committee Steve Shaw.
