Speed It Up!

A quick warning to college football purists: you are not going to like what you are about to read. Ok, here goes. College football needs a change. Now. In fact, if changes aren't implemented soon, the sport will be ruined.

Does that seem a bit drastic? Maybe it will hit a little closer to home when you consider the source of such a statement. No, those are not my words, but the sentiments of longtime ESPN College Football play-by-play man Ron Franklin. An Ole Miss grad and a lover of Southeastern Conference sports, Franklin is no novice when it comes to collegiate athletics. And maybe some of the suits of college football should heed his warning.

Franklin is quoted this week in the Houston Chronicle when asked to comment on this college football season's string of four-hour long bowl games. Said Franklin, "Football doesn't get it, and they need to tweak the system. It's going to be the ruin of college football if they don't get their heads out of their backsides." ...

At first glance, Franklin's assertion seems overstated, but a steady decline in television ratings for bowl games might tell a different story. In fact, the LSU-Ohio State BCS National Championship netted a 14.4 rating -- off 17% from last year's Florida-Ohio State title game and down a staggering 33.6% from the 2006 title game matching Texas and Southern California. Certainly competitiveness of the contest contributes to high television ratings (or lack thereof the past two seasons) but Franklin's point can't be overlooked.

The NFL still dominates television ratings. More than 100 million more people watched NFL games on television this season than voted in the 2004 presidential election. True, the NFL is more popular in major metropolitan areas while college football dominates rural places, but the swiftness with which the games are played -- without compromising the integrity of the game -- is clear. As a longtime New Orleans Saints season ticket holder, I can vouch for the fact that whether the score is 10-6 or 40-36, games end like clockwork within three hours to three hours and 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the average game time for LSU this season was three hours and 39 minutes. Three times, games went longer than four hours!

While the case will be made that die hard fans will continue attending games no matter the length, the point is moot. Television networks are not appealing to college football die hards. They aren't going anywhere. The people networks want to grab hold of is the casual sports fan who may only tune in to one game a weekend. Why do you think you see so many player features within the game? Consider this scenario: a casual football fan decides to tune into college football's Bowl Championship Series games thinking he will see football's best match ups. Instead, he gets four blowouts in five games, with each bordering four hours with unnecessary commercial breaks, inept officials and high school-esque rules delaying the outcome. What's the appeal, when the same fan can flip on the television this Sunday, watch the most talented football players on earth compete in NFL playoff games and be finished in time to catch evening Mass?

College football has become big business. FOX payed more than $300 million for the rights to the Bowl Championship Series. But, will it be worth the investment if ratings continue to plummet? If networks catch hold of this trend and back off of their coverage of college football, the exposure and popularity of the game will certainly dip as will the game's talent pool. No, this will not happen over night. And yes, this is preventable.

First, understand that fewer commercial breaks is not the answer, but rather, shorter commercial breaks. This solution lies solely with the networks. If you are of the belief that college football has more commercial breaks in a broadcast than the NFL, you are mistaken. Consider that an NFL broadcast breaks after the Point After Touchdown is attempted and then again after the ensuing kickoff. The series goes as follows: Touchdown - PAT - Commercial - Kickoff - Commercial. Yet, NFL games run far more smoothly than their college counterparts. Basically, charge more and accept fewer spots.

Second, and this is where the true college football fans might need to bend, do away with this ridiculous stoppage of the clock after a first down. Soon, these "kids" will be earning million of dollars to apply their trade in the League. Why not get them started on the rules now and speed up the game? Teams are given three timeouts per half. It is insane to grant them dozens more each time an offense moves ten yards.

Finally, the NCAA needs to adopt the NFL's out of bounds clock rules as well. In college football, the clock stops when a player is out of bounds and does not restart until the ball is snapped on the ensuing play. The NFL winds the clock as soon as the ball is placed on the hash mark outside of two minutes in the first half and five minutes in the fourth quarter.

These solutions may seem trivial, but if game times are lowered to average around three hours, it is far more likely that someone will tune into a meaningless Thursday night MAC game where the person has no rooting interest instead of catching the latest drama on Grey's Anatomy. Also, the fewer rule discrepancies, the more likely and NFL fan will become comfortable with the college game.

Television networks are largely responsible for the exponential growth of college football over the past decade. I would hate for them to be equally responsible for its ruin.