Rule 3-2-5e nearly brought the Internet down two years ago. It was quickly repealed before the 2007 season, which brought us back to college football games longer than HBO's "John Adams."
The coaches are up to new clock tricks this season but these actually make sense. Instead of starting the clock after a change of possession — perhaps the single, dumbest idea since bodywash (really, was soap so antiquated?) — or when the ball is kicked — the second stupidest rule change — the college game is adopting a 40-second play clock and tweaking the clock rules when the ball goes out-of-bounds.
In other words, the structure of the college timing will look more like the NFL, but the college game will still stop the clock on first downs to move the chains (a fantastic idea the NFL should adopt in the final 2 minutes of each half).
Like the NFL, the college game will now be able cram more plays into less time, without compromising their commercial integrity.
