Bulls and Bears of New Clock Rules

The new 40-25 play clock has had an interesting impact on the number of plays gained and lost by certain teams, according to Marty Couvillon of cfbstats.com. Above are the teams gaining the most plays by percentage, led by Duke, which is averaging 16.7 more plays a game compared to 2007, an increase of 26.5%. Middle Tennessee State is squeezing out 10 more plays (15.3%), Nevada 10.5 (14.3%), Oklahoma 9.4 (13.4%) and Pittsburgh 7.9 (11.7%).

As for plays lost, Toledo is down 21.7 (28.6%), followed by Clemson at 18.1 (24.4%), Southern Methodist at 16.1 (21.4%), Wyoming at 15 (20.4%) and West Virginia at 13.7 (19.9%).

It's unclear at this point the reason for the dramatic gains and losses. "My first thought is that it may be too early to draw a conclusion," Marty writes. "So far, Texas Tech [the team leader in passing] has gained 0.1% in plays and Navy [the team leader in rushing] has lost 12.9%.

"For example, it would be hard to theorize why Toledo has lost so many plays and Duke has gained so many. Could be level of competition, or in Duke's case a change in offense with a new coach (David Cutcliffe)."

Marty writes that on average, more pass plays have been lost (5.6%) than rushing plays (4.7%). The average loss of plays is per team is 8.61, or 5.1%.

A look at the average number of plays and time of a game for the past four seasons:         

             G      Plays/G   Time/G
2005     717    140.71      3:21
2006     792    127.53      3:07
2007     792    143.43      3:23
2008     193    134.82      3:10

The longest games of Week 3:
Oregon-Purdue: 3:50
Southern Methodist-Texas Tech: 3:35
Kansas-South Florida: 3:31
Georgia-South Carolina: 3:30
Nevada-Missouri: 3:26
California-Maryland: 3:25
Memphis-Marshall: 3:25

The shortest games of Week 3:
North Dakota State-Wyoming: 2:49
Western Kentucky-Alabama: 2:51
Samford-Mississippi: 2:51
Virginia-Connecticut: 2:51
Delaware State-Kent State: 2:53
North Texas-Louisiana State: 2:54
Southern Illinois-Northwestern: 2:56

Comments

[Kyle from OU]

Oklahoma has gained so many plays because they have moved to a no-huddle offense. They also have instituted a number of quick-snap plays when they see that they can catch the defense substituting or slacking on the corners.