Fall is one of the most enjoyable times of the year, the air starts to cool, school is back in session, but for me, it’s a significant month because college football starts. A game that has had many changes over its 100+ year history for better or worse. This year, the NCAA introduced new rule changes to make the games run faster.  The goal was to increase excitement and prevent injuries, but their true motive for the new rules was greed.

When last year’s season ended, the NCAA announced that a first down wouldn’t stop the clock until the ball is placed, which has changed a rule that has been in use for a while. The only instance when the clock would stop following a first down is during the final two minutes of each half.

Turns out, the main reason for the new rules was to cut down the game time to make more room for commercials. When I sat down to watch the Week 1 game between Colorado and TCU, I noticed that this was truly the case.  It was hard to watch.

According to Sports Enthusiasts, the average game time through Week 4 was about three hours and 25 minutes long, but there were fewer plays and drives in the game and way more ads, fueling the money-hungry NCAA. All of these ads outrage me so much that every time a game would be on, I’d notice it more and more. Every touchdown there’s a commercial, an extra point then another commercial. Now after every stoppage of play, I anticipate the cut to commercials. There are just too many commercials for a single game. We wait every week to spend hours of our Saturday to watch football, not half commercials and half actual football.

Fans and media across the country seem outraged by this greedy decision made by the NCAA.  It would seem the organization has practically ruined one of the best sports in the world for the sake of money. Chip Kelly, the UCLA Bruins head coach, said this in a halftime interview; “This new rule is — that’s crazy, we had four drives in the first half. This game goes fast. Hope you guys are selling a lot of commercials.” UCLA’s fast-paced offense was highly affected by the rule change due to the clock running after every play limiting scores dramatically. Kelly, like others, wants the old college football rules back, and I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten fined for his comments knowing how petty the NCAA is.

I think that the NCAA should revert back to their old clock and first-down rules and forget that this poor rule ever happened. I hope they will attempt to fix this problem by next season due to all of the controversy but knowing this greedy organization, I doubt it.