Rebels’ head coach Lane Kiffin not particularly a fan of new clock rules in college football
OXFORD, Miss. — Count Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin as one who doesn’t care for the new clock rules in college football.
Those rules that have been put into place in hopes of speeding up games are as follows:
- The game clock will run after first downs (as it does in the NFL), except for the last two minutes of each half.
- A team cannot call consecutive timeouts.
- Untimed downs will only occur, as needed, in the second and fourth quarters. If there is a foul at the end of the first or third quarter, it will carry over into the next quarter.
In the case of No. 1, prior to this rule change, officials stopped the clock on every first down awarded. The new rules state that the clock will not stop on first downs, besides those that come in the final 2 minutes of the first or second half.
On the Weekly SEC Coaches Teleconference Wednesday, Coach Kiffin was asked his thoughts on the changes and if they affected his scheme in the Rebels’ opening game against Mercer.
He replied that they didn’t affect Ole Miss because the game was a 73-7 affair in Ole Miss’ favor. But that didn’t stop Coach Kiffin from offering his opinion.
“I just don’t understand it,” he commented on the changes.
“People pay to see (a football game), they sit down as a family to watch the game, they pay for tickets to go to a game and we’re going to shorten it? It’s not like it was broken, and we’ve got a lot of problems that need to be fixed in the world around college football and running the clock so a game’s quicker, I don’t get it.”
Lane Kiffin on clock changes to shorten the game
Kiffin went on to offer an analogy music-lovers will understand.
“I said to the staff, you go to a country concert, you want them to sing two less songs? At your favorite concert? No, well why do you want a game to be shorter? They just don’t really show much awareness about what should be getting worked on and fixed around college football in my opinion.”
So do you guys buy tickets to go see @MorganWallen or @taylorswift13 or your favorite concerts and want a few less songs at the end?? With all the issues in college football this is what you actually made a change to??? 🤦♂️ https://t.co/U3pCSNWdfz
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) September 5, 2023
Next up
Coach Kiffin and his Ole Miss team travel to Tulane this Saturday with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. (CT). The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
