How a Rule Change Can Impact the Game

Marty from cfbstats.com has provided us with the final numbers on the average length of games for the 2006 season compared to 2005. Marty undertook this wonderful project to study the impact of rule 3-2-5-e, which was implemented before the start of the 2006 season to reduce the length of games. Last week he provided data on the commercial-heavy postseason, with games averaging a whopping 3:27:26, nearly 21 minutes longer than the average regular-season game through 13 regular-season weeks. The new set of numbers below factor in postseason play, which includes conference championship games and bowl games, along with the limited number of regular-season games that were played in Week 14 (USC-UCLA comes to mind). Despite the fact only 49 games were added, the average time of a game increased by 61 seconds!

The second and third charts detail the decrease in scoring in 2006 from 2005, yet another impact of 3-2-5-e.

Marty also provides us with the longest and shortest games of the year. The longest game — Florida International-North Texas — went seven overtimes. The second-longest game — Iowa State-Texas — was not an overtime game. Rather, it was delayed by a severe thunderstorm in Austin.

Overall...G.......Plays.......Plays/G....Min.........Min/G......Time/G
2005......718....121044.....168.58.....144317*....201.29.....3:21:17
2006......792....120857.....152.60.....148418.....187.40.....3:07:24
* missing game duration of Toledo-Ball State 10/15/2005

Year......G........Points.....Pts/G
2005......718.....37770.....52.60
2006......792.....37647.....47.53

Year.......G.....1H Pts....1H Pts/G...2H Pts....2H Pts/G...OT
2005......718...19126.....26.64......18194.....25.34.......450
2006......792...19699.....24.87......17503.....22.10.......445

Here are the shortest games of the season with the date played:
Colorado State-Nevada 9/16: 2:25
Buffalo-Boston College 10/28: 2:25
Utah State-San Jose State 10/14: 2:25
Arkansas State-Florida Atlantic 10/28: 2:26
Toledo-Western Michigan 9/9: 2:27

Here are the longest games of the season with the date played:
Florida International-North Texas 10/7: 4:25
Iowa State-Texas 9/23: 4:17
Colorado State-Wyoming 10/21: 4:05
Tulsa-Brigham Young 9/9: 4:04
Kansas-Toledo 9/15: 4:00
Northern Illinois-Ball State 9/30: 4:00
Oregon State-Missouri 12/29: 4:00
Clemson-Boston College 9/9: 4:00