Josh Heupel addresses if new college football rule will impact Tennessee Vols' offense
College football will look a little different this fall. The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel recently approved three major rule changes for the sport. The rule changes are aimed at shortening college football games, which averaged three hours and 27 minutes last season. Here are the three new rules: Banning consecutive timeoutsNot extending quarters (first […]
College football will look a little different this fall.
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel recently approved three major rule changes for the sport.
The rule changes are aimed at shortening college football games, which averaged three hours and 27 minutes last season.
Here are the three new rules:
- Banning consecutive timeouts
- Not extending quarters (first and third quarters will not be extended for an un-timed down, which would normally happen if there's a defensive penalty on the final play of the quarter)
- The clock will no longer stop on first downs (except for the final two minutes of each half)
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel was asked on Monday at a Big Orange Caravan stop in Chattanooga if the new rules — specifically the new first down rule — will have an impact on UT's up-tempo offense.
Vols fans will be happy to know that Heupel doesn't think the new rules will have any impact on Tennessee.
"It’s not going to change how the game is played for any offense, any style," said Heupel on Monday. "When (the ball is) set, it will be ready. It shortens the game in some respects. I guess we’ll see more on the back end what type of changes it actually has.”
When asked if the new rules have a different impact on up-tempo offenses compared to traditional offenses, Heupel suggested there's no difference.
"It just shortens the length of the game," said Heupel. "We’ll see how much of an effect that actually has on number of possessions per game, that type of thing.”
There's been plenty of talk this offseason about up-tempo offenses and whether there should be rules that prevent offenses from snapping the ball too quickly. For now, it doesn't appear there's any momentum to institute any sort of rule changes that would prohibit the Vols (or other up-tempo offenses) from snapping the ball as quickly as they want.
These new rule changes have nothing to do with up-tempo vs non-tempo offenses. The goal with these new changes is simply to shorten games by removing a handful of plays from each matchup.
In other words, it'll be business as usual for Tennessee's offense in 2023.
