How will the college football rule changes affect UNC?
There’s a couple of signature college football rules that fans widely love – only having to catch a ball with one foot in-bounds, plus the clock stopping after first downs.
These two rules have led to some insane catches that appear on SportsCenter Top 10 the next morning, in addition to miraculous fourth-quarter games, such as UNC’s record-breaking, 63-61 victory over App State in Boone last season.
Heading into the upcoming college football season, which officially starts with the “Week 0” Navy-Notre matchup in Dublin, there are a couple of rule changes. According to 247Sports’ Brad Crawford, these changes are designed to speed up gameplay.
The first one is a running clock after first downs, unless chains move in the final two minutes of both halves. This is a pretty significant change because, unlike the NFL, college football does not have a 2-minute warning.
According to 247 Sports, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said, “We’re going to have to be mindful of the outcomes and mindful perhaps there are other adjustments that can be made.”
UNC staged multiple late comebacks last year – a 38-35 road victory over archrival Duke, in which star quarterback Drake Maye found Antoine Green in the closing seconds for the game-winning touchdown, plus the Coastal Division-clinching, 36-34 win over Wake Forest in which the Heels needed just a fourth-quarter field goal from Noah Burnette to cement the victory.
With a running clock, Carolina will need to be even sharper when trying to mount any fourth-quarter comebacks in 2023. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen and instead, the Heels will be able to put away opponents in the opening three quarters.
Consecutive timeouts are now outlawed, which also have the potential to affect late-game heroics. With this rule coming into effect, teams will have greater difficulty “icing the kicker” – when a timeout is called just before a field goal try – typically late in the fourth quarter or overtime.
UNC played in several close games last year – six (App State, Miami, Duke, UVA, Wake Forest, Oregon) were decided by a field goal. The Heels emerged on the winning end of these contests five times, but there’s no guarantee for the upcoming season.
If UNC wants to utilize the “ice the kicker” strategy, it’ll need to be smart with saving its second-half timeouts.
The third significant rule changes is the first and third quarters no longer being extended by an untimed down penalty.
Say Drake Maye rifles a pass towards Bryson Nesbit late in the third quarter, but a cornerback has his hands all over Nesbit. With the new rule change, this penalty would take effect at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Tar Heels fare with these three significant rule changes.
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