As the organization of college football continues to fundamentally change across the country a smaller but equally meaningful modification is coming to the game itself this year with the introduction of new clock stoppage rules. Earlier this year the NCAA approved an adjustment that will result in the game clock continuing to run following a first down outside the last two minutes of each half. Previously the game clock had stopped following a first down until the ball was set by an official.
In addition to the clock rules, teams are now no longer allowed to take consecutive timeouts and all penalties at the end of the first and third quarters will carry over to the following quarters rather than playing an untimed down like in year’s past.
So what does that mean for offenses? The general belief across the sport is that teams will lose somewhere between seven and 10 offensive snaps per game depending on how fast an offense operates. For comparison, Penn State ran 911 offensive snaps during the 2022-23 season, a reduction of 10 plays per game would be 130 few offensive snaps, or about 14% of Penn State’s offensive snaps in 2022-23.
According to Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, the change is noteworthy, but it doesn’t impact the overall challenge: doing something with the snaps you do have, and turning those snaps into points.
“It’s interesting, I think the stat of points for play is probably the most important statistic in football, right when you’re efficiency not just total yardage, right? It’s not about total plays. It’s not about passing yards, it’s about points per play,” Yurcich said last week. “For us, regardless of the of the rule change, and maybe now it’s even magnified, it’s all about being efficient on every snap, and making sure that we’re on schedule, that we’re being explosive, and that we’re ahead of it.
“I’ve heard a stat that it’s gonna be somewhere around seven offensive plays per game that you’re losing. And so if you average 6.2 yards, you could do the math [about 43 yards lost in total offense]. So you know, it is what it is. It goes back to making sure that we’re as efficient as we can be on every single play.”
It will be interesting to see how Penn State is able to keep up a solid pace of per play scoring average in 2023. In 2022 the Nittany Lions had their second highest points per play average of the previous five years at .510 points per play. Compared though to Tennessee, the nation’s highest scoring offense, the Nittany Lions still have work left to do as the Volunteers averaged .633 points per play while Ohio State managed fewer points per game, but a whopping .656 points per play average. A reminder that it’s how you use your snaps that matters more than how many snaps you get.
Penn State PPP Average
- 2022: 465 points 911 plays [.510 points per play]
- 2021: 325 points 923 plays [.352 points per play]
- 2020: 268 points 709 plays [.377 points per play]
- 2019: 465 points 885 plays [.525 points per play]
- 2018: 439 points 900 plays [.487 points per play]
- 2017: 534 points 909 plays [.587 points per play]
- 2016: 526 points 931 plays [.564 points per play]
