Important Rule Change

The clock will not be stopped after a 1st down until the last 2 minutes in each half.

Per the pseudo experts that will result in 14 fewer plays each game.

San Jose State +30.5 USC

The Spartans had a record of 7-5 last year.  In their 5 losses, they lost by an average of 10 points per game.  Not once did they lose by more than 16 points per game and only allowed more than 40 points twice.  Now I’m not on crack.  There’s no way that San Jose State goes on the road and wins this game.  Having said that, there’s also no way that USC is going to put Caleb Williams at risk either.  On top of that, USC’s defense was kind of a hot mess last season – giving up 29 points per game.  In their 14 games last year, they only covered 30.5 points twice (against Colorado and Rice – two teams not nearly as good as San Jose State).

The Spartans were tough on defense last year.  They will have a hard time stopping USC in the first half, but one would expect that they will be seeing a lot of the JV in the second half and a cheap back door cover is certainly on the menu.  San Jose State has Mountain West preseason Offensive Player of the Year Chevan Cordeiro at QB and they have a very talented running back in Kairee Robinson who is one of the best in the conference.

Just too many points.  San Jose State has not lost by more than 30 points in 6 years,    Remember – new rules this year.  The clock will be running a lot more.  Shorten the game, San Jose State finds the end zone and it makes it a very tough cover for USC.  Give me the Spartans and ALL of those points.

Who are the experts you mention? 14 fewer plays is a big deal

@Vegas502

 Read it in Sports Reporter via DraftKings.

They figure 7 fewer plays per team but we will have to see.

I agree that is a big number but figure it takes a few seconds, depending on the length of the play, to move the chains. Figure it happening multiple times in a game & that's quite a bit of loss playing time.

@Midnight1

 This is a good change in my opinion. Think it may take some time for coordinators and players to adjust, but overall shouldn’t be too big of a deal. I’m thinking they made this change, because of the live bet.

@sSleepy

 I'm sure teams have been practicing with the new clock change in mind & maybe we'll see the use of timeouts earlier on a drive both by the offense & defense than what we've seen in the past. But well coached disciplined teams will remain calm when that clock keeps ticking away.

good change, these games can't be 4 hours long.

@Eddy_Winslow

 Agreed. Best and mainly only good thing about MLB recently was rule changes to shorten the game. Hope it for works out for College Football. 

Totals I see don’t seem to reflect this rule change very much. 

Are we assuming the odds makers didn't take the new rule into consideration. I'm sure they did.

@Teaser78

 Yeah, that's what they do. They crunch the #'s. And like what Freddie said, the Over/Under #'s don't seem to reflect it yet.

true, lines are always soft at the start of any season. As the season progresses, they gat tighter and tighter

I can see this affecting the dreaded back door cover.  

With the game in control midway through the 4th qtr teams will rest their starters and try to get some younger guys experience.  Sometimes the last 5 minutes seems like the final minute of a basketball game when the coach clears his bench.  Lets see how this plays out.

Looks like this change could result in around 7-9 less plays per game per team. Have to believe that will have an effect on the total bet. Teams that have a strong running game and don't throw much will have the potential to really burn the clock. 

@Fuse

 Glad to see u back!

Unders will be coming in way easier with teams who lean on the run, get a couple first down on any given driven and 4-5 minutes will instantly evaporate