Clock management separates the good coaches from the great ones. Manipulation of the 2-minute warning, the crucial extra timeout, can make or break that final drive. Great quarterbacks are defined by their ability to execute the 2-minute drill. Its existence is of extreme importance in the NFL, but is there a 2-minute warning in college football games?
Is There a 2-Minute Warning in College Football Games?
The NFL has a 2-minute warning. Canadian football uses a 3-minute warning. Hell, even arena league football has a 1-minute warning. Yet, neither college football nor high school football uses a 2-minute warning in their games.
Despite this, NCAA rules state that coaches and each team captain must be made aware that time is running out at the end of each half.
The referee will inform both coaches and captains verbally when the game reaches the 2:00 mark. However, unlike in the NFL, the clock does not stop at the 2-minute warning — it is purely a verbal announcement.
Having a 2-minute warning in college football would only extend the length of games even further. College games are already noticeably longer than their “professional” counterpart.
The average NFL game takes around three hours and 12 minutes to complete. Meanwhile, college football games average about three hours and 24 minutes, with most games taking significantly longer.
The main reason for this is one significant difference in clock management. During college football games, the clock is stopped every time there is a first down. In the NFL, the clock keeps running while they move the chains. There are other subtle differences. However, that is the main reason that college football games don’t use the 2-minute warning.
Why Does the NFL Have a 2-minute Warning?
The 2-minute warning was introduced to give the big guys in the trenches an extra break, right? Wrong!
Although the 2-minute warning has become an integral part of the game in the NFL, its inception has a far more basic background.
Before the days of game and play clocks on display in stadiums, only the referee had any idea of how a game had been played. Therefore, as the wielder of all power, the person in the zebra uniform was the only one who knew the remaining game time.
As you can imagine, this makes implementing the game plan in the world’s most strategic sport somewhat problematic. Additionally, the fans in the stands had no clue of the time situation. You can’t have a nail-biting finish to a game if you don’t know how long is left to play.
As a result, the 2-minute warning was implemented to inform fans, coaches, and players alike that the game was almost over. At 2:00 (or at the time closest to it if the ball were still in play), the referee would stop the clock, and the players would take a break for…2 minutes.
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While the 2-minute warning is no longer required in its original form, its importance as a strategic element of professional American football means it will almost certainly never disappear.
Furthermore, in a sport that made $16 billion in 2019, the NFL will never forsake the opportunity to sneak a commercial break into the 2-minute stop in the game.