A quick look at game times

From the Wizard of Odds:

… the average game in the 2007 season lasted 3:23:04. That’s up from 3:21:17 in 2005 and 3:07:24 in 2006, when the controversial 3-2-5e rule not only dramatically cut the length of games, but the number of plays.

The ever ready cfbstats.com has the game times up for all the games played in the SEC except for Kentucky’s and Tennessee’s, so I thought I’d take a look at the impact of the new rules on them.  Here’s the list:

• Alabama – 3:23
• Arkansas – 3:03
• Auburn – 3:09
• Florida – 3:10
• Georgia – 3:13
• LSU – 3:09
• Mississippi – 2:56
• MSU – 3:33
• South Carolina – 3:14
• Vanderbilt – 3:27

Seven out of the ten fell below last year’s average (how ’bout that Mississippi time!), but some of that may be attributable to blow outs.  Nationally, the Illinois-Missouri slugfest ran 3:39 and Michigan-Utah went 3:33, so some of the games with more give and take took more time, as you might expect.  Then again, East Carolina upset Virginia Tech in a mere 3:03 and Tulsa and UAB managed to score 67 points in three hours flat.

The real test will come with the first SEC game CBS broadcasts, but overall, I get the sense that there is some shortening of the game times going on here.  Which should warm the cockles of every TV executive’s heart…

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UPDATE: Tom Dienhart doesn’t hear any complaints from the coaches he talks to about the new rules.