Tick, tick, tick.
That's the sound of Rick Minter getting ticked, ticked, ticked off about the NCAA's new rule change in football.
And I couldn't agree with Marshall's defensive coordinator more about this time issue.
I think the new clock is a crock.
Instead of a 25-second play clock starting when the official spots the ball, now a 40-second clock will begin tick, tick, ticking when the previous play ends.
If that sounds vaguely familiar, it's because that's the time format the NFL uses.
That's also one of the reasons Minter takes issue with the new collegiate rule change.
"First of all, I don't like it as a student of the game, as a fan of the game," said Marshall's first-year defensive coordinator. "Because, No. 1, it's messing with the college game.
"It's making it like the NFL. Everything is driven by dollars and revenue and television and time. That's what drives the NFL.
"We shouldn't want to be like them, necessarily. We ought to stay separated."
Amen, Brother Rick.
Why, indeed, should the college game emulate the NFL? Sure, I love the shorter halftimes when I'm watching an NFL game on television.
But the pageantry, festivities, marching bands, tailgating and halftime shows is what makes college football such an appealing spectacle.
Minter is right. College football should stay separated from pro football. But year after year, rule change after rule change, the NCAA keeps narrowing the gap.
That is a shame.
"As the NFL proved, they are trying to shorten the game by making less plays per game," explained Minter. "It's going to affect the record books and the number of plays that have been static throughout time.
"All those kind of little nuances of the game. ... as a historian, I don't like that being changed."
But aesthetics aren't the only wish-bone Minter has to pick with this rule change. He also dislikes the impact the 40-second clock will have on collegiate defenses.
"It's probably an offensive advantage to an extent to where they're not any longer on the clock," said Minter.
"With the offenses being in the up-and-down, fast-tempo paces, they can get you on the ball fast and freeze you. Make you look, make you look, make you look. Show your hand. And still have plenty of time to call things from up above (the press box).
"So, I think, strategically, it might give the offense a few more seconds to make you show your hand, reset it, reset it again and not be out of time as the 25-second clock would do."
So, the new rule seems to be offensive-friendly.
"Yeah, I'd say offense if I had to guess," said Minter. "But the effect of it will be that it will grossly affect the final three, four minutes of the game. It will affect the number of plays, the number of timeouts and the number of first downs a team legitimately has to achieve.
"So, I'd say it slightly advantages the offense."
In the process, it also slightly disadvantages the college game.
I look at it like this.
As ticket prices rise, why should fans have to watch even less football for their money?
Chuck Landon is a sports columnist for The Herald-Dispatch. Call him at 526-2827. E-mail him at clandon@herald-dispatch.com.
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