Clock running on college football

The movement in recent years to make college football games shorter and more television-friendly continues this fall with several changes in the way the clock is run.

This season, a 40-second play clock will start as soon as the previous play ends. That represents a change from past seasons when a 25-second clock began after officials marked the ball ready for play.

“When the NFL [changed to a 40-second clock], they actually gained four to five plays per game,” Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti said at Pacific 10 Conference football media day.

In the Pac-10, a conference in which prolific offenses thrive, every additional opportunity to gain yards and score is welcome. But the gain will probably be outweighed by another change: When the ball goes out of bounds, the game clock restarts after officials mark the ball.

During the final two minutes of each half, the clock will remain stopped until the ball is snapped – preserving the opportunity for late drives – but, overall, the change could shorten games by eight or more plays.

The old 25-second clock isn’t completely gone – it will resurface after timeouts and other play stoppages.

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Media members picked Arizona State to finish second behind USC in the Pac-10, but second-year Sun Devils Coach Dennis Erickson is not taking anything for granted.

“One thing about how they rate ya,” Erickson said, “It’s over with in about a week.”

Erickson acknowledged that this season’s schedule should be much more difficult than the one the Sun Devils played in 2007.

“When I signed a contract two years ago they didn’t show me this year’s schedule,” Erickson quipped.

Last season, Arizona State started the season with victories over San Jose State, Colorado, San Diego State, Oregon State, at Stanford, at Washington State and Washington and Cal.

The Sun Devils open this season against Northern Arizona then play Stanford, Nevada Las Vegas, Georgia, at Cal, at USC, Oregon and at Oregon State.

 david.wharton@latimes.com

 gary.klein@latimes.com