A running clock in a high school football blowout is nothing new. But in a college game? That's not something you see too often.
Florida International was trailing Louisville 51-0 with 18 minutes left in the game, so according to the American Athletic Conference, both FIU coach Ron Turner and Louisville coach Charlie Strong agreed to a running clock for the remainder of the game, which Louisville ended up winning 72-0.
That meant that instead of the clock stopping after an incomplete pass or when a player went out of bounds, the clock simply kept ticking until the end of the game, only stopping at the change between the third and fourth quarters.
Both coaches have agreed so there will be a running clock for the rest of the Louisville vs FIU game. @UofLFootball leads 51-0
— American Football (@American_FB) September 21, 2013
Pretty straightforward, right? Admitting that your team is getting its butt kicked to the other team is embarrassing, but there wasn't any way FIU was going to come back. (We'll show you why in a second.) Might as well get it over with as quickly as possible, right?
However, after the game, Turner said that it wasn't his idea to request the running clock.
MT @DavidJNeal: #FIU coach Ron Turner said he didn't request a running clock nor did officials talk to him about one in Louisville game. — Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) September 21, 2013
And while we sort of see Turner's desire to not publicly admit defeat after, well... publicly admitting defeat, the clock ran for those final 18 minutes. It didn't happen without FIU's consent.
Charlie Strong said it wasn't so much a running clock as a "mutually agreed upon" deal to end the game ASAP.
— Jonathan Lintner (@JonathanLintner) September 21, 2013
OK, fine. Whatever. It was still a running clock. Probably because Florida International had two first downs and 29 total yards the entire football game. The Panthers were 1-13 on third downs and ran 43 plays. Yes, that means they averaged 0.7 yards per play when you factor in the yardage lost on sacks. Ron, if you did actually request it, we don't blame you.
Crazily, Louisville's win wasn't the biggest blowout of the weekend. That's Ohio State, who beat Florida A&M 76-0.
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