Honey, I shrunk the football game

The effects of college football's new rules to lop off some of the game times didn't seem to be working all that well - at least from in front of the television. The Arkansas-USC game lasted three hours and 35 minutes. And it seemed longer than that.

But then, there is LSU.

A year ago, the Tigers opened with a 3:39 marathon at Arizona State. That game was televised nationally.

This year, with the game on TigerVision and new rules in place, LSU and ULL played in a mere 2:46. Now, I wasn't a math major but that game took nearly an hour less to be played.

A good thing right?

Well, not if you're Les Miles.

At his weekly news conference on Monday, Miles expressed his displeasure with the rules changes. They cut off about 20 total plays, Miles said.

But Miles also makes some very good points.

One, point totals will go down this year because of the shrinking number of offensive plays run by a team.

Think about it, how many teams hung 70 on an opponent over the weekend?

"The defenses will allow less points,'' Miles said. "There'll be record defenses all across the country.''

And the offenses? "You have to be more efficient in your offense, period.''

At least one Division I coach told me he doesn't expect the rule to be in place after this season.

Personally, I'm in favor of a shorter game. But the powers that be won't do the right thing and cut the cause of the longer game - the extended television timeouts.