Dein erstes Forum » nal 0: A running clock inadvertently

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Even though Virginia Tech in the midst of a conference championship race, Notre Dame with its losing record has more at stake when they face the Hokies for the first time.The Fighting Irish (4-6) need to win their final two games to become bowl eligible and avoid becoming just the 14th team in 128 years of Notre Dame football to post a losing record. For Virginia Tech (7-3), the game has no bearing on its bid to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division.Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer said avoiding the stigma of a losing season is a motivating factor in the final two games against the Hokies and USC.Six and six is a big feat to get to rather than being 5-7. We want to be a team who continues on a winning tradition at Notre Dame, he said.Coach Brian Kelly believes Notre Dames 44-6 victory over Army last week was its most complete game this season. He wants to see the Irish build on that.I want to make sure that how we play is going to be reflective of where we finish and how we build that for next year, he said.The Hokies are coming off a disappointing 30-20 loss to Georgia Tech, so now must beat rival Virginia to clinch the division title. Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente said the focus this week is on continuing to improve.This is an ongoing process and its not always a straight ascension. This is a great opportunity and comes at a good time for us to go on the road and play a very talented team in what Im sure will be a hostile environment, he said.Other things to know about the Virginia Tech-Notre Dame game:NOT AN OPTIONThe defenses for both teams are happy to be returning to playing against more traditional offenses after facing triple option opponents. The Hokies played Georgia Tech, while the Irish faced Navy and Army in consecutive weeks. Its like a monkey off your back, Notre Dame linebacker Nyles Morgan said. Its back to basics.BALL SECURITYIt has been an issue in all of the Hokies losses. Jerod Evans threw two interceptions in last weeks loss to Georgia Tech, doubling his total for the season, and also fumbled. He still ranks fifth among all Power Five conference quarterbacks in efficiency, and the Hokies are tough to beat when they take care of the ball. Notre Dames loss to Navy two weeks ago marked just the second time under Kelly that the Irish lost when not committing a turnover.NO STREAKSIf Notre Dame fails to win Saturday it would mark the first season without consecutive victories since 1960. The Hokies are trying to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since losing to Miami and to Duke in four overtimes in October 2015.DEFENSIVE SETBACKVirginia Tech allowed the Yellow Jackets to rush for 309 yards last week, but they have been stronger against the run in other games, allowing 144 yards on average. Thats 40th nationally. They rank 14th against the pass, allowing 185 passing yards per game.POOR RATINGSThe Army-Notre Dame game last week was the lowest-rated game in 26 seasons of NBC broadcasting Fighting Irish football games. The game averaged 1.52 million viewers. The previous low was against Air Force on Oct. 8, 2011, in a broadcast that averaged 1.59 million viewers. Notre Dame is averaging 2.89 million viewers this season, down 9 percent from last year.---AP Sports Writer Hank Kurz in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25. Wholesale NFL Jerseys China . And follow TSN.ca right through Deadline Day for all the updates. From Pierre LeBrun While Anaheim GM Bob Murray said earlier this season he was not going to trade Jonas Hiller despite the fact hes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, some sources have told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun that Murray might be willing to move another goalie. 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When the margins get larger in college football, sometimes the games get shorter.Clemsons 59-0 victory over Football Championship Subdivision program South Carolina State on Saturday marked the latest college football game to be shortened due to a lack of competitiveness.NCAA rules state that at any time during the game, the playing time of any remaining period or periods and the intermission between halves may be shortened by mutual agreement of the opposing head coaches and the referee.The NCAA rules only allow for shortening the length of time in each quarter and dont permit the use of a running clock, though there is evidence of games having used running clocks in the past.The refs came to me right before the half and just said, `Would I be OK with some type of shortening up the game if South Carolina State wanted to do it? Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. I said it would be fine with me. When I got back on the field for the third quarter, they came to me and said, `Are you OK with 12-minute quarters these two (quarters)? I said itd be great. I didnt have a problem with that.The third and fourth quarters of the Clemson-South Carolina State game were shortened to 12 minutes each. Clemson led 45-0 at halftime.The move allowed Clemson to end the game as soon as possible and begin preparing for Thursdays Atlantic Coast Conference opener with Georgia Tech. And it enabled both teams to reduce the risk of injuries in a game that already had been decided.Anything we can do to make our teams better for the next week, we probably needed to do, South Carolina State coach Buddy Pough said.The shortening of this game was hardly unprecedented. Heres a sampling off games over the last five years in which a lopsided score caused some changes in the timekeeping.dddddddddddd2012: Florida State 55, Savannah State 0: After a 56-minute weather delay in the second quarter with Florida State ahead 48-0, officials agreed to use a running clock. The game was called for good in the third quarter due to lightning.2013: Louisville 72, Florida International 0: A running clock inadvertently was used for portions of the second half of the Cardinals shutout . Gerald Austin, the coordinator of officials for Conference USA, said after the game that FIU coach Ron Turner had commented to officials that he wanted to run the ball in the second half because injuries had limited the number of players he had available. An official misinterpreted the comment. Austin said there were five times that the clock should have been stopped when it kept running. Neither coach requested a running clock.2013: Miami 77, Savannah State 7: The fourth quarter of this game was shortened to 12 minutes. Miami also ran the play clock almost to expiration before each of its snaps in the final period. Miami already was leading 77-7 through the end of three quarters.2013: North Carolina 80, Old Dominion 20: The fourth quarter of this game was shortened to 10 minutes. No points were scored during that final period.2015: Boston College 76, Howard 0: The third and fourth quarters of the Eagles shutout were shortened to 10 minutes each. Boston College led 62-0 at halftime.---Online: AP College Football website www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '