How do you run a football time clock? - Answers

Before a football time clock can even be started there are a few things the operator must know. The clock operator is required to be at the field forty-five minutes before the scheduled game time. This is so that the operator and the football officials can synchronize their watches. At thirty minutes before game time the clock is normal started with thirty minutes on that clock. All pre-game and half time activities must be synchronized with the game clock. A mandatory three-minute warm-up period will be placed on the clock after the intermission time has ended. The operator must have a additional stopwatch available in case there is a mechanical failure with the clock. Game procedures are as follows: 1. When the ball is kicked the nearest official will signal the legal touching of the ball and indicate for the clock to start. 2. When the official declares the ball to be dead in play, it is that official to signal a time-out when a first down occurs. 3. Any official may signal a team time-out and can signal the operator to stop the clock. 4. On plays near a boundary line, unless an official so signals, if a pass is caught out of bounds, the incompletion signal will stop the clock. NOTE: on plays near the out-of-bounds line and in advance of the line to gain, an official may give a winding signal to indicate the ball is inbounds and follow it by a stop-the-clock signal for the first down. 5. Clock will be automatically stopped if there is a touchdown, field goal, touchback or safety. 6. After the clock has been stopped the official will start it again with a start-the-clock signal, if no signal is given the clock must be restarted on the snap. 7. An official may start the clock again before the ready-for-play signal. 8. There are instances when a period shall be extended by an untimed down. During these extensions, leave the clock at :00. Do not reset the for the next period until the official declares the period over.