Analysis of exercise-to-rest ratios during division IA televised football competition

A play in football is speculated to last 3 to 5 seconds. There are few if any peer-reviewed studies determining the exercise-to-rest ratios of a televised National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division IA college football competition. In this study, we measured the duration of a play, rest intervals between plays, and series of plays. The results of this study may aid strength and conditioning professionals in developing appropriate conditioning programs for their teams that compete on television based on appropriate exercise-to-rest ration training. Durations may have been influenced by the style of offense. Style of play for this study was determined to be running (RUN), passing (PASS), or balanced (BAL). Two NCAA Division IA teams were selected for each style of play based on their offensive production from the 2004 season. The average duration of a play was 5.23 +/- 1.7 seconds. Durations of RUN and PASS plays were 4.86 +/- 1.4 and 5.60 +/- 1.7 seconds, respectively. Durations related to style for RUN, PASS, and BAL were 4.84 +/- 1.4, 5.41 +/- 1.6, and 5.44 +/- 1.6 seconds, respectively. Duration of rest between plays was 46.9 +/- 34 seconds, including extended rest periods such as time outs and injury attention. The average duration of rest between plays without extended rest was 36.1 +/- 6.7 seconds. Average rest time between series was 11:39 +/- 4:19 minutes. The average duration of a PASS play was significantly different (P < 0.05) than that of a RUN play. The average duration of a play for PASS was significantly different (P < 0.05) from that of RUN and BAL. There was no significant difference between style of play and duration of rest between plays or series.