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In sports, running out the clock refers to the practice of a winning team allowing the clock to expire through a series of pre-selected plays, either to preserve a lead or hasten the end of a one-sided contest.

[edit] American football

In American football, a 15-minute game clock is used in each quarter of a game. In both college football and professional football, the game clock stops when an incomplete pass is thrown or if a player in possession of the ball steps out of the field of play. A team in possession of the lead and the ball will attempt to use up as much of the game clock as possible in order to bring the game to an end more quickly, thus denying the opposition another chance on offense.

Typically, the leading team will execute a series of simple rushing plays (the clock does not stop moving at the conclusion of a rushing play) or one or more quarterback kneels. A team will often accept a loss of yardage in order to drain more time from the game clock, as time elapsed is considered more valuable than yardage to a team with the lead. Passing plays are not typically used by a team running out the clock, as an incomplete pass will cause the game clock to stop. If the ball passes out of bounds, the clock will also stop. This leads to teams running plays in the middle of the field in order to minimize the chance that the ball will travel out of bounds.

In both professional and, since the 2008–2009 season, college football, the offense has 40 seconds from the end of the previous play to run the next play. A team running out the clock will allow the play clock (which records the time remaining until a play must be run) to drain as much as possible before running its next play.

[edit] Canadian football

Although Canadian football is fairly similar to its American cousin, several differences between the two codes make running out the clock much more difficult in the Canadian game:

• Teams are allowed only three downs to advance the ball 10 yards without losing possession, as opposed to four in the American game.
• After the three-minute warning in Canadian football, the clock stops after every play. The clock restarts when the referee whistles the ball in play after a tackle in bounds, and with the snap after an incomplete pass or a tackle out of bounds.
• The offensive team has only 20 seconds after the ball is whistled into play to start a new play, as opposed to 25 seconds in American high school football and 40 seconds from the end of the last play in college football and the NFL.

These differences make for radically different endgames if the team with the lead has the ball. In the NFL or NCAA, a team can run slightly more than 120 seconds (2 minutes) off the clock without gaining a first down (assuming that the defensive team is out of timeouts). In the Canadian game, just over 40 seconds can be run off.

[edit] Basketball

In basketball, teams that are in the lead frequently use a lead protection offense in the late stages of a game - that is, go into a "stall" mode by holding the ball and passing sporadically. At levels where a shot clock is used, teams will take shots only if the clock is nearing zero. If the game is still somewhat competitive, the trailing team will foul the player with the ball to stop the clock and send him or her to the free throw line in hopes of regaining possession, even if it means the other team will score points.

[edit] Australian rules football

In Australian Rules Football players will run the clock down by kicking the ball between the defenders while having no intention of a forward thrust. It can be stifled by strategically playing man on man but defenders will often get free for a mark behind the play deep in their own 50m area. In an attempt to limit the effectiveness of this strategy the rule makers have declared that during the AFL pre season competition receiving a kick that was kicked by as team mate backwards will be deemed play on instead of a mark.

[edit] Association football

A similar pattern of play can occur towards the end of association football matches, with a team protecting a lead by retaining possession, standing on or crowding around a stationary ball (particularly in the vicinity of the other team's corner flag), and generally trying to prevent the other team from gaining possession. Tactics like these are seen as unsporting in soccer; world governing body FIFA has attempted to outlaw teams using stalling tactics (most notably the back-pass rule, introduced in 1992, which forbids the goalkeeper using his hands to pick up a pass from a team-mate), and referees may show a yellow card to any player they feel is excessively trying to kill the game and run out the clock.

[edit] See also

• Garbage time