The NCAA made official Friday what had widely reported last month, that several new college football clock rules intended to speed up the game are likely to go into effect for the 2023 season.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee formally proposed three major changes to the sport’s rules that — in the hopes of the committee — “would modestly reduce the number of plays in the game.” Game times in major college football have routinely pushed past 3 ½ hours in recent years, with even four-hour games not unheard of.

• Most notably, the game clock would no longer stop after first downs, except in the final two minutes of a half. This brings college football in line with the NFL, which winds the clock after the ball has been re-set following a first down.

“This rule change is a small step intended to reduce the overall game time and will give us some time to review the impact of the change,” said Kirby Smart, co-chair of the committee and head coach at Georgia.

• In addition, teams can no longer call consecutive timeouts (in situations such as seeking to “ice” the kicker prior to important field-goal attempts).

• Finally, penalties at the ends of the first and third quarters would carry over to the first play of the next quarter, meaning there would be no need for an “untimed down” at the end of a quarter.

The new rules still need to be “rubber-stamped” by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel when it meets on April 20, though that is considered largely a formality.

A potential rules change that was previously reported — but WAS NOT formally proposed Friday — would have continued to wind the clock after incomplete passes. May observers considered that a bridge too far when it began to circulate in the media some two weeks ago.