Mike Tirico dunks on college football’s ‘two-minute timeout’

While calling the NFL season opener between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night, Mike Tirico couldn’t help but poke fun at one of the quirks of a new college football rule.

If you’ve watched even one college football game in 2024, you’ve no doubt heard the phrase “two-minute timeout.” For those who haven’t watched a college football game this season, the “two-minute timeout” is a stoppage of play when two minutes are remaining in each half. If the play is live when the clock hits two minutes, the “two-minute timeout” will be called as soon as the play comes to an end.

Those previously unfamiliar with college football’s new rule may be asking themselves a simple question. What is the difference between the “two-minute timeout” and the “two-minute warning,” which has been part of the NFL for nearly all of its history? As far as we can tell, there is no difference. But announcers have made it clear that it is not the “two-minute warning” in college. Rece Davis, calling Monday night’s game between LSU and USC, said bluntly, “There is a new two-minute timeout. We’ve been asked not to call it a warning.” Keeping that in mind, Tirico had some fun at college football’s expense in the first half of Thursday’s game.

“As we get to the two-minute warning — we can call it the two-minute warning in the NFL — not the two-minute timeout like they do in college,” Tirico said. “I’ve been waiting all weekend to do that…You’ve been warned.”

“We can call it the two-minute warning in the NFL. Not the two-minute timeout like they do in college. I’ve been waiting all weekend to do that.”

Mike Tirico had fun with this one. pic.twitter.com/NMUYnsbYZj

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 6, 2024

Chris Vannini of The Athletic shared on X (formerly Twitter) that he was told college football refers to it as a “timeout” instead of “warning” “Because it’s not a warning like it originally was created for in the NFL.”

Blake Schuster of USA Today detailed that, while that response is true, the reasoning is long outdated.

“It’s true, the warning was created for the NFL in an era when officials kept the official game time — and there weren’t a billion screens in every stadium to display it,” Schuster wrote. “But this does seem a bit silly on the NCAA’s part.”

Fan response has shown how silly it is.

Announcers have been instructed to refer to the new two minute warning in college football as the “two minute timeout”.

Do you have a preference on what it should be referred to? https://t.co/xFWYUVIKz1

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 3, 2024

Even if “timeout” is more accurate than “warning,” football fans have been calling it the “two-minute warning” for their entire lives. That habit is going to take longer than a few weeks to break.

[Chris Vannini on X, USA Today, Photo Credit: NBC]