Washington State-Nevada to experiment with shortened 15-minute halftime today

PULLMAN – Washington State and Nevada will return to the field for the second half five minutes earlier than normal this afternoon.

In an effort to reduce game length and improve viewer experience, the Pac-12 Conference is shortening halftime of select nonconference games that are aired on the Pac-12 Networks – including today’s 3 p.m. contest between the Cougars (3-0, 1-0) and the Wolf Pack (0-3, 0-0).

Halftime will be 15 minutes instead of 20.

The Pac-12 is also cutting down the time between the first and second quarters, and between the third and fourth quarters.

Today’s game is one of seven that have, or will, use the shortened halftime break. New Mexico State at Arizona State, Northern Arizona at Arizona, Hawaii at UCLA, Weber State at Cal, Montana at Washington and Northern Colorado at Colorado also played with 15-minutes halftimes.

“We look forward to evaluating the results of this pilot program and discussing with our member universities as a next step following this year’s football season,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a news release last month.