Undoubtedly, football is one of the most popular sports in the United States. If you are curious and excited about the NFL and the Super Bowl, you must want to know more about College Football League or the Football Bowl Subdivision. As we have already published about Football games timing, you will find this article interesting as we will discuss College football overtime rules.
College Football Overtime Rules
Before starting to discuss the topic, let me tell you about the NCAA. It means the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The organization oversees the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. And more than 1,100 schools are under this organization, and it regulates all the events and tournaments.
As most people know, the NFL OT rules consist of sudden death, but there are different overtime rules when it comes to College Football Games. In this article, we will discuss the rules of college football over time. These college rules include history, coin toss, strategy, timeouts, and new directions.
College Football Overtime Rules: Summary
Before getting into the main topic and discussing different factors that work behind over time, let’s look at some basic things about overtime in college football.
- No game clock runs the college overtime when it comes to college overtime. There is only the play clock.
- Also, in college overtime, there are no kickoffs.
- When the teams get the possession, that starts at the 25-yard line.
- Every period starts with a team getting the opportunity to play offense and then defense.
- Only when a turnover or a score is made will the possession change.
- When it comes to calling the coin toss tails or heads, the visiting team’s captain gets the opportunity to call that.
- The winner of the coin toss gets two options to choose from.
‣ Defense or offense
‣ They also get to choose the side of the field. From where will they start both possessions in the overtime period?
- When the offensive team starts to play, they can put the ball between the hash marks or anywhere around it.
- There will be one timeout after every overtime period. And the timeout will not carry over.
- After both teams get the possession, if the score still ties, then there will be additional overtime periods.
- When the second overtime period starts, teams have to convert two-point after touchdowns.
- If the game goes beyond the third round, the teams need to convert alternate two points.
College Overtime Rules
Now coming to the matters that take a game into overtime, here is everything you need to know about college football overtime rules. Before starting this, remember that the college rules differ from the NFL overtime rules.
1. Coin Toss
After the end of the math, the two captains come in the 50-yard line for a coin toss. Usually, a game ends after the fourth quarter completes. And the opportunity to call the coin toss has given to the visiting team’s captain. The winner of the toss has two options to choose from.
- To play defense or offense.
- Which end of the field will a team use?
There are no other options for college overtime. And the losing team will have to choose from the remaining option. Let me give you an example for better understanding. Suppose there are team A and team B. If team A wins the toss and chooses to play defense. Then team B will choose any side of the field they want.
2. College Football 1st Overtime Rules
The drive starts at the opponent’s 25-yard line in the overtime play. Every team gets one possession to score a field goal or a touchdown. There are some cases where teams turn the ball over, but they try not to do that.
There is no matter how much time a team takes in possession because there is no game clock but a play clock in overtime. After the possession is lost, the other team gets the ball to attempt to beat their opponent. The drive can start anywhere between the hash marks.
3. College Football 2nd Overtime Rules
The second overtime period starts if the score is still the same. Both teams get an additional chance to beat their opponent. The drive also starts from the 25-yard line. But there is a catch in the second overtime. If a team can secure a touchdown, then they also have to convert a two-point afterward.
4. College Football 3rd Overtime Rules
If a game reaches the third overtime, the teams alternate between themselves. Then they attempt to score a 2-point conversion. In the third overtime, there is no 25-yard line. And the teams get the possession alternatively. The overtime play continues until there is a winner.
5. Timeouts
College football overtime rules say that each team will get a timeout after every overtime period. And the timeout does not roll over to the other time. So in every overtime, one team gets only one timeout that they can use between the overtime period. And in the next overtime period, the team’s timeout counts.
6. Strategy
In the college overtime rules, there are advantages and disadvantages to choosing defense or offense. When a team chooses defense at first, they do that because they want to know how much score they will need to score in the offense. And if a team chooses to offense first, they want to score better so that there will be pressure on the other team.
Further Words
But how college football overtime rules were introduced? There was a high school football match in Kansas in 1996. And the match tied, so there was a need to resolve the tie. This is called the “Kansas Plan.” Although with time, there are some minor modifications. These modifications are there to perfect the overtime rules. The last change took place in 2021. First of all, the multiple-overtime decreases, and the second one is to limit the snaps.
I hope you have understood the college football overtime rules. Please let us know in the comment section below if you still have any queries.
Thank You.
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