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How College Football Overtime Works

Jun-20-2024 PST
College Football 25
Whenever a sporting event rolls into overtime, chances are high that something incredible is likely to follow. Anxiety for both teams/players is at an all-time high, and the fans are on the edge of their seats awaiting the outcome. In each sport, overtime is played out differently, and in college football, it can get quite confusing quickly. This confusion could force you to quickly sit back and think to yourself, “How does college football overtime work” because for many that are new to the sport, there’s a chance that you’ve asked yourself this at least once.


How Does It Work?

So, let’s say that two collegiate football teams are tied at 21 with regulation coming to a close. This kicks off what is known as overtime. It doesn’t matter which team receives the ball first, as both will get an opportunity to field it. It should be mentioned that the drives start at the 25-yard line, so teams will only need to travel those 25 yards to score a touchdown rather than traverse the entire field. If the team that touches the ball first scores a touchdown, and the other team can’t get a matching touchdown, the game is over. If the first team scores a touchdown and picks up a two-point conversion, and the other team scores a touchdown but FAILS the two-point conversion, the first team would win. Both teams are tasked with getting the same number of points on the board after a back-and-forth. When both teams finish their first overtime drive, that counts as one overtime period. If both teams score a touchdown and each picks up a two-point conversion, overtime continues for a second time.

In this second period of overtime, there are not many changes. Both teams once again get an opportunity to score more points in one drive than their opposition. The only difference between the second overtime and the first is that both teams HAVE to go for two-point conversions. This helps speed the game up and determine a winner because sometimes these overtime sessions can go on endlessly if both teams are on fire and the defense is exhausted. And, once again, the drives will begin at the 25-yard line.

From the third overtime onwards, it gets significantly different. Every overtime from this point onwards begins their drives at the 3-yard line. It’s a goal-line situation every time now, and it’s essentially a two-point conversion shootout. There are no more drives from the 25-yard line, it’s only consistent two-point conversion attempts from the goal line that could also go on forever if both teams are on fire. The rules don’t change much from here onwards, as a winner is always crowned eventually given these rules.


Which Teams Receives The Ball First

While both teams get to assume possession of the football in each overtime period, there is still a process to see which team gets to start out. After all, some teams would prefer to see how their opponents start their drive before answering rather than trying to put up points first and allow their opponents to react. So, if overtime starts, the captain of the visiting team would be given a coin toss, having to call heads or tails. If they win this toss, they’ll be able to decide if they start offensively or defensively. They also have the option to choose which end of the field it will defend in the opening overtime period if they choose, though, for the most part, we’ll hear either offense or defense get selected. As for the other team, they essentially get to choose whatever the winning team didn’t. If the team that won the coin toss chose offense, then the losing team would pick which side of the field they get to defend, and vice versa.

For the most part, defense is always preferred. Why? Well, that’s because if a team selects to defend first and their defense forces the opposition to get off the field without scoring any points, then all their offense has to do is kick an immediate field goal. They wouldn’t even have to attempt to run a play, because they knew that their opponents scored zero points on their possession. However, not all coaches think this way, and some prefer to get out there first and set the tone, especially if their defense is exhausted and they simply need a break before getting back out there. Every game and every situation will call for a different circumstance, but overall, defense is usually the preferred way to start an overtime stretch.


Can A Game End In A Tie?

It used to be possible that a tie could happen in college football, but that was back when overtime wasn’t thought possible. Overtime rules were primarily introduced around 1995, and before that, the sport saw numerous games end in ties, and it became quite common. That’s likely a reason why overtime was introduced in the first place, and how it was perfected to this point where a winner has to be determined before a game concludes. Now, not all sports handle overtime quarters/periods the same way. The NFL does allow for games to end in ties during the regular season and doesn’t let that happen in a playoff game. College football doesn’t let ties happen at all given their overtime rules. Each league is different, but ties don’t happen in college football anymore.


When Did Overtime Become A Thing?

Speaking of overtime primarily being introduced around 1995, let’s dive deeper into that aspect of it. As mentioned earlier, it was starting to get annoying that games would end up resulting in a tie after a long-fought battle. This was especially true for games that displayed great talent on both sides because it simply felt underwhelming for everyone involved. Ahead of the 1995 collegiate season, rule-makers got together and decided that they didn’t want games to end in ties anymore, hence the creation of overtime moving forward. The very first overtime game in college football history came in the 1995 Las Vegas Bowl between Toledo and Nevada. It was an incredible game all the way through, with Toledo narrowly pulling out a 40-37 victory against their opponents. From that point onwards, overtime was fully adopted into college football.

That doesn’t mean it didn’t get tweaked around though. Overtime in college football remained the same from 1995 until 2018 when it started to receive some minor adjustments. This lasted another couple of years before it was tweaked again in 2021, but for the most part, the basic premise of the rules remains the same.


Changes To Overtime

After decades of college football overtime remaining the same, there were some new rules that were being looked at. These rules were involved over time, and how they could be altered in order to improve it overall. In 2019, there were some changes made to the basic overtime standard. The most important rule that was added allowed for a two-point conversion to be attempted started in the third period, with both teams being able to alternate two-point conversions after five overtime periods. This didn’t really last for very long, as overtime was adjusted again just a few years later.

This second wave of changes came in 2021 and it pushed to make overtime a faster experience. In order to try and achieve that goal, they made it to where teams HAD to go for a two-point conversation starting in the second overtime period, as opposed to the third period. On top of that, they changed the third overtime period to simply being one-play drives that went up to the three-yard line, to imitate a two-point conversion. They felt like fully fleshed-out drives were taking too long and wanted to get down to two-point conversion shootouts quicker. Of course, these changes did in fact speed up the way that overtime was played and changed the way of thinking for many coaches and teams. There is certainly an argument to be made on whether or not these overtime changes were even remotely necessary. However, there were multiple overtime games in college football history that went on for far too long and likely showed that they needed to at least try and speed these periods up a bit to get people home quicker.


Longest Overtime Games

The longest overtime game in college football history involved Illinois and Penn State. It took place not long ago on October 23rd, 2021. The two teams were tied at 10 points each by the time regulation came to an end, leading to NINE overtime periods before Illinois was able to break free and seal the game for good. It was the first and only game to reach nine overtime periods, though many have been close. Entering the ninth overtime, both teams were tied at 18 points. Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford attempted a pass in the end zone for their two-point conversion attempt, and it was batted down by Illinois. Fast forward their attempt and quarterback Brandon Peters found Casey Washington in the end zone to win the game. This long overtime game was a very low-scoring affair, but that is not always the case in these instances.

Another long and drawn-out overtime game came on September 10th, 2022. Eastern Kentucky and Bowling Green were locked in a legendary battle where they each seemed to score at will. They were tied at 38 points apiece by the time the clocks struck zero, and eventually played seven full overtime periods before a winner was determined. Both teams scored touchdowns in the opening two overtime periods, and neither of them converted on their two-point conversion attempts. They matched again by each converting their two-point conversion attempts in the third and fourth overtime. In the fifth overtime, nobody scored, and in the sixth, they both did again, bringing the score to 57-57. This was when it all changed, as Bowling Green quarterback Matt McDonald couldn’t connect on a pass, resulting in a failed two-point attempt. Eastern Kentucky received the ball and Parker McKinney found Braedon Sloan in the end zone to win the game 59-57.

There is one final game that deserves a mention when talking about collegiate football overtime, and that was the battle between Texas A&M and LSU on November 24th, 2018. The two teams had tied at the end of the fourth quarter at 31, and this led to seven overtime periods, much like how Eastern Kentucky and Bowling Green’s game did. Both teams were unbelievable offensively, and it felt almost surgical. Each time one team received the ball, they scored points. Fast forward to the seventh overtime period and Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Quartney Davis to tie the ball game at a whopping 72 points! They had to go for a two-point conversion for the win, and Mond connected with Kendrick Rogers to win the game 74-72 for Texas A&M. The win broke a seven-game losing streak against LSU as well, also becoming the fifth game in college football history to hit seven overtime periods at the time. It was also the highest-scoring game in FBS history when it happened.


Is College Football Overtime Going Anywhere?

The answer to this question is no. College football overtime isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Sure, it might receive some tweaks down the line to help it run smoother and quicker, though the core mechanics of it will remain the same for years to come, as it has in the past. We are sure to be in store for a variety of excellent games that go into overtime, and we might even see other professional sports leagues attempt to adopt the college football overtime rules for themselves. After all, there were a large number of NFL fans who were outspoken in bringing college football overtime rules to the NFL due to outrage over their games sometimes ending with only one team touching the football. That aside, fear not, as college football overtime rules will be a beautiful aspect of the game for many years, and you’ll no longer have to ask yourself “How does college football overtime work”.