Your Basic Basics
Now that we've established who and what we're discussing, it's time to move into the basics of college football. How the game is played, on a general level.
Objective
Like most team sports, the goal of a college football team is to score more points than the other team in the given amount of time.
Scoring
In football, there are three ways to score points: A touchdown (6 points), a field goal (3 points), and a safety (2 points.) After a team scores a touchdown, they are allowed to choose from two options: kicking a short field goal worth only 1 point (known as a Point After Touchdown - PAT - or extra point), or "Go for 2," which is to literally try to score another touchdown from the three yard line, worth two points (two-point conversion.)
A touchdown can be scored on offense, defense, or special teams (more on these later.) A safety can be scored on defense or special teams. A field goal can only be scored on special teams.
Time
Each college football game has four 15-minute quarters. These are further divided into two halves, with halftime in between. If a game ends in a tie after four quarters (regulation,) than an overtime ensues. More on this later. Much later.
Time runs continuously unless it is stopped in one of the following manners: Time always stops at the end of a quarter (though a play that begins before the quarter ends is allowed to finish without taking time out of the remaining quarters); Time can be stopped if a team or an official calls a time out (each team gets three time outs during each half and two time outs during overtime); Time stops for an incomplete pass or any time a player with the ball runs out of bounds (The large white stripes on the side of the field indicate the out-of-bounds area.) In college football, time also stops after each first down, but only long enough to reset the chains (more on first downs and chains in the next section). There are also some penalties known as "dead ball fouls" that stop the clock.
Downs
The basic objective of college football, as stated above, is to score points. The way a team does this is simple. The team with the ball (offense) is given 4 downs (or plays) to score before they must give the ball to the other team. These 4 downs are known as a "series." However, if the offense moves the ball 10 yards or more during a series, they get a new set of 4 downs. All these series strung together are known as a "drive." This is why you hear the phrase "1st and 10" - the first number is the down, and the second number is how many yards they must reach to get another first down.
Latest Articles