It’s that time of year again, the NCAA College Football season is upon us as the season kicks off on August 28th and will last until December 11, 2021. The post season will start on December 18, 2021 and will officially end on January 10, 2022.
There will be a total of 130 teams that will participate in 11 conferences and the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. College Football games can be seen on ESPN; CBS Sports Network; Fox; fuboTV and various streaming services.
Some rules changes have come into effect this season, but the bulk of the rules are virtually the same as the NFL. So just in case you’re new to the college game we answer one of the fundamental questions for first timers, how long is a college football game?
How long does a college football game last?
NCAA College Football games last the same as the NFL, technically 60 minutes. Two halves of 30 minutes divided into 4 quarters of 15 minutes. What makes the games last longer than average NFL games is the fact that in the College game the clock is stopped for every out-of-bounds, moving the chains for first downs, and TV timeouts last longer than in the NFL.
Also, in NCAA College Football half-time last longer, 20 minutes as opposed to 12 minutes in the NFL, this is due to many games having marching bands and half-time shows on a regular basis.
In College Football there is no overtime limit and on average a College Football game can last as long as 4 hours as opposed to the 3 hours and 20 minutes an NFL game can last.
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College football games are getting longer and longer, which might not affect the ratings but hurts players and the audience’s enjoyment. The length of games was a significant subject of contention when NCAA Division I Football Committee. The rules might not change, but there are a few things required to tighten up the length of games.
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As per NCAA statistics, the standard length of a college football game is 3 hours and 24 minutes. On the contrary, college football games are relatively longer than NFL games, which usually last for 3 hours and 3 minutes.
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The primary reason for the differences is that college football has a 20-minute halftime break, and the NFL has a 12-minute hiatus. Secondly, as per the college rules, the clock stops after a game gets the first down, and they have very lengthy overtime. In comparison, the NFL has a 10 minutes bonus period, which finishes after one score through the regular season.
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Larry Scott, Pac- 12 commissioners, have advised NCAA to adopt a running clock policy after the first downs. Also, to make changes in the replay systems just like the NFL. The coaches get a limited number of challenges, so not each play, in theory, gets reviewed. Also, they have reduced the number of commercial breaks to cut short the time.
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A game of American football is 60 minutes long, with an additional 10-minute period if overtime is required. This only applies to the NFL; in college football, time is not kept during overtime. Instead, teams alternate possession from their opponent’s 25-yard line. The game lasts longer than 60 minutes in real time due to breaks in the action for penalties, reviews, and the allotted time between quarters. The hour is divided into four 15-minute quarters, making up the first and second half of the game.
Football games take much longer than an hour. Games can typically run two or even three hours in length, depending on if the game goes into overtime. Injuries and media timeouts can also account for large amounts of time that increase the overall length of the football game. Recent studies have shown that the average NFL game lasts around three hours in total.
Football games consist of two 30-minute halves broken down into four 15-minute quarters for NFL and college football. The time between quarters and the halftime break will also account for additional time added to a football game.
The game clock is used to keep track of time in each of the quarters.
However, the game clock is not always continuous and will stop for the following reasons:
However, on plays in which a player is tackled in bounds, the game clock will continue to tick down. This is why in instances where a team is running out of time to tie the game up, they will often use plays in which it will be easy for the player with the ball to get out of bounds.
The play clock keeps track of time between downs and is used throughout regulation time.
The play clock does not take time off the game clock. However, it does indicate how much time the offense has on any given down to run a play. If an offense fails to call a timeout or run a play by the time the play clock runs out, they are charged with a delay of game penalty. For both NCAA and NFL football, the play clock is 40 seconds beginning from the end of each play. A 25-second play clock is used after stoppages in play.
Overtime is an extra quarter used to decide a winner when the game is tied at the end of regulation. Overtime lasts 10 minutes in the NFL, but in NCAA football, there is no game clock running during the overtime period. In the NFL, there is only one sudden death overtime, meaning the first team to score a touchdown wins. Teams can also score a field goal to take the lead. However, if the score is still even by the time the game clock runs out, the game will result in a tie. Both teams are guaranteed a possession on offense in the playoffs, so overtime may take longer.
In the NCAA, both teams will have a chance to score in each overtime, and overtime will continue until a winner is decided.
The Super Bowl decides who is crowned the champion of the NFL season, so naturally, there’s increased fanfare surrounding the event. Most notably, the Super Bowl Halftime Show is far longer than the average halftime intermission. Due in large part to this halftime show, the Super Bowl typically lasts close to four hours. The Super Bowl has the same length of quarters as any other NFL game. The halftime show typically lasts about 15 minutes, with the halftime break a total of 30 minutes, contributing to this increased game length.
In NCAA football, the longest game occurred on October 23, 2021, in a battle between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Illinois Fighting Illini. This game was a low-scoring affair that took a record nine overtime periods to decide a winner. In the end, Illinois took home the victory with a final score of 20-18, securing a game-winning two-point conversion in the 9th overtime. The longest NFL football game was a matchup between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Playoff Game on Christmas of 1971. The game took seven hours and eight minutes to complete, with over 82 minutes of gameplay. Since this was a playoff game, the game could not end in a tie.
Yes, an NFL game can end in a tie during the regular season if neither team has scored in the allotted overtime period. NCAA football games cannot end in a tie, as there are multiple overtime periods that are not timed. NFL games ending in ties are uncommon, but it usually happens a few times each season. In the NFL playoffs, games are not permitted to end in a tie, so additional overtime periods will be added if necessary.
How long is overtime in the NFL?
The NFL overtime period is 10 minutes long. The overtime period was previously 15 minutes long, but was changed to 10 minutes for the 2017 season. If no team is declared the victor by the end of the 10-minute overtime period, the game will end in a tie. However, if it is a playoff game, the game will continue with additional 10-minute overtime periods until a winner is decided.