How Overtime Works in the NFL and College Football

football is one of the few sports where overtime in the college level is drastically different than it is in the professional ranks the NFL version tries to stay closer to normal gameplay whereas college alters things a little bit more let's start with the pros for a long time there was no overtime and games ended in ties a lot from 1970 to 73 there were 29 ties in the NFL but after a rule change added over time starting in 1974 there have been just 25 tie games cents in 74 a single extra sudden-death overtime period was added but the league eventually felt the team's who would receive the kickoff to start over time and simply kick a field goal to win we're getting off too easily so starting in 2011 they implemented some changes which is pretty much where we are today so regular season NFL games that are tied at the end of regulation now go to a single 10 minute overtime period each team gets two timeouts there's a coin toss at the start and the winning team can pick if they want to receive kickoff or choose which way they want to go unlike at the start of the game though and over time the team that wins the coin toss will pretty much always choose to receive the kickoff and over time both teams will have a chance to have possession of the ball unless the team who receives the opening kickoff scores a touchdown or time expires so in other words if the team that receives the opening kickoff scores a touchdown that's it they win they don't even have to kick an extra point if they kick a field goal the other team gets a chance to have the ball if the second team that gets the ball scores a touchdown then that's it they win if they fail to score points either my turning the ball over or turning the ball over on downs then the team that had the ball first wins if the second team kicks a field goal and they tie the game then the game keeps going and the next team that scores will win if the team that receives the opening kickoff turns the ball over before scoring either on downs or with an interception or fumble the other team will get the ball and the next team to score will win the only way that he could still win on a field goal without giving the other team possession is if they kick that field goal as time expires in overtime and it may never happen again but here's a good presa trivia if the team that kicks the opening kickoff scores a safety on their opponents first drive then they'll win instant without ever having them all so time can expire and a regular season game can still end in a tie but in the playoffs it can't so things are a little different for the postseason rather than a single ten minute overtime quarter overtime in the playoffs basically acts as if a second game is starting so we'll still do another coin toss with the visiting team calling for it quarters are 15 minutes teams switch side after the first and third overtime periods there's a two-minute warning in the second and the fourth and each team gets three timeouts for every two periods but the teams will almost never get beyond the first overtime period because the same rules with regards to scoring apply each team has to get the ball and complete a drive unless the first team scores a touchdown there's a slight difference in that the second team to possess the ball either has to score or turn the ball over including turning it over and down so in other words even if the first team kicks a field goal and time expires on the first overtime period while the second team is mid-drive then the game will go to a second overtime period to let that team finish their drive unlike in the regular season where the game would just be over if somehow nobody manages to score through for overtime quarters then they'll have another coin toss to start the fifth overtime period this has never happened though there have only been six games that have made it to double overtime with the longest lasting seven minutes and 40 seconds into that second ot period the Miami Dolphins won that game in 1971 with garrow your premium ultimately kicking the winning field goal garrow was actually from Cyprus and he had a difficult time understanding football in his first NFL game his coach told him before the game that they had lost the coin toss at which point he ran onto the field to look for the coin he eventually figured things out though and he went on to kick for the perfect 1972 dolphins team anyway that's the NFL College overtime is a little more like a shootout or extra innings and the games will never end in a tie college overtime also starts with a coin toss and the visitors getting to choose they want to start on offense start on defense or which direction to go there are no more kickoffs there's no more game clock over time consists of a round where each team gets possession of the ball at the 25 and each team goes until they score or fail to get a first down whether it's due to a turnover or stopped on fourth down they miss a field goal no matter what the first team does the second team always gets a chance to match them so the first team scored a touchdown then the other team has to score a touchdown to anything short of that and the first team wins if they do score a touchdown the game will be tied and they'll go to a second overtime round if the first team kicks a field goal then the second team could win with the touchdown lose with a turnover or tie the game with field goal of their own in which case there will be another round if the first team fails to score then the other team just has to score to win if they can't score they'll go to another round so remember how all the start to the coin toss unlike in the NFL the team that wins will usually choose to get the ball second so that they know what they have to do to at least match the other team the team that loses the coin toss gets to choose whether they want to go first or second on offense in the even-numbered rounds should it come to that so why is the ball in the 25-yard line if you look at it it's actually pretty good balance considering what's happening here it's close enough that they could score on one play but it also means they'll probably have to drive a little bit if they failed to gain any yardage they could probably kick a field goal from that spot I couldn't really find any stats for college but in the NFL there's about a 71% chance they hit a forty one year of field goal but I would imagine in college the figure is a little lower so it's doable but it's certainly not a guarantee if you lose any more than five or ten yards from that original line of scrimmage you're gonna have a really tough chance of kicking a field goal so it's close enough to make things interesting but also far enough away that you can't lose too much yardage if the game reaches a third overtime period then teams have to attempt a two-point conversion if they score a touchdown rather than kicking an extra point and if the two teams reach a fifth round of overtime and the game is still tied then the ball is moved up to the three yard line teams will just alternate single plays trying to score a two-point conversion