College football has certainly seen its fair share of amazing moments. From seven-overtime outings to incredibly high-scoring affairs, the overtime of college football has truly brought to life awe-inspiring moments throughout the years.
Are there any new rules in 2024 and what exactly are the college football overtime rules?
College Football Overtime Rules Explained
College football hates ties and has made a considerable effort to remove them from final results.
To make that happen, the rules are simple: Each team has matching possessions with the goal of outscoring one another in a simulated extra period. So, at the start of the overtime period, each team will get one possession per period, but that’s where the simplicity ends.
Each team will alternate possession, and unlike years past, starting in 2023, here is how each period will be formed:
Overtime Period 1 (first overtime) – each team will match possessions from the 25-yard line with normal scoring rules
Overtime Period 2 (second overtime) – each team will match possessions from the 25-yard line with normal scoring rules, but if a team scores a touchdown, they must go for a two-point conversion
Overtime Period 3 (third overtime) – each team will match possessions from the 3-yard line in an attempt to score a two-point conversion in a shootout of sorts
The third overtime period will continue until one team outscores the other or holds the other team to zero points after their own offense scores previously.
College Football Overtime Rule Basics
The overtime periods begin with a coin toss to determine which team will have the choice of possession or which end of the field. The winner of this coin toss chooses to play offense or defense, or which end of the field they want to defend or attack.
Unlike years past, however, the coin toss will come back into play later in overtime periods.
That coin toss will alternate on each odd-numbered period with the losing team able to make the decision of which end to attack while the victor of the coin toss chooses on even-numbers overtime periods.
Play begins in the first and second overtime periods at the 25-yard line, and each offense chooses which hash to put the ball on at the line of scrimmage.
Importantly, each team will get one timeout per overtime period and those timeouts do not carry over.
The teams will get possession of the ball until they fail to score, turn it over, or run out of downs. Teams have to go for two if they score in the second overtime period, and a two-point conversion attempt is the lone play of each overtime period starting with the third overtime.
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