College football overtime rules: Explaining sport's extra period, including 2-point conversions

Week 7 of the 2024 college football season offered up some of the sport’s customary excitement and chaos, with four games involving top-25 teams in the US LBM Coaches Poll going into overtime.

No. 3 Penn State came back from a 14-point third-quarter deficit to knock off USC. Under the famed night lights of Tiger Stadium, No. 8 LSU outlasted rival No. 15 Ole Miss. No. 10 Tennessee and No. 21 Illinois held off upset bids from Florida and Purdue, respectively.

As thrilling as the games were, they likely created some confusion or, at the very least, a need for a refresher for fans across the country.

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College football’s overtime rules have evolved over the years and vary significantly from the NFL’s, which call for a single 10-minute period to determine a winner. It’s one reason, among others, why broadcast networks will explain how overtime works in college football before the extra period begins.

There will undoubtedly be more overtime games this season, some of which will be matchups that help determine conference title winners and College Football Playoff participants.

In advance of games that will inevitably go past the allotted 60 minutes of regulation, here’s what you need to know about college football’s overtime rules and structure:

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How does overtime work in college football?

The concept of an extra period is still relatively new in college football, a sport that staged its first game all the way back in 1869.

Before 1995, if a game was tied at the regulation, it simply ended as a tie, with no sort of overtime to try to break the deadlock. At the end of the 1995 season, an extra period was implemented for bowl games. Pleased with the results, overtime was put in place for the 1996 FBS season.

In the broadest, most basic terms, overtime in college football is the same as it is in the NFL. The team that scores the most points in the extra period ultimately wins the game.

Beyond that, though, there are few similarities, with the two approaches standing as distinctly different models.

Unlike the NFL — where a team can end the game if it scores on the first drive of overtime — each team in college is guaranteed a possession in overtime. Rather than having a kickoff and return, a team’s drive in college starts at the opponent’s 25-yard line. The setup puts teams in a good position to come away with points of some kind, as they can still attempt a 43-yard field goal even if they fail to gain a single yard (though given the notorious shakiness of college kickers, getting those three points is hardly a guarantee).

Overtime begins with the teams’ captains meeting at midfield for a coin flip, with the winner getting to decide whether they want to start on offense or defense, or which end of the field they want to defend. Teams will often elect to begin on defense so that they know how many points they’ll need to score either to win the game or extend it.

The only way the game can end without both offenses getting on the field in overtime is if the opening possession ends with a defensive touchdown.

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College football double OT rules

If the teams remain tied at the end of overtime, the game continues to a second overtime.

Once there, the rules change a bit.

In the first overtime period, a team has the option of kicking an extra point or attempting a two-point conversion. In the second overtime, that choice is gone, with both teams having to go for two.

Previously, the mandatory two-point conversion began in the third overtime, but that rule was amended in 2021.

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College football overtime 2-point conversions

In college football’s third overtime, the rules change even more dramatically than they do going from the first to the second overtime.

If a game remains tied after two extra periods, teams begin what’s effectively college football’s equivalent of a penalty kick shootout in soccer.

Rather than starting at the 25, teams alternate two-point conversion attempts until one team successfully converts the try and the other fails. Each set of two-point conversions counts as its own overtime period.

Prior to 2021, the dueling two-point conversions didn’t begin until the fifth overtime. That format was introduced for the 2019 season and was widely viewed as a response to Texas A&M’s 74-72 victory over LSU in seven overtimes in November 2018. The Aggies’ win lasted nearly five hours and tied the FBS record by going to the seventh overtime period.

Fans across the country got a memorable (though not aesthetically pleasing) look at the two-point shootout in the first year it began in the third overtime. Illinois’ 20-18 win at Penn State in 2021 went a record nine overtimes, with both teams failing to successfully convert a two-point try until the eighth overtime.

How long is college football overtime?

In contrast to the NFL, which has a single 10-minute overtime period, there is no clock in overtime in college football. The teams merely trade possessions until a period ends with one team having more points than the other.

While there’s no game clock, there’s still a play clock, meaning teams can be whistled for delay of game penalties.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football overtime rules: Explaining how sport's OT period works