College Football 101: A Beginner’s Guide

So you want to become an NCAA football fanatic, but the game itself is a bit strange to you? Well, rest assured that even the most intense spectators have trouble keeping up and often need to check the college football analysis reports in order to keep tabs on what their team is doing.

College football is very similar to big league football. Let’s review the fundamentals. In a football game there is an offense and a defense. The offense normally has possession of the ball, and thus is able to score, while the defense needs to stop the offense from getting the ball into the end zone. Teams change their roles from offense to defense after a certain amount of time to allow both an equal chance to score. The offense or defense is decided prior to the start of the game by a coin toss. The away team is afforded the opportunity to call the coin toss. A team usually scores points solely when it is on offense. The task of the offensive team is to make their way into the other team’s territory and bring the ball to the endzone.

There are two ways to move the football down the field either by running the ball or passing it to a receiver who, upon receiving the ball, runs with it until he either makes it into the endzone or is taken down by an opposing player.

The defense, conversely, is supposed to prevent the offense from scoring. They thwart the advances of the offensive players by stopping their attempts at scoring. Defensive players cover the offensive players, often tackling the one that is carrying the football. The defense should do whatever it takes to stop the ball from moving forward. By taking down the ball-carrier, the defense can sometimes even move the ball backward. Once in a while the defense manages to tackle the quarterback while the football is still in his posession. This is called a sack. As with pro football, the team that scores the most points wins.

It’s just that simple. So now you can amaze your friends with your in depth college football knowledge.