College Football 101: A Beginner’s Guide
Sunday, October 25th, 2009 | Always Online
So you want to become an NCAA football fan, but the game itself is a bit strange to you? Don’t feel bad. With so much information to keep track of from week to week, even the most seasons fans must catch up on the college football predictions before enjoying their favorite game.
College football is very similar to big league football. Let’s cover the basics. In a football match there is an offense and a defense. The offense usually has ownership of the football, and thus is able to score, while the defense tries to prevent the offense from bringing the football into the end zone. Teams alternate roles from offense to defense after a certain amount of time to allow both a fair chance to score. The offense or defense is determined prior to the start of the game by a coin toss. The visiting team is afforded the opportunity to call the coin toss. A team usually scores points solely when it is on offense. The goal of the offensive team is to head into the other team’s territory and bring the ball to the endzone.
There are two ways to advance the ball down the field either by running the ball or throwing it to a teammate who, after 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 tasked to keep the offense from scoring. They kill the efforts of the offensive players by stopping their attempts at scoring. Defensive players cover the offensive players, often tackling the one who is holding the football. The defense should try their best 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 dubbed a sack. As with pro football, the team that manages to score the most points wins.
It’s just that simple. So now you can impress your friends with your impressive college football knowledge.