History Usefulnotes / Americanfootball

* "UsefulNotes/{{Power Five|Conferences}}" or "Big Five" -- The richest and most competitive leagues--the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 ([[InsistentTerminology not "Pacific-12"]]), and Southeastern Conference (SEC). The University of Notre Dame is also counted among the "Power Five".[[note]]Although it is not a member of any football conference, it is an ACC member in other sports and has an agreement to play at least five of its 12 regular-season games against other ACC schools.[[/note]] Through the 2023 season, these conferences receive automatic spots in the so-called "New Year's Six", the top tier of bowl games that includes the two semifinal games of the College Football Playoff (CFP) that began in 2014. Notre Dame does not have an automatic spot in any "New Year's Six" game but does get special consideration (namely, when it doesn't make a semifinal, it's part of the shortlist for one of the other three or four games, depending on the season). In 2024, the CFP will expand to 12 teams, with no conference having an automatic playoff berth (see below for more details). Also in 2024, the Pac-12 will cease to exist, at least in its current form; all of its members except Oregon State and Washington State will leave for other power conferences.[[note]]Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah to the Big 12; California and Stanford to the ACC; Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington to the Big Ten.[[/note]]
* "UsefulNotes/{{Group of Five|Conferences}}" (also called "mid-majors") -- The other five FBS conferences: the American Athletic Conference (The American), Conference USA ([=C-USA=]), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West (MW), and Sun Belt Conference (SBC). The other three independents ([[MilitaryAcademy Army]], [=UConn=], [=UMass=]) also fall in this group, although Army is sometimes counted as a Power Five team for the purposes of Power Five conferences that insist all of their schools have at least one Power Five nonconference opponent, and less commonly so is [=UConn=].[[note]]Because non-conference games are often scheduled many years in advance, Connecticut and South Florida, two of the three members of the Big East from 2005-2012 that did not join other conferences, are occasionally grandfathered in; the third such team, Cincinnati, joined the Big 12 in 2023.[[/note]] [[InsistentTerminology The American would have you believe that they are a Power Six conference.]][[note]]Under the BCS format that preceded the CFP, there ''were'' six power conferences and the American is the successor of the sixth of those conferences, the original Big East.[[/note]] The most recent changes to the Group of Five ranks came in 2023. Former independent BYU and former American Conference members Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF joined the Big 12 (which will lose its two highest-profile members in 2024), while Liberty and New Mexico State left the independent ranks to join C-USA. In 2024, Army will leave the independent ranks to join its service academy rival Navy as a football-only member of The American.\\\

In high school and college, all overtime is untimed, although the play clock is still used. At the college level, possessions start at the 25-yard line with standard down-and-distance rules while high school typically starts from the 10, with state associations free to set their own rules. A possession ends when the offense either scores, misses a field goal attempt, fails to convert on fourth down, or the defense gains possession. In college and high school in Texas, the defense can return an interception or fumble recovery for a touchdown, which will satisfy the condition of each team having possession. In high school outside of Texas, a turnover play is ruled dead after the defense gains possession. If a turnover play does not result in a defensive score, that team's offense takes possession at the predesignated starting spot regardless of where the turnover play ends. After Team A's possession ends, unless they yielded a defensive score, Team B has to either match Team A's score to extend overtime or surpass it for the win; unlike the NFL, high school and college overtime continues until a winner is decided in the regular season.\\\

In professional football, there is a ''n''-minute warning; this does not apply to college and high school football. In the NFL, this occurs when two minutes remain in either half; in the regular season, the two-minute warning is also called in the final two minutes of overtime, while in the postseason, it occurs only on every even-numbered overtime period, although no NFL postseason game to date has lasted that long, namely due to the sudden death nature of the NFL's overtime. The two-minute warning is an artifact from when the official game time was kept by a member of the officiating crew; however, even after the stadium clock was made the official time following the NFL/AFL merger, the two-minute warning was retained as an ad break, as televised games were starting to become more widespread at the time of the merger[[note]]In the rare event that the stadium's clock malfunctions, the officials will keep time as a backup and make periodic announcements[[/note]]. The clock stops once the clock reaches two minutes during a dead ball situation or if the ball is live at the two-minute mark, following the conclusion of the play. Inside the final two minutes, the rules change slightly; coaches can no longer challenge a ruling on the field and any replay reviews must come from the booth, and if the offense commits certain fouls inside two minutes, a 10-second runoff will occur, primarily to discourage a trailing team from deliberately committing penalties as a form of clock management. The NCAA uses the 10-second runoff rules for the final minute of each half, but it can apply to either side of the ball. In both the NFL and NCAA, the benefiting team can choose to decline the time runoff while accepting the yardage penalty, but if the yardage is declined, the runoff is also declined. The offending team can avoid the runoff by using a time-out; however, if the runoff occurs with less than 10 seconds left and there are no time-outs left, the half/game ends.\\\

* '''Extreme Football League''' (2010-present; branded as "X League"): Formerly known as the '''Lingerie Football League''' and later as the '''Legends Football League''', it is, at this point, the only "major" [[DistaffCounterpart female football league]] with any media attention, though most of it is [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity negative attention]] because the players basically play in athletically-minded, two-piece sports-wear with padding and helmets, with games carried in edited form on networks like {{Creator/MTV}}2, Website/YouTube, and Fuse TV. Some of the female players are just glad to play at all (using the example of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League seen in ''Film/ALeagueOfTheirOwn'') and try to ignore the criticism. Uses a 7-on-7 indoor format with no punts and field goals. Started to exploit the publicity that came with the Lingerie Bowl, a pay-per-view event that counterprograms the Super Bowl yearly. Between 2012 & 2013, the LFL made significant changes in hopes of legitimizing the league. The league expanded by adding new teams in Canada for 2012, and Australia for 2013, with the launch of a European league now delayed to 2015, with each country/region acting as its own separate league. The US teams shifted their schedule from a fall schedule to a spring-summer schedule similar to Arena Football and other indoor leagues. In 2013, the league rebranded itself by changing its name and announcing that it would downplay the "sexiness" factor of the league; depictions of sexualized women will be removed from team logos, and the "lingerie" aspect will be removed. At the beginning of the 2018 season, players began the season wearing lacrosse helmets, shoulder pads with a team-colored cover, bras, and yoga pants. Near the end of the season, however, the LFL apparently couldn't help itself and switched to booty shorts. The league initially announced that it would not hold a 2020 season, but soon restructured itself as the X League, with plans to resume play in April 2020. However, [=COVID-19=] caused the 2020 and 2021 seasons to be canceled; the league plans to resume in 2022.

In professional football, there is a ''n''-minute warning; this does not apply to college and high school football. In the NFL, this occurs when two minutes remain in either half; in the regular season, the two-minute warning is also called in the final two minutes of overtime, while in the postseason, it occurs only on every even-numbered overtime period, although no NFL postseason game to date has lasted that long, namely due to the sudden death nature of the NFL's overtime. The two-minute warning is an artifact from when official game time was kept by a member of the officiating crew; however, even after the stadium clock was made the official time following the NFL/AFL merger, the two-minute warning was retained as an ad break, as television broadcasts of football games became more widespread at the time of the merger[[note]]In the rare event that the stadium's clock malfunctions, the officials will keep time as a backup and make periodic announcements[[/note]]. The clock stops once the clock reaches two minutes; however, if a play is in progress at the two-minute mark, the two-minute warning will be called once the play has ended. Inside the final two minutes, the rules change slightly. Coaches can no longer challenge a ruling on the field and any replay reviews must come from the booth, and if the offense commits certain fouls inside two minutes, a 10-second runoff will occur, primarily to discourage a trailing team from deliberately committing penalties as a form of clock management. The NCAA uses the 10-second runoff rules for the final minute of each half, but it can apply to either side of the ball. In both the NFL and NCAA, the benefiting team can choose to decline the time runoff while accepting the yardage penalty, but if the yardage is declined, the runoff is also declined. The offending team can avoid the runoff by using a time-out; however, if the runoff occurs with less than 10 seconds left and there are no time-outs left, the half/game ends.\\\

The length of quarters and overtime format differ depending on level. Typically, a college or professional football game consists of four 15-minute quarters, varsity high school has 12-minute quarters, and levels below high school varsity use 8-minute or 10-minute quarters, depending on the age of players and organizing body. In the early days of football, a game that was tied at the end of regulation stood as such, unless the game in question required a clear winner, such as a playoff or championship game. However, SoccerHatingAmericans tend to frown upon games ending in a draw. If a game is tied at the end of regulation, overtime is played in regular season and postseason games; in levels below varsity high school, a tie may stand at the end of regulation in the regular season depending on the organizing body with overtime only being used in the postseason.\\\

In the Arena Football League, NFL Europa, and the original United Football League (all defunct), both teams were guaranteed one offensive possession unless the first team to possess yielded a defensive score either by touchdown or safety. If the score remained tied after each team had their initial possession, overtime then went to true sudden death. For 2022, partly as a response to several postseason overtime games ending on the first possession since 2010, the NFL adopted this form of sudden death for postseason games only; regular season overtime games can still end with a touchdown on the opening drive.

In high school and college, all overtime is untimed, although the play clock is still used. At the college level, possessions start at the 25-yard line with standard down-and-distance rules while high school typically starts from the 10, with state associations free to set their own rules. A possession ends when the offense either scores, misses a field goal attempt, fails to convert on fourth down, or the defense gains possession. In college and Texas high school, a team on defense can return an interception or fumble recovery for a touchdown, which will satisfy the condition of each team having possession. In high school outside of Texas, a turnover play is ruled dead after the defense gains possession. If a turnover play does not result in a defensive score, that team's offense takes possession at the predesignated starting spot regardless of where the turnover play ends. After Team A's possession ends, unless they yielded a defensive score, Team B has to either match Team A's score to extend overtime or surpass it for the win; unlike the NFL, high school and college overtime continues until a winner is decided in the regular season.\\\

The NCAA has modified its overtime procedure several times, all to reduce the amount of time overtime takes. Starting in 1997, a two-point conversion was made mandatory starting with the third possession (unless the touchdown gives the team the win). During the 2019 and 2020 seasons, the fifth and subsequent possessions were played as a single two-point conversion play. Since 2021, the mandatory two-point conversion was moved to the second overtime period, with the two-point shootout starting with the third.\\\

The Canadian Football League uses similar overtime rules to the NCAA, except possessions start at the 35-yard line (due to the goal post being ''on'' the goal line in the Canadian game) and since 2010, a two-point conversion must be attempted after ''every'' touchdown. During the regular season, overtime is limited to two procedures while postseason overtime continues until the tie is broken.\\\

The 2024 United Football League as well as its two predecessor leagues, the 2020 XFL and 2022 USFL, use a multi-round shootout to settle ties at the end of regulation. The XFL originally used a five-round format while the USFL only used three rounds; however, when the XFL relaunched in 2023, they switched to a three-round format. If both teams remained tied after the set number of rounds have been played, subsequent rounds were played until the tie is broken.\\\