NFL vs. College Football Overtime Rules, Explained (and What They Mean for Your Schedule)
Overtime is the part of a football game most people only half understand until their own team is in it. The NFL and college football use completely different systems, and the NFL runs one set of rules in the regular season and another in the playoffs. Here's how each one works under the 2026 rulebooks, in plain English, plus what overtime means if you're planning your evening around a kickoff time.
Everything here comes from the official rulebooks, linked at the bottom.
The short version
| NFL regular season | NFL playoffs | College (NCAA) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it starts | Coin toss, then a kickoff | Coin toss, then a kickoff | Coin toss, then each team gets the ball at the opponent's 25-yard line |
| Clock | One 10-minute period | 15-minute periods, as many as needed | No game clock; possessions run until a score or a stop |
| Do both teams get the ball? | Yes (since 2025) | Yes (since 2022) | Yes, every period |
| Can it end in a tie? | Yes | No | No |
| Timeouts | 2 per team | 3 per team per half | 1 per team in each of the first two periods, then 1 for the rest of the game |
NFL regular-season overtime
If an NFL game is tied after four quarters, the referee tosses a coin at midfield right away, and the visiting captain calls it. After a break of no more than three minutes, the teams play one 10-minute overtime period. Rule 16 of the NFL rulebook sets it out:
- Both teams get a chance with the ball. Even if the team that receives the opening kickoff scores a touchdown, the other team still gets a possession. The only exception: if the kicking team scores a safety on that first possession, it wins on the spot.
- After both teams have had the ball, whoever is ahead wins. If it's still tied, or if neither team scored, the next score of any kind wins.
- Ten minutes is the limit. The period doesn't get extended, even if the second team hasn't had its possession yet or is in the middle of a drive. If the score is level when the clock hits zero, the game goes down as a tie.
The guaranteed possession is new. Before the 2025 season, a touchdown on the opening drive of regular-season overtime ended the game. The league changed that in 2025 on a proposal from the Philadelphia Eagles, bringing the regular season in line with the playoffs. The 10-minute length dates to 2017, when the league shortened regular-season overtime from 15 minutes. The 2026 rulebook's list of changes doesn't touch overtime, so this season uses the same format as last year.
How an NFL tie counts
Ties are rare, but they happen, and they matter in a tight playoff race. Under the NFL's tiebreaking procedures, a tie counts as one-half win and one-half loss for both teams when winning percentage is calculated. That's how you end up with a record like 9-7-1, and why a tie can swing a wild-card race. The football guide explains how to read the standings.
NFL playoff overtime
A playoff game can't end in a tie, so postseason overtime is built to keep going. The possession rules are the same as in the regular season: both teams get a chance (barring that opening safety), and after that the next score wins. What changes is the clock.
- Periods are 15 minutes, like a regular quarter, and play continues for as many periods as it takes.
- If a period ends tied, or ends while the second team is still on its first possession, another period starts. There's a two-minute break between periods but no halftime after the second one.
- Each team gets three timeouts per half (two periods make a half), and teams switch ends after the first and third periods.
- If the game is somehow still tied after a fourth overtime period, there's a new coin toss.
Playoff overtime got its guaranteed possession first. NFL owners approved the change in March 2022, by a 29-3 vote, after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in the 2021 season's divisional round with a touchdown on the first drive of overtime, while Buffalo never touched the ball. The Super Bowl uses the same postseason rules.
College football overtime
College overtime is a different game entirely. There's no kickoff and no game clock. Each overtime period is a pair of possessions, one for each team, starting at the opponent's 25-yard line. The NCAA rulebook calls these "extra periods," and the same rules apply to regular-season games, bowl games and the College Football Playoff.
The coin toss
The visiting team's captain calls the toss. Unlike the start of the game, the winner can't defer. It picks either offense or defense for the first possession, or which end of the field both possessions will use, and the other team gets the remaining choice. In later even-numbered periods (the second, the fourth and so on), the team that lost the toss chooses first.
Periods one and two
Each team keeps the ball until it scores or fails to make a first down. If the defense takes the ball away and returns it for a touchdown, the game is over. Otherwise both teams get their possession, and if the score is still tied, they play another period.
From the second overtime on, a team that scores a touchdown must go for two. A kicked extra point isn't illegal, but it won't count.
Period three and beyond: the two-point shootout
From the third overtime on, there are no more drives. Each possession is a single two-point try from the 3-yard line. Teams alternate until one converts and the other doesn't. It's quick, and it's nerve-racking.
These rules are fairly recent. In 2021 the NCAA moved the required two-point try up from the third overtime to the second, and started the two-point shootout in the third overtime instead of the fifth.
Timeouts and TV breaks
Timeouts left over from regulation disappear. Each team gets one timeout in the first overtime and one in the second, and unused ones don't carry over. From the third overtime on, each team gets just one timeout for the rest of the game. TV timeouts are allowed only after the first and second overtime periods.
College football used to allow ties. Overtime arrived for the 1995 bowl season (Toledo beat Nevada 40-37 in that year's Las Vegas Bowl, the first overtime game) and for regular-season games in 1996.
What overtime means for your schedule
Kickoff times are easy to plan around. End times aren't, and overtime is the main reason. A few practical notes:
- NFL regular season: overtime is capped at 10 minutes of game clock plus a break of up to three minutes, but stoppages and reviews stretch that in real time.
- NFL playoffs: there's no ceiling. Each overtime period is a full 15-minute quarter.
- College: the hardest to predict. A period can be two quick field goals or two long drives, and the game keeps going until someone wins one.
- Back-to-back viewing is where overtime bites. If you're planning to watch an early game and then a late one, or an afternoon college game and then a night kickoff, an overtime in the first game can eat the start of the second.
One note on our own tools: when you add games to your phone with One Page Season, each football game is blocked out as a 3½-hour calendar event. That covers a typical game, but not every overtime game. If a game really matters to you, leave some slack after it. The PDF and calendar guide explains how the downloads and calendar feeds work. To see every kickoff for the teams you follow in one place, you can build your season on one page or pick a team from the team directory.
Quick answers
Can an NFL game end in a tie?
Yes, in the regular season, if the score is still tied after the single 10-minute overtime period. In the playoffs, no.
Does the team that scores first in NFL overtime win?
Not anymore, unless it's a safety by the kicking team on the first possession. Both teams are guaranteed a possession in the regular season and the playoffs.
Is there a clock in college overtime?
No. Possessions run until the offense scores or fails to make a first down, and from the third overtime it's one two-point play per team.
Can a college football game end in a tie?
No. Teams keep playing overtime periods until one team finishes a period ahead.
Sources
- NFL, 2026 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League (Rule 16, Overtime Procedures; 2026 rules changes list)
- NFL Football Operations, Approved 2025 Playing Rules, Bylaws and Resolutions (regular-season overtime change)
- NFL.com, "NFL owners approve modified overtime rule ensuring possession for both teams in playoff games" (March 2022)
- ESPN, "Both teams assured of a possession in playoff overtime with rules change approved by NFL owners" (March 29, 2022; 2017 change to 10 minutes)
- NFL.com, Tie-Breaking Procedures (ties count as one-half win and one-half loss)
- NCAA, 2026 NCAA Football Rules Book (Rule 3-1-3, Extra Periods)
- NCAA.com, "How college football overtime works" (2021 changes, history)
Rules can change from season to season; check the linked rulebooks for the current text. Commentary is our own. Send a correction if you spot an error.