I can’t be the only one who suffers from temporary amnesia when somebody attempts to explain the rules of football to me. The confusing nature of the game leaves a great many of us attending events for reasons completely unrelated to the sport itself: the outfits, the tailgating, the band, the ambiance, or a stadium hot dog.
Shouldn’t we enjoy the sport, too? Why should we sit and wonder why the student section is booing the quarterback? What even is a quarterback?
Today, the questions come to an end. At the end of this article, you’ll be attending FSU game days not as a clueless onlooker, but as a football connoisseur.
Football Rules
Let’s begin with the basics: one team is trying to move the ball down the field to score, and the other team is trying to stop them. The team with the ball is on offense, and their job is to advance by running with it or throwing it to a teammate. They have four tries, or downs, to move the ball at least 10 yards past the “line to gain,” marked by officials holding orange markers.
The defense’s job is to try and get a “stop,” preventing the offense from passing the line to gain in four downs, resulting in a change in possession of the ball. If the defense fails and the offense makes it past the line to gain, the offense gets a fresh set of four downs and another shot at 10 more yards (and that’s good for another Florida State first down!).
If the offense makes it all the way to the end zone, they’ve scored a touchdown, worth six points, but they’re not done yet. After scoring a touchdown, they can do one of two things: get an extra point by kicking the ball through the goal posts at the three-yard line (right next to the goal posts, so it’s an easy kick) or go for a two-point conversion.
A two-point conversion is considerably riskier. To get a two-point conversion, the offense needs to get another touchdown from the opponent’s three-yard line in one play. This is harder, and if they fail, they’ve lost their chance to earn extra points. However, sometimes teams need to take the risk to take the lead.
Now that we’ve discussed the ways to advance and score, let’s talk about what happens when the offense has reached fourth down, and they don’t think they’ll make it 10 yards. When this is the case, they have one of three options: punting, a field goal, or just going for it.
Punting
The first option is to punt the ball to the other side of the field to disadvantage the other team when ball possession changes. The offense is more likely to do this when they’re close to their own end zone or didn’t get the ball very far down the field. This is because if the offense decides to go for a first down and doesn’t get it, they have to turn the ball over at the exact spot that they are on the field.
Therefore, if the offense is near their own end zone, they typically won’t try for a fourth down because a failed attempt would force them to turn over the ball right next to their end zone. By punting it to the other side of the field, they keep the other team far from scoring.
Field Goals
The next option would be to kick a field goal. This is when the offense kicks the ball through the goalpost at the back of the opponent’s end zone. If the kick is successful, the team scores three points. Teams are likely to try this on fourth down when they’re close enough to the opponent’s end zone that their kicker has a good chance of making it.
If you’ve ever heard an announcer say that the offense is “in field goal range,” this means that the team’s kicker could potentially make a field goal from the current position on the field. However, if they go for a field goal and miss, possession changes at the spot where the field goal was attempted.
Going For It
Now for the final option: just going for it, or when the offense tries one last time to get past the line to gain instead of the other options, risking the humiliation of failure in front of 70,000 screaming fans. If they make it, the offense earns a new set of downs, keeps their drive alive, and moves closer to scoring. If they don’t, the other team immediately takes over possession where the play ended.
More Terminology
A large part of understanding football is understanding the lingo. You’ve likely heard statements like “first and 10” and “fourth and two” during games. This tells you the current down, or attempt number, and how many yards offense needs for a new set of downs.
“First and 10” means that we’re on our first down with 10 yards to go, while “fourth and two” would mean that we’re on our last down with two yards to go. This metric will help you understand what’s at stake during each play.
Next, let’s cover passing and receiving terms. A “completion” is when a pass is successfully caught, and an “incompletion” is when a pass isn’t caught, and no yards are gained. A “drop” is when a receiver doesn’t catch a pass that they should have (like when the ball slips out of their hands), and a pass deflection is an incomplete pass that’s caused by a defensive player slapping the ball midair.
“Fumble” is another popular term, not to be confused with a drop. This occurs when a player who was previously in control of the ball loses possession. If the defense recovers the ball before the offense, it results in a turnover.
Now for penalties. If you’ve ever stared blankly at the referee as they made a call and did a hand gesture that sent the crowd into a frenzy, this section is for you. I’m going to quickly break down the most common calls and terms so that you can also be groaning in disappointment or cheering with glee when the referee blows the whistle.
You’ve likely heard the terms “offside” and “false start” from referees before. Luckily for us, these five-yard penalties mean essentially the same thing: someone moved when they weren’t supposed to; the difference is who. When the ref calls offside, this means the defense crossed the line of scrimmage before the ball was snapped. For a false start, an offensive player flinched before the snap.
Other common penalties include “holding,” or illegally grabbing an opponent, and “pass interference,” the illegal prevention of a receiver catching a pass. A less common, but prominent penalty, is “targeting,” or when a player makes dangerous contact with an opponent’s head or neck area. If a player is found to be targeting, they’re immediately removed from the game.
Gone are the days when you would simply cheer because everyone else was cheering and boo because everyone else was booing. Hit the next home game, and show the people what you know!
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