Expert: Thom Brooks - 3/12/2005

Question
Is there a difference in the width of football goalposts in high school football and college football and pro football?

Answer
Jerry, hello!

Professional Football has goalposts 18' 6" wide.
College has been widened to 23'4".
High School is 23'4".

I got this information from Football.com
and also from Jaypro.  Type those into your search engine and you can investigate further.

Hope I've helped!  Have a great week!  

Thom Brooks
Savannah, Georgia  



Football Rules Differences between NFL, College, CFL, NFL Europe, and Arena

This comparison of rules has been prepared to aid players and fans in their understanding of the game. It is not meant to be a substitute for the official rules. In any case of conflict between these explanations and the official rules, the official rules always have precedence. Football.com is not responsible for inaccuracies, omissions, or errors.

The rules for modern-day football date back to a formal beginning in 1876, when the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, drew up their set of 61 rules governing how this game (which itself resulted from soccer and rugby players breaking the rules of their respective games) would be played. Though the rules have been through innumerable changes since then, and are in fact constantly being updated, that first set of rules still serves as the basis for the rest, and all other major football leagues still base their rules off of the NCAA. Herein you'll find some of the more notable differences in the rules with respect to the NCAA (college football), the NFL (National Football League, professional football), CFL (Canadian Football League), and Arena Football.

Another league that has caught on only in recent years is the NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football, or WLAF. While the NFL Europe doesn't enjoy the popularity that football does in the U.S. and Canada, it is a growing sport in these other nations, with an ever increasing following. The teams in the NFL Europe are still made up largely of American players, and the rules are basically the same as for the NFL in the America.




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The rules differences are divided into the following categories:
FIELD/EQUIPMENT | TIME/PERIODS | PLAY | SCORING




FIELD/EQUIPMENT DIFFERENCES:

Field size is an immediate difference between leagues. In the NFL and NCAA, the field is a total of 120 yards long--100 yards of playing field with two end zones, one at either end of the field, each end zone being 10 yards long. The field is 53 1/3 yards wide. NFL goal posts are 18 1/2 feet wide, with the crossbar at 10 feet, while the NCAA widened their goals to 23'4''. Also, the NCAA uses two supports for goal posts, while the NFL has only one.

In the CFL, the field is a total of 150 yards by 65 yards, having two 20-yard end zones, for 110 yards of playing field.

Arena football is, as the name suggests, played in an indoor arena. The field is a padded surface 28 1/3 yards wide and only 50 yards long, plus two eight-yard endzones. Goal posts are nine feet wide, with the crossbar at 15 feet. This small size is the opposite of the Canadian game, and while the running involved in the CFL ignites many fans' passions, those who advocate Arena football claim that the tighter field makes for a faster-paced game with more blocking action and more aggressive play.




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TIME/PERIOD DIFFERENCES:

The NFL provides for an hour game by having four quarters, called "periods", of 15 minutes each. The only difference from this basic is found in high school football, which has a 48 minute game of four 12-minute periods. Halftime is 15 minutes in all leagues, and there is a two-minute intermission between periods (except in the CFL, where there is a three minute break between the second and fourth periods). The leagues also permit three timeouts per half for each team, except the CFL, which allows only one. A timeout in excess may be taken only for an injured player, or as directed by a referee, except in the NFL, which permits a fourth timeout to be taken before the last two minutes of the second or fourth periods, with a 5 yard penalty being taken in exchange.

Additionally, the NFL allows 30 seconds for the players to act once the referee has put the ball down on the field and it is to be put into play. The other leagues allow only 25 seconds, except for the CFL, which allows only 20 (this is the time the team can take to huddle, etc. before lining up at the line of scrimmage). The NFL will also take timeouts to show commercials, as will other leagues. The NFL is, however, most noted for this, and the game is geared far more towards commercial presentation and sponsorship.

As noted above, time is similar for the various leagues. An interesting exception does occur, however, in Arena football. Whereas the clock is stopped in other leagues for a number of reasons (most commonly when the ball is carried out of bounds, a forward pass is incomplete, a team scores, an injury occurs, or a penalty is called), in Arena football the time isn't stopped for an incomplete forward pass or out of bounds except in the last minute of each half of the game. This keeps the game moving fast, and is in keeping with Arena football's action-filled games. Keeping the time going means more quick moving of the ball with pressure to score before the clock stops. The CFL only stops the clock for incomplete passes or players running out of bounds.

With respect to overtime, the NCAA only uses it to break ties between teams in championship level games, where a winner must be determined to play the next round. The winner is the team with the most points into overtime after each team has had an equal number of possessions, that is, if one team gets the ball first into overtime and immediately scores, the other team gets a chance to tie it up again, and so forth.

In the NFL, the so-called "sudden death" method of determining a tie breaker, where the first to score into overtime wins, is used in all games. That is, a tie game goes into an overtime period (also 15 minutes), and the next team to score wins the game. College ball is a bit more forgiving, allowing each team their chance to score into overtime. Obviously, an NCAA game has the potential to go on a lot longer than an NFL game. This is why the NCAA does not use the tie breaker for every single game, as does the NFL.

In Arena football, the overtime scoring starts like the NCAA and then goes to a sudden death system. Each team gets one possession to score, and whoever scores highest wins. If they are still tied after the first possession, the next team to score wins.

In the CFL, the highest scoring team after two ten-minute overtime periods wins, these twenty minute overtimes continuing until a winner is found. In other words, play continues until a winner emerges, but in very short periods, to keep from going into excessive amounts of overtime.




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DIFFERENCES IN GAME PLAY:

As noted in the introduction, the rules for all leagues are taken from the original NCAA rules, and the basics of the game remain intact (or else the game would be too different to be called football). That said, there are, of course, various differences between the various leagues in how the game is played.

One immediate difference between the other leagues and the CFL is that in Canadian football there are only 3 downs, compared with 4 for the others. The object is still the same; 10 yards must be gained within the downs allotted. Interestingly, there have been petitions to the NCAA to increase from four downs to five, though these have all so far been denied, and any future such change is highly unlikely.

Another area of difference is in team sizes. While college and NFL ball teams have 11 players, the CFL has a twelfth player. Instead of a tight end, the CFL employs two "Slot Backs". In defense, Canadian teams have an additional linebacker or defensive back, depending upon the play. This is in keeping with Canadian football's larger field size, where more players are needed to cover the extra space. Arena football, on the other hand, has only eight players. This is possible due to the smaller size of the Arena football field.

A CFL offensive back field has unlimited motion. Only the down linemen can not move. The NFL only allows one player to move parallel to the line of scrimage. This extra motion allows for a larger play set.

An area of rules differences that may not be readily apparent to most fans is that of substitution. In the professional leagues (Arena, NFL, NFL Europe), there is a tremendous amount of specialization. This means that certain players have certain functions they perform especially well, and they may even be retained specifically for those functions. For example, there may be a player who kicks with incredible talent, and whenever there's a kick to be done, that player, and perhaps even an entire host of players who work together well, are called to the field. This is a common practice in professional ball, where the emphasis is on finding the best people for the job and letting them do their thing. In fact, unlimited substitution has been allowed since 1950, as long as the ball isn't actually in play. Competition is tight in the pro leagues, and substitution is one of the ways this competition is manifested. The NCAA, on the other hand, is constantly changing on just how much substitution is allowed. It's generally felt that too much substitution favors the larger schools, which have a greater student body population to pull players out of. Therefore, substitution will likely continue to be limited in college football, whereas it flourishes in the professional leagues.

While most rules are the same or similar between the leagues in regard to kicking and passing, Arena football has a unique exception. Arena football has a rebound net at each end of the field, starting 8 feet off the ground, 32 feet high by 30 feet wide. If a forward pass rebounds off the rebound nets at the ends of the field, it is considered live and is still in play until it contacts the field. This provides an element consistent with the action-filled type of play expected from football in the Arena. A ball normally out of bounds can be brought back into play by the net, and a player can catch and run with that ball as long as it hasn't touched the field after rebounding off of the net.

When it comes to when a player can continue running after slipping, the NCAA and NFL differ again. In the NFL, if a player trips and falls to his knee, but is not tackled by the defense, then he may continue to run with the ball. In the NCAA, a player is considered down if he contacts the field with any part of his body other than feet and hands. Note that with respect to quarterbacks, the CFL holds that he isn't down until he is face down, completely out of the action.

Finally, the advancement of a fumbled ball is different between the NFL and NCAA. In both leauges, a ball that is fumbled then caught in the air may be advanced by either side. When the ball touches the ground, the rules change. According to the NCAA, the ball may then only be advanced by the team which fumbled it in the first place. The opposing team may recover the ball, but can't run with it. In the pros, the ball can be recovered and advanced by either side, whether caught while still in the air or after touching the field.




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SCORING DIFFERENCES:

The NCAA scores as follows:

6 points for a touchdown (carrying or passing the ball across the opposition's goal line).

3 points for a field goal (kicking the ball through the goalposts and over the crossbar).

2 points for a safety (making the opposition down the ball behind their own goal line).

2 points or 1 point for a conversion. This is an attempt to put the ball over the opponent's goal line again right after scoring a touchdown. 2 points are awarded for carrying or passing the ball from the 3 yard line (5 yard line in Canadian football) into the opponent's end zone (where the touchdown was just scored). 1 point is given for a successful kicking of the ball, as this is easier to accomplish. Kicking also takes place from the 3 yard line. The NFL allows the conversion to take place from the 2-yard line.

Another difference that may completely confuse non-Canadian football fans is the rouge. This scoring is used only in Canadian Football. A rouge is scored if the ball can not be returned out of the endzone. Fieldgoals are live and can be returned for a touchdown. Should the defending team not return the missed field goal out the end zone a single point is awarded to the kicking team.

For example: The first team kicks to the second team. A player on the second team attempts to catch the ball in his team's endzone, but fumbles the ball and is subsequently tackled. The other team scores a rouge, as the ball became dead in possession of a player in his own goal area.

After a rouge, the team scored against next puts the ball into play at any point between the hash marks on its 35 yard line. If the point was scored as the result of an unsuccessful field goal attempt, the team scored against may elect to put the ball back into play at its own 35 yard line or at the point of last scrimmage.


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