Football Basics: Timeouts
Football is played in four 15-minute quarters, with one 12-minute half-time period. Each team gets 3 timeouts per half, and timeouts do not carry over from the first half to the second half. There is a timeout at the two-minute point in the second and fourth quarters, called the two-minute warning, that is not charged to either team.
A timeout is charged to the team of an injured player when it occurs during the last two minutes of either half. This is because years ago players used to fake an injury if their team didn’t have any timeouts remaining, to stop the clock and give their team a moment to plan.
A regular season overtime game has one overtime period, and each team gets two timeouts for that one overtime period. Pro football plays a sudden death overtime, which means that the first team to score wins, even if the other team didn’t get a chance to score. College football gives each team a chance to score; if neither team does, they continue alternating turns until someone scores, and both teams have had an equal number of chances to score.
Learning football is as easy as watching the game, paying attention, and having a reference book to look up terms and plays.
Tags: football basics, learn football, understanding football
