5 Longest Games in College Football History
It wasn't pretty, but Virginia Tech edged North Carolina 43-41 in a six-overtime game this past Saturday. The Hokies and Tar Heels were the first to try out college football's new overtime rules, which now requires teams to go for the two-point conversion in the fourth overtime instead of the third.
Saturday's game may have set an ACC record, but it wasn't the longest in college football history. The NCAA did away with ties in 1996, and since then, five games have gone into the seventh overtime. Here they are (in chronological order).
1. Arkansas 58, Ole Miss 56
Nov. 3, 2001 - Oxford, Miss.
The Rebels and Razorbacks were tied 17-17 at the end of regulation and began going for the two-point conversion after scoring touchdowns. The game ended in the seventh OT when Eli Manning tossed a pass to Doug Ziegler who was stopped short of the end zone. Manning finished with a school-record six touchdown passes, five of which were thrown in overtime.
2. Arkansas 71, Kentucky 63
Nov. 1, 2003 - Lexington, Ky.
As you can see, Arkansas is no stranger to long games and did another seven overtimes with Kentucky. After a wild four quarters where both teams returned a blocked punt for a touchdown, the two scored 86 points in the overtime periods. The game ended on Kentucky's possession when quarterback Jared Lorenzen fumbled on a keeper on fourth down. At the time, the score was the highest in the modern football era.
3. North Texas 25, Florida International 22
Oct. 7, 2006 - Denton, Texas
North Texas was 1-4 and FIU was 0-5 and this game was not good football. Both teams were tied 16-16 and the end of regulation and then went on to miss eight field goals in overtime. The game finally ended with kicker Denis Hopovac's successful boot in the seventh overtime.
4. Western Michigan 71, Buffalo 68
Oct. 7, 2017 - Amherst, N.Y.
Tied 31-31 after four quarters, both teams broke the record for the highest-scoring game in college football history. After Buffalo had to settle for a field goal in the seventh overtime, Western Michigan capitalized with a 12-yard touchdown run by Jarvion Franklin.
5. Texas A&M 74, LSU 72
Nov., 24, 2018 - College Station, Texas
LSU and Texas A&M closed out the regular season in dramatic fashion. The two teams played to a 31-31 tie in regulation and matched each other score-for-score through six overtimes. LSU failed to convert the two-point conversion in the seventh, but A&M did and came away with the win. The 146 combined points are the highest ever next to Georgia Tech’s 222-0 drubbing of Cumberland College in 1916.
— Written by Aaron Tallent, who is part of the Athlon Contributor Network. Tallent is a writer whose articles have appeared in The Sweet Science, FOX Sports’ Outkick the Coverage, Liberty Island and The Washington Post. Follow him on Twitter at @AaronTallent.
It took over four hours and nine overtimes, but the Illinois Fighting Illini finally pulled off a historic upset over the No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions in Happy Valley.
The nine extra frames are an FBS record. There had previously been just five games in history to reach seven overtimes, with the most recent coming between LSU and Texas A&M in 2018.
New overtime rules were implemented beginning with the 2019 season. Once a game reached the fifth overtime, teams would no longer start drives from the 25-yard line. Instead, teams begin alternating two-point conversion plays until a winner is determined.
In college football, overtime periods feature two possessions with each team getting one chance on offense and defense. Offenses begin at the opposing team’s 25-yard line and continue that way until a winner is determined. In previous years, teams that scored touchdowns would need to go for two-point conversions beginning with the third overtime and the game would continue that way until someone scored more in a given OT period.
Saturday’s game was tied at 10 heading into overtime. The teams traded field goals in each of the first two overtimes and went scoreless in the third and fourth overtimes. That brought the recently updated rules into play and sent the two sides into two-point conversion craziness.
Neither team found the end zone until the eighth overtime, where Illinois’ Isaiah Williams dove in for a score. Penn State came right back and evened the game with a conversion from running back Noah Cain.
Illinois came up with a stand to begin the ninth overtime. The team got the ball back and then won the game thanks to a Brandon Peters pass to Casey Washington.
Illinois finished the afternoon with just 38 passing yards, but Brown and Joshua McCray led the Illini to 357 rushing yards. On the other side, Nittany Lion QB Sean Clifford passed for 165 yards as his team collected just 227 total yards.
The win moved Illinois to 3-5 on the season, while Penn State dropped to 5-2. James Franklin’s squad doesn’t have much time to ice up, either, with a primetime matchup on the road against No. 5 Ohio State coming up next week.
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