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- Ever wondered what the differences are between college football and NFL football? The NFL is also one of the biggest sporting franchises in the world, as it is America's number one sporting league.
Differences between NFL And College Football
That being said, outside of the United States, there are few people who know much about other football leagues in the US. They know very little, even about college football, and how it is even more popular than the NFL in many states with even more betting action than the popular NFL odds. College football is a large league in its own right known as the NCAA and is made up of an incredible 130 teams, which are fielded by universities, colleges, and other academics. The NFL is a professional league that is followed by hundreds of millions of people, with 32 teams based around the country who fight it out for the Super Bowl title. So, while they are linked, they are different; let us explain how.
A Guide To College Football
Canadian and American universities, academies, and colleges make up the college football league.
As there is no minor league to football, college football has basically filled in the gap where a minor league would be.
However, in many parts of the United States, college football is much more popular and is, in some cases, even viewed as being more prestigious than the NFL itself. There is even an aspect of college football that is equal to that of the Madden games.
The NCAA Football Division 1 is technically the official name of the College football league, and in this, you will find 130 teams that are split up into 12 conferences. However, there is only 1 playoff in College football, and thus winners of big tournaments are much easier to predict.
This does make it easier to place successful bets, which would make you think that NCAA betting would take up the majority of the bettors' time, but the NFL is still the more popular bet.
Draft
The draft is a place where you can find differences. The NFL draft will take place in the league's off-season. Franchises will select semi-pro and amateur players to join them. Each draft is made from 7 rounds.
This was a process that was introduced to enhance the competitive side of the NFL, thus teams who did worst in the last season would get the first pick, allowing the worst team to get the best players and improve, or at least in theory.
Then again, top picks are often the best player, but this is not always totally true. Tom Brady is a perfect example of this, as Brady was picked 199th in his draft.
A player who has been out of high school for three years will be eligible for the draft, they needn’t even be a college senior, but it is common for draft picks to be college seniors, though.
Teams can also be forced to forfeit a pick if they violate rules in their previous season. This can be seen in the New Orleans Saints when they were punished for violating COVID-19 guidelines on repeat during the season of 2020.
NFL Guides
The NFL is probably the most watched sport in the entire United States, there are millions who turn up to watch every match, and even more, watch at home.
The league has 32 teams in total, and it is the only actual professional football league in the United States. It started up in 1920, and then in 1966, they ended up merging with the only rival they had, which was the AFL, combining to make one gigantic league.
The NFL has now been holding Super Bowl competitions for well over half a century, and it is still getting more and more popular.
Rule Differences
When looking at college football versus the NFL, it is important that we take the rules of the game into account and how they differ.
Here are some examples of major differences in the rules between the College Football leagues and the NFL.
- College football is not able to end in a tie, the teams will continue playing until one team gets ahead.
- In the NFL, contact is absolutely necessary in order to be ruled down. However, this is not true for college football.
- In college football, the clock will be stopped after the first down.
- In College football, only a single foot needs to be in the bounds for a pass to be completed. Yet, in the NFL, both feet need to be within the bounds for a complete NFL pass to be made.
- The plays which can be reviewed by the NFL are actually extremely limited. Yet, in College football, plays can so easily be reviewed.
- In College football, a defensive holding penalty needs to be 10 yards. However, the difference between NFL and to NCAA is in the distance, as in the NFL, the distance is $6.
The NFL and NCAA are very similar to one another; however, in the same respect, they are also very different too.
