Overtime Rules - Colorado Took First Possession Twice

[mikethehiker]

I pride myself on being a student of the rules of the game and every once in a while a sequence occurs that perplexes me like the 3rd down do-over in the WSU game last year.

 

Did anyone else catch that Colorado possessed the football on offense first for both overtimes in their win over Colorado St.?  I'm not sure I've seen that before as I was expecting Colorado St. to take advantage of back to back offensive possessions vs. a tired Buffalo defense.  I've always thought that's a huge advantage to winning the coin toss to start overtime.

 

Was Colorado able to elect to go on offense first in the 2nd overtime?  I know there was a delay in the game trying to figure out who chose which end of the field to defend.  Interesting, risky, and subtle coaching move if Sanders gave his defense a breather prior to that final possession.  Would you ever elect to possess the ball first in a college football overtime situation?

[QuackyQuack]

From reading the rules it looks like Colorado chose the direction they were going for the first overtime which then gave CSU the option in the 2nd OT. Terrible mistake as you always want to go second in overtime (even though it worked in their favor).
 

• “Overtime begins with a coin toss to determine which team starts with the ball in overtime, with the visiting team calling the toss. The winner of the coin toss can either play offense or defense to start, or can opt to choose which side of the field it wants to start. There is no deferral. The team that loses the toss has to make the remaining decision, and then has the first pick to start the second overtime. The team that won the first coin toss will pick for any even-numbered overtime periods, and the team that lost the coin toss will make the decision in every odd-numbered period.”

 

[Autzen Magic]

My understanding is as follows:

 

1) Colorado won the toss and elected to take the ball first (an unconventional and IMO an unwise decision).

 

2) Therefore, CSU was able to make the selection for the second OT and elected to play defense first.

[mikethehiker]

Thank you.  So maybe Colorado actually thought they were deferring when choosing a side.

 

What drives me bonkers is when TV announcers are completely oblivious to a critical sequence in the game.  I'm not even sure they recognized what was happening let alone taking the time to explain a serious deviation to their audience.

[latracey]

The whole thing was weird and had the appearance of being mismanaged by the officials who didn’t seem to explain the options very well to Sanders, whose team won the toss. 
 

Maybe it was their intention to start out with the ball, but I was really surprised to see them starting with the ball again in the second overtime, not to mention seeing them going for 2 before they had to. However, it worked out for them.

 

Thanks for explaining the rules. I see now why Colorado started on offense twice in a row. I’m still wondering if they truly intended to start out on offense, or if they misunderstood what their options were. Maybe Coach Sanders realized their offense was in a groove and wanted to capitalize on that.

Edited September 18, 2023 by latracey

[Autzen Magic]

 

On 9/18/2023 at 3:57 PM, latracey said:

Maybe it was their intention to start out with the ball, but I was really surprised to see them starting with the ball again in the second overtime, not to mention seeing them going for 2 before they had to. However, it worked out for them.

I was listening on the radio on the way home from Autzen and the announcers stated that Colorado won the toss and elected to take go on offense first.

 

Also, under the new rules, teams have to go for 2 starting with the second OT.  Starting with the third OT, teams ONLY attempt two point conversions.