Question: How long is a quarter in college football?
Show answer
15 minutes.
In college football, also known as NCAA football (National Collegiate Athletic Association), each game consists of four quarters, similar to the structure of professional football games. Like in the National Football League (NFL), in college football, each quarter is 15 minutes long as well.
The total duration of a college football game, therefore, amounts to 60 minutes of playing time. However, the actual length of a game can extend much longer due to several factors such as halftime, timeouts, injuries, reviews of plays, changes in possession, and commercial breaks if the game is televised.
Halftime in college football usually lasts around 20 minutes, which is longer than the 12-minute halftime in professional games. Additionally, each team is given three timeouts per half, which can pause the game for a few minutes each.
Stoppage of the game clock also occurs during specific events such as when a player carrying the ball steps out of bounds, an incomplete pass is thrown, or a penalty is incurred. In college football, the game clock also stops temporarily after each first down to allow for the movement of the chains marking the distance.
Due to these various stoppages and interruptions, a typical college football game can last approximately three to three and a half hours in real time, despite the official playing time being only 60 minutes.
