This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Seton Hall chapter.
I love my PSL’s and booties more than the next girl, but the return of football is definitely my favorite part of fall. While you’re on your way to pick apples, read up on these quick facts to get you through the football season!
- Quick breakdown of the game: Each team has 4 attempts to go 10 yards. Every time they go more than 10 yards it’s a first down. Every time you get a first down, you get 4 more tries. The defense tries to stop these attempts and intercept the ball. When the QB is tackled before he throws the ball this is called a sack. If he gets sacked in the End Zone, it’s called a Safety and the other team gets 2 points. Each touchdown is worth 6 points, and if they kick the ball through the goal post (big yellow fork looking thing) they get an extra point. They can also run the ball for another touchdown, but it is only worth 2 points. This is called a 2-point conversion. Each team can only have 11 players on the field at one time.
- Conferences: The 32 teams in the NFL are broken up into two conferences. There are 16 teams in the American Football Conference (AFC), and 16 teams in the National Football Conference (NFC). Each of the conferences are then broken down into East, West, North and South.
- Games: Games are held on Sundays, with one game played on Monday, and one on Thursday. Each team has one bye week during the season in which they don’t have a game. There are 17 weeks in the regular season before playoffs start. Click here for the full schedule of the 2016-2017 season.
- Who should I root for?: Predictions for this season have the New England Patriots coming out on top. Some other teams that look good for the season are the Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Green Bay Packers. Who will I be rooting for? New York Giants, all day, every day. Click here for the complete list of predictions.