How long is a college football game?

Even though college football is becoming more and more corporate with each passing season, it has a ways to go when it comes to being as efficient as the NFL. With the sheer amount of games played over the weekend, odds are, that at least several will go beyond the typical allotted amount of time. The various broadcasting partners try to get a game in within a 3.5-hour window in an ideal world.

However, the nature of college sports being played at a slower pace will negatively impact that. You also have to factor in that every school has a marching band that plays at halftime. In the NFL, halftime lasts about 15 minutes or so, outside of the Super Bowl, of course. In college, that is probably closer to 30 minutes, given the nature of the tradition and pageantry of marching bands.

So what I am going to do today is try to best explain how long a college football game should take, and how long they honestly do take. Again, every game is different because every team competes at a different level and standard. In short, there is much wider variance in the level of competition top to bottom in college than from No. 1 to No. 32 in the NFL. This obviously impacts betting lines as well.

So when it comes to four, 15-minute quarters, plus halftime, you need to set aside at least 3.5 hours.

How long does a college football game take to play from start to finish?

While the NFL tries to get its games finished slightly under three hours, sometimes baking in a cushion to where three hours and 15 minutes is sufficient, a college game is always going to last three hours, probably closer to 3.5 hours, and usually even exceeding that. Again, it is the nature of the beast when you are dealing with kids, as well as having to have the marching bands play at half.

While the NCAA has looked for ways to speed up the game or shorten it, college football is going to college football, as long as there is college football. Although the game is doing away with having extra plays on untimed downs and whatnot, we now live in a world where we have the two-minute timeout, not the two-minute warning. That will surely tack on five minutes they are trying to shave off.

Ultimately, college football games are always going to last longer than NFL games because of the players playing in those games. Again, they are professionals and these are amateurs, no matter what anyone tries to tell you. The NFL is more of a TV product, while college football is more of an experience. We never have any idea what is going to happen on fall Saturdays, so please enjoy them.

In short, college football games take about 3.5 hours to complete without any overtime periods.