Compare and contrast of ncaa and nfl football Essay

Compare and contrast of ncaa and nfl football - Essay Example When an end zone is reached, a turnover is forced by a team, the ball is punt away or the ball is lost on downs. In both NFL and NCAA, team members may fail to achieve ten yards during the four downs, and they are expected to turn the ball over to the opposing team. In this situation, the teams punt the ball away to the opposing team on fourth down; hence, the opposing team has to struggle in scoring a touchdown. Teams in these games have a common objective of getting into the opposing team’s end zone in order to score six points that are referred to as touchdown. Alternatively, they have an option of kicking a field goal to score three points, in situation where they are unable to reach the end zone. Both NFL and NCAA apply two common methods in the play, which include passing the ball to a receiver or running back with the ball. Lastly, both games are played on a field of the same size; 100 yards long with a ten-yard end zone and 53 1/3-yards wide. According to ESPN AMERICA (1), the first difference relates to the playing field, whereby NFL’s field has one-yard hash mark running down the middle of the gridiron, and is aligned to the goal post, seventy feet and nine inches from each side. On the other hand, in NCAA, the hash marks are set wide apart with sixty feet from the side, hence making a wider field to one side, and increased angles for the field goals, when the ball is spotted on the hash. The other difference relates to the goal post widths, whereby, NCAA has uprights that are 23’ 4† apart, while in NFL has a width of 18’ 6†. The ball used in NCAA has white a stripe around the ends in order to make it more visible when in flight during the night, but in NFL, the stripe is absent. In addition, in NCAA, the downed runner, carrying the ball is classed as down when any part of his body except his boots and hands are touching the ground. However, in NFL, a player is downed when touched as he goes to the ground or on the