NCAA & NFL Football Timeout Rules

A football team uses timeouts during a game for various reasons. A coach takes timeouts to impart strategy or advice, or to make substitutions. Timeouts are also used near the end of each half, in order to stop the clock. Timeouts are a valuable part of the game, with specified limitations on use in the NFL and college football.

  1. Basics

    • A team can take three timeouts per half in the NFL and college football. Timeouts not used in the first half do not carry over into the second half. The head coach or any player on the field can call timeout. Assistant coaches and players on the sideline cannot call timeout.

    Overtime

    • In the NFL, if a regular-season game goes to overtime, both teams get two timeouts for a 15-minute sudden-death period. Unused timeouts from regulation do not carry over. In playoff overtime games, which continue indefinitely until one team scores, each team gets three timeouts per 30 minutes of overtime. In college football, with no clock or sudden death, each team gets one possession and one timeout per extra period.

    Length

    • In the NFL, a standard timeout lasts 40 seconds. All games are televised, and the telecast might increase the length of a timeout. If the network goes to a commercial, the timeout becomes 1 minute, 50 seconds. In college football, a team timeout is 90 seconds. If the game is on live television but the network does not go to a commercial, the timeout decreases to 30 seconds plus the 25-second interval on the play clock.

    Consecutive Timeouts

    • A team cannot take consecutive timeouts. After a team takes a timeout, at least one play must occur before that team can take another, though the opposing team can call a timeout before a play occurs. If that happens in the NFL, the length of the second timeout decreases to 40 seconds.

    Injury TImeouts

    • An NFL team that has used all three timeouts receive a fourth timeout to remove an injured player from the field. In the final two minutes of a half, this extra timeout results in a 10-second runoff on the game clock if the injured player's team is tied or losing. If 10 or fewer seconds remain in the half when the injury occurs, the game or half ends. If a team gets a fifth timeout due to another injury, the same 10-second runoff rule is in effect, and the officials also assess the team a 5-yard penalty. In college football, if a team is out of timeouts and a player suffers an injury, the player must leave the field for at least one down.

    Challenging Calls

    • In the NFL, coaches can challenge an official's call, requesting replay review. A coach can challenge a call only if his team has at least one timeout remaining. If the referee upholds the initial call, the coach's team loses one timeout as a penalty for losing the challenge.