Illinois Upsets Penn State In Longest Game Ever, But Are New Overtime Rules Better?

Illinois beat Penn State in the longest game in FBS history, outlasting the Nittany Lions in nine overtimes.

Author:
Brendan Gulick
Oct 23, 2021 4:34 PM EDT

Typically, college football overtime games become instant classics. But when we look back on Illinois' 20-18 win over Penn State in NINE overtimes, I'm not sure we'll remember it in quite that same light. Regardless, it was an incredibly entertaining end to the game and I love the new overtime rules.

This is the first time I've watched a game that's gone beyond double-OT under the new protocols. If you're unfamiliar, in the first overtime, normal rules govern play. In a second OT, teams must attempt a 2-point conversion if they score a touchdown.

After that, overtime officially becomes a 2-point-conversion exhibition, in which each team gets to run one play from the 3-yard line and tries to score. Each team gets a chance to score or make a stop on that one play per overtime period and the game continues until one team has scored and the other one does not.

On the surface, Illinois' 9-OT win will go down as the longest game in college football history. Even though it mostly lacked scoring, I loved the drama. The rules were put in place for player safety so there aren't in incredible number of additional snaps played beyond regulation. But there's still outstanding drama around the circumstances.

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Today's OT's featured lots of missed opportunities, dropped passes, runs that came up just short .... and LOTS of walking back and forth between ends of the field so the Illini could play away from the Penn State student section as often as they could control it.

I thought that was an incredibly entertaining way to end the game. Overtimes are already gut-wrenching for the team that loses and a giant relief for a winning side. I'm all for doing something a little different!

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