football stats question

First downs.
It's 1 and 10 from the 20, the running back goes 20 yards for the score. Do you credit the team with a first down since he ran beyond 10 yards for the first down and scored?

 

Yes

 

Yes, but the fact he ran more than 10 yards is not why the team gets a first down. Team also gets a first down if they score on second and 1 from the 4, or third and 3 from the 9 ... but no first down if it's a "(blank) and goal" situation.

 

Are you sure?? I always thought it was just a touchdown and not a first down. Because isn't the definition of a first down mean you get a new set of downs???

 

Yes

From the NCAA stat manual:

 

thanks..i feel like an idoit now.

 

Be glad that Texas finally did away with 20-yard line penetrations and first downs as playoff tiebreakers and adopted overtime. It's a lot easier to figure out who's winning.

 

Another question:

I've hardly covered any football, but I've done a little and found this confusing (never asked anyone since it never turned out significant):

Team A has a 10-play, 74 yard drive for a touchdown. In the middle of the drive, there was a pass interference call that was accepted (not a dead ball foul).

Does it count toward the play total?

 

When you're talking about a 10-play, 74-yard drive, you're simply referring to the number of plays the offense used, and the number of yards the offense traveled to score their points. It doesn't matter how they obtain the yards, just that they gained that many yards.

So even if you start the drive at the 50, if there's 9 defensive offsides followed by a 5-yard touchdown run, you have a 1-play, 50-yard drive. You would also have a defense that should be immediately replaced.

 

In the NFL, however, every touchdown results in a first down.

 

Uh, thanks. I did not read all of that. But I appreciate the effort.

 

I did not know that. So much for having it all figured out.