Sitting here watching this boring Mississippi Landsharks at Mississippi State Bulldogs game (current score 3-0), my son asked me if a college football game had ever ended with a final score of 2-0. While attempting to Google the answer (with regard to which I was unsuccessful), I came across this article which I found it to be pretty interesting:
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Brain Teaser: There Are Only Six Impossible Scores in College Football
Jon Coble
Sep 26, 2019
There are some unusual ways to score in college football. One of the options has never happened before.
Since a tie should be impossible due to the overtime rules, I have excluded all ties from this calculation. This calculation depends on the game not being ‘called’ before completion, e.g., game called off in the third quarter due to bad weather. This calculation also does not include scores that are impossible due to the limits of human capability. For example, a score of 1,000,000,000,000 to 0 wouldn’t be considered because human life spans would make such a score impossible. Infinity to zero is also excluded due to it being a mathematical impossibility.
Considering these exclusions, here are the six scores that are impossible in college football.
Table of impossible football scores.
There are no other impossible scores in college football. I know what you must be thinking. How can there be a score of 1? Just because it has never occurred does not mean it is impossible.
The most common way to score in college football is the touchdown. Touchdowns give a team 6 points. The second most common way to score in college football is the point after attempt (PAT). The PAT will give a team 1 point. The PAT is only allowed on the play immediately after a touchdown. The other option on the play immediately following a touchdown is the two-point conversion. It will give a team 2 points. A successful field goal kick gives a team 3 points. The other way to score is safety.
The safety is where things start to get unusual. Generally, safety gives a team 2 points. Whereas the other methods of scoring can only occur one way, a conventional-safety can be scored by any of three different ways. The ball carrier is tackled or forced out of bounds in his own end zone. The ball becomes dead in the end zone, with the exception of an incomplete forward pass, and the defending team is responsible for it being there. The offense commits a penalty in its own end zone, e.g., intentional grounding.
The conversion-safety is another type of safety. If a team is attempting a PAT and the kick is blocked and returned into the offense’s own end zone, it is a conversion-safety. The defense gets 2 points. There is another type of conversion safety known as the one-point safety. A one-point safety is divided into two types: offensive and defensive. The offensive one-point safety is only known to have happened a few times in college football history. There is no known instance of a defensive one-point safety having ever occurred. What is interesting here, is that there is no known instance of the offensive one-point safety having occurred before 2004. I suspect that the internet is the reason for this. With the ease of looking through any type of information, fans discovered this obscure rule. Consequently, the issue was raised for the first time in a football game in 2004.
One way of scoring the offensive one-point safety is for the defense to block the offense’s PAT and recover the ball, only to fumble the ball and recover the ball in its own end zone. See the video below for an example of this in a Texas v. Texas A&M game. Even the announcers from ABC Sports did not know about the one-point safety and thought the referees had made a mistake.
This is a video from YouTube of an offensive one-point safety.
The defensive one-point safety is the most interesting of all. It has never occurred before. Theoretically, this could occur with a blocked PAT. A defensive player could pick up the ball and run toward the opposing end zone for a two-point safety. A few yards before reaching the end zone, the defensive player fumbles the ball. One of the pursuing offensive players scoops up the ball, but due to momentum, is carried into the end zone and is tackled while in the end zone. That would be a defensive one-point safety. This is why it is possible for a team to have a score of only 1 point.
It is impossible to have a score of 1 to 0 because a one-point safety can only be scored on a PAT. The same can be said for 2 to 1 and 3 to 1 since there is no PAT after a conventional safety or a field goal respectively. 4 to 1 is impossible because 4 points can only occur after two conventional safeties have occurred. 5 to 1 is impossible because it can only occur after a field goal and a conventional safety. 6 to 1 is possible since an offensive team can score a touchdown and then the defense can score a 1-point safety. 7 to 1 is impossible because a team can only get to 7 after scoring a touchdown by successfully kicking a PAT. The defensive 1-point safety can only occur after an unsuccessful PAT or unsuccessful two-point conversion.
If anyone else has any impossible score, please put it in the comments. I can’t think of another one. I will keep my eye out for the elusive defensive one-point safety this year.
ARTICLE: Brain Teaser: There Are Only Six Impossible Scores in College Football
EDIT: Saw this in the comments. Not sure if it’s accurate:
“The only impossible score in NCAA football is 7-1 because of the new rules regarding 5th (and subsequent) overtime, teams can now score one point without a preceding touchdown.”
———————————————————————
Brain Teaser: There Are Only Six Impossible Scores in College Football
Jon Coble
Sep 26, 2019
There are some unusual ways to score in college football. One of the options has never happened before.
Since a tie should be impossible due to the overtime rules, I have excluded all ties from this calculation. This calculation depends on the game not being ‘called’ before completion, e.g., game called off in the third quarter due to bad weather. This calculation also does not include scores that are impossible due to the limits of human capability. For example, a score of 1,000,000,000,000 to 0 wouldn’t be considered because human life spans would make such a score impossible. Infinity to zero is also excluded due to it being a mathematical impossibility.
Considering these exclusions, here are the six scores that are impossible in college football.
Table of impossible football scores.
There are no other impossible scores in college football. I know what you must be thinking. How can there be a score of 1? Just because it has never occurred does not mean it is impossible.
The most common way to score in college football is the touchdown. Touchdowns give a team 6 points. The second most common way to score in college football is the point after attempt (PAT). The PAT will give a team 1 point. The PAT is only allowed on the play immediately after a touchdown. The other option on the play immediately following a touchdown is the two-point conversion. It will give a team 2 points. A successful field goal kick gives a team 3 points. The other way to score is safety.
The safety is where things start to get unusual. Generally, safety gives a team 2 points. Whereas the other methods of scoring can only occur one way, a conventional-safety can be scored by any of three different ways. The ball carrier is tackled or forced out of bounds in his own end zone. The ball becomes dead in the end zone, with the exception of an incomplete forward pass, and the defending team is responsible for it being there. The offense commits a penalty in its own end zone, e.g., intentional grounding.
The conversion-safety is another type of safety. If a team is attempting a PAT and the kick is blocked and returned into the offense’s own end zone, it is a conversion-safety. The defense gets 2 points. There is another type of conversion safety known as the one-point safety. A one-point safety is divided into two types: offensive and defensive. The offensive one-point safety is only known to have happened a few times in college football history. There is no known instance of a defensive one-point safety having ever occurred. What is interesting here, is that there is no known instance of the offensive one-point safety having occurred before 2004. I suspect that the internet is the reason for this. With the ease of looking through any type of information, fans discovered this obscure rule. Consequently, the issue was raised for the first time in a football game in 2004.
One way of scoring the offensive one-point safety is for the defense to block the offense’s PAT and recover the ball, only to fumble the ball and recover the ball in its own end zone. See the video below for an example of this in a Texas v. Texas A&M game. Even the announcers from ABC Sports did not know about the one-point safety and thought the referees had made a mistake.
This is a video from YouTube of an offensive one-point safety.
The defensive one-point safety is the most interesting of all. It has never occurred before. Theoretically, this could occur with a blocked PAT. A defensive player could pick up the ball and run toward the opposing end zone for a two-point safety. A few yards before reaching the end zone, the defensive player fumbles the ball. One of the pursuing offensive players scoops up the ball, but due to momentum, is carried into the end zone and is tackled while in the end zone. That would be a defensive one-point safety. This is why it is possible for a team to have a score of only 1 point.
It is impossible to have a score of 1 to 0 because a one-point safety can only be scored on a PAT. The same can be said for 2 to 1 and 3 to 1 since there is no PAT after a conventional safety or a field goal respectively. 4 to 1 is impossible because 4 points can only occur after two conventional safeties have occurred. 5 to 1 is impossible because it can only occur after a field goal and a conventional safety. 6 to 1 is possible since an offensive team can score a touchdown and then the defense can score a 1-point safety. 7 to 1 is impossible because a team can only get to 7 after scoring a touchdown by successfully kicking a PAT. The defensive 1-point safety can only occur after an unsuccessful PAT or unsuccessful two-point conversion.
If anyone else has any impossible score, please put it in the comments. I can’t think of another one. I will keep my eye out for the elusive defensive one-point safety this year.
ARTICLE: Brain Teaser: There Are Only Six Impossible Scores in College Football
EDIT: Saw this in the comments. Not sure if it’s accurate:
“The only impossible score in NCAA football is 7-1 because of the new rules regarding 5th (and subsequent) overtime, teams can now score one point without a preceding touchdown.”
