A football is not round. It is covered in tan leather, and it weighs 14 to 15 ounces. A game football is inflated to 12 1/2 to 13 1/2 pounds per square inch. Each football team has 11 players on the field at one time. A team scores a touchdown by getting the ball across the other team's goal line, and a touchdown is worth six points.

After a touchdown, a team can try to score one or two more points. A field goal is worth three points, and a safety is worth two points. The team with the ball gets four downs, or tries, to move the ball 10 yards. Officials use a 10-yard chain on two rods to see whether a team has earned a first down. As of November 2026, a 40-second play clock starts when a play ends, and the team that does not snap the ball in time gets a five-yard penalty.

In the NFL the hash marks are 70 feet 9 inches from each sideline, and in college football they are 60 feet. The two uprights of a goalpost are 18 feet 6 inches apart. A player who touches a sideline is out of bounds. The neutral zone is the space between the two teams' lines before the snap, and neither team may enter it until the ball is snapped. A player is offside when part of his body is in the neutral zone before the ball is put in play.

A football game lasts 60 minutes, divided into four quarters of 15 minutes each. At halftime, between the second and third quarters, play stops and the teams leave the field. In the NFL, the game stops automatically at the two-minute warning in the second and fourth quarters. Each team gets three timeouts in each half. A kickoff starts each half and follows each touchdown try or successful field goal. As of November 2026, the kicking team kicks from its own 35-yard line on a kickoff.

A fumble happens when a player with the ball loses it, and either team can recover it. A punt is a kick in which the kicker drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground. Football players wear helmets that have a face mask, and they must wear shoulder pads, knee pads and thigh pads. Every football player wears a number on the front and back of his jersey. In the NFL a player's jersey number shows what position he plays.

American football grew out of rugby and soccer, two older sports. The first college football game was played between Rutgers and Princeton on November 6, 1869. Walter Camp, who played at Yale, became known as the father of American football. William (Pudge) Heffelfinger was paid $500 to play in a football game for the Allegheny Athletic Association. The American Professional Football Association changed its name to the National Football League.

Words to know

• touchdown: six points
• offside: too far forward
• punt: drop-and-kick
• fumble: lose the ball
• uprights: tall posts