In the world of college football, high scoring games are not an unheard of sight. The Hawaii Warriors and Miami Hurricanes have each scored in high-scoring games. Even Notre Dame fans enjoy watching high-scoring games. High-scoring games can be comfortable victories or close ones that go into several overtimes and end in regulation. They usually feature a lot of first downs and a few touchdowns, and may even see a few field goals. Rarely do we see punts or field goals in high scoring games.
The rise in scoring has also raised the question, “Why are there so many high-scoring games in college football?” Teams have reached the century mark 43 times in the last ten years, compared to 51 times in the previous decade. In the past two weeks, teams have exceeded 70 points a total of six times. Last week, the Boston College Eagles led Howard 62-0 at halftime and scored 76 points, despite the fact that the two teams agreed to run the clock in the second half. The game ended 78-71 for the Tigers and Alabama, and both teams broke the NCAA’s record with the same total.
The average score of a college football game can range from a low of 15 points to as high as 50 points. Historically, the highest scoring games have been over 50 points. The most recent team to top the 50-point plateau is Baylor. In 2013, the Bears broke the 50-point mark against Trinity Bible College, but that record was only achieved once in a decade. Fortunately, this trend hasn’t happened frequently since scoring has become more normalized.
