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Football has become the true great American game. Its popularity in the pantheon of American sports is unrivaled, with other major sports like baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer all lagging far behind in terms of event attendance and television ratings. Yet, as popular as football has become, many people don't realize that its various manifestations all have differing rules.

For instance, college football and the NFL have several major variations in their respective rulebooks. While, for the casual fan, these differences may not be all-important, they can definitely influence the game-play in meaningful ways. So, here's a brief guide to the rule differences between college ball and the pros:

-Possession After the Catch-

In the NFL, a player who is receiving a pass must do several things before they establish possession of the football. First, they need to get two feet down inbounds. Next, they need to continue, throughout the process, to retain a firm, controlled grasp of the football. Lastly, they have to make what is referred to as an "athletic move" with the ball in their possession.

College players, on the other hand, need to do far less to establish possession. Essentially, all they need to do is to get one foot down inbounds and retain a grasp on the football. By doing so they prove that they have possession. This is why you'll see many college players getting two feet down instead of just one, simply to highlight the fact that they're prepared to play professional football.

-Overtime-

The NFL employs a "sudden death" overtime system. In effect, this means that the first team to score any points during overtime will be deemed the game's immediate winner. NCAA football, on the other hand, has a matching system of overtime. This means that each team will be given an opportunity to score, with the game continuing on as long as the score remains tied. During the regular season, however, there is a limit to how many overtimes a college game will implement before a tie is recorded, although this is an extremely rare occurrence. Similarly, the NFL only rarely records ties, which take place after a full quarter of overtime play has happened without either team scoring.

-Time Management-

In the NFL, teams receive 40 seconds in-between plays. In college football the time limit is 25 seconds, beginning when the official rules the ball "ready to play". While this isn't a huge difference in time, it does have a major impact over the course of an entire game in terms

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