Which hash mark football

Other than the players being better in the NFL than in college, the field itself is different. The rows of hash marks in the NFL are significantly closer together than in college. Here is a picture to illustrate what I am saying.

As you can see, in college football the hash marks are widely spread out from the right row to the left row. In fact, the rows are 40 feet away from each other, and 60 feet from the nearest sideline. From this picture, you can see that the rows of hash marks are closer to each other than we see in college. In the NFL, the rows of hash marks are just 18 feet, 6 inches away from each other. The rows are 70 feet, 9 inches away from the nearest sideline. The rows of hash marks in college football are The NFL rows of hash marks are just under eleven feet farther to the nearest sideline than in college.

Okay, that is odd, but what is the reason for having that difference? Email Address. The answer to that question is to make it easier to defend in the NFL than in college.

With NFL offensive personnel being the best in the world, the defense needs some advantages. At first, I would think it is harder to defend in the NFL since the ball is always close to the center of the field, leaving open space on both sides of the ball. However, Geoff Schwartz, former offensive lineman and current writer at SB Nation, explains that the opposite happens. Schwartz argues that in college, with the ball on a hash mark, the defense has to make a decision whether to cheat or not.

If the defense cheats, and assumes that the ball will move opposite of the nearest hash mark, less defenders need to focus on the near side of the ball. Hash marks are located differently on a college field than at the pro level. Retired lineman Geoff Schwartz breaks down how this affects the game.

Our favorite sport in America is football. By far. Some prefer college, others prefer the NFL, and people like me consume it all. Even though both games look quite similar, there are actually many ways in which college football and the NFL are totally unlike. The college ball is a tad fatter, easier to throw, and painted differently. Multiple companies make acceptable footballs for college use.

An NFL ball is longer and more narrow, tougher to throw, and only made by Wilson. The NFL is opposite. Then, as we know, overtime is wildly different in the two sports. Hash marks are those small lines, spaced a yard apart, that run in two rows down the middle of the field. They are hard to miss, and they are aligned differently on a college field than on a pro one.

In the NFL, the hash marks are 70 feet and 9 inches away from the nearest sideline. The distance between the two rows of hash marks is 18 feet and 6 inches. They are closer on a college football field, where the hash marks are located 60 feet away from the nearest sideline and the distance between the two rows is 40 feet. First, they determine where the ball is placed after the ball carrier is tackled. If the runner is down outside of the hash marks, including running out of bounds, the ball is spotted for the next play on the nearest hash mark.

If a ball carrier is down inside of the hash marks, the ball is placed at the spot of the runner being down. This field structure means defenses must cheat their alignment to certain formations. This distance is 17 yards plus the distance of the line of scrimmage to the goal line.

Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Ben Davis March 7, Why are college and NFL hash marks different? Are college and high school hash marks the same? How long is an extra point? How far apart are NFL hash marks? What are hash marks in math? Can the ball be placed outside of the hash mark?

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