Madison Kwiecinski 

News Editor

Mvk5945@psu.edu 

On Saturday, October 23rd, The Penn State Nittany Lions faced off against the Illinois fighting Illini, in a historic and upsetting nine overtime game. The nine overtimes played in the game elevated it to a new record for overtimes played in college football. 

Prior to this only five games had ever reached seven overtimes, most recently in 2018. This game was the first game with this large a number of overtimes to be played using the new overtime rules that were implemented during 2019. According to the news rules, after a game reaches the 5th overtime, teams no longer start from the 25-yard line. Instead, after that point is reached, teams take turns running two-pint conversions until a winner is present. 

In college football, overtime periods include two possessions, so each team gets a chance on both offense and defense. The team on the offensive begins at the other team’s 25-yard line, and they continue alternating sides until a winner is determined. 

The Saturday game was tied 10-10 heading into the overtime period. In the first two overtime periods, both of the teams scored equally. The following two, no one scored at all. After the 4th overtime, the new rules were enacted and the game switched to strictly two-point conversions. 

Once the new rules were enacted, neither team scored until the 8th overtime period, where Illinoise scored the first two point conversion. Penn State quickly followed up by running back Noah Cain scoring and evening the game. 

In the beginning of the record breaking 9th overtime, Illinois scored, and Penn State failed to run another two point conversion, ending the longest game in college football history. 

The loss moved Penn State down to a 5-2 total score for the season, with their first loss having only been two weeks prior. Illinois moved up to a 3-5 score, still with less wine than the Nittany Lions.