Football Rules Trivia
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119 free Football Rules trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
65 free Football Rules trivia questions with answers. Everyone who watches football thinks they know the rules until a flag flies and the referee says something nobody expected. This quiz covers the rulebook of American football, mostly the NFL with the college differences that trip people up: how downs and scoring work, the field and the ball, the play clock and the two-minute warning, holding and pass interference yardage, the fair catch and the free kick after a safety, onside kicks and the 2024 dynamic kickoff, coaches' challenges, and overtime in the regular season, the playoffs and college. The easy questions ask what a touchdown is worth and how many downs you get. The hard ones want the hash-mark spacing, the ball's inflation range, the year the forward pass was legalized, which team voted to keep the tuck rule and where the only one-point safety in a major bowl game happened. Made for people who argue with the broadcast booth. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the rules of the game and the NFL's own rule pages, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 119 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many downs does the offense get to advance the ball 10 yards?
Four
The offense gets Four downs to gain the required distance; if it comes up short on the last one, the ball turns over on downs.
Q 02How many points is a touchdown worth?
6
A touchdown is worth 6 points in the NFL, NCAA and high school; only the defunct World Football League of the 1970s paid more for one.
Q 03How many points does a defense score for a safety?
2
It is the rarest of the standard scores, and the team that concedes it also has to kick the ball away afterward.
Q 04How many seconds does the NFL play clock give a team from the end of the previous play?
40
The NFL play clock gives 40 seconds from the end of the previous play; the NCAA uses the same, with a shorter clock only after administrative stoppages.
Q 05What color flag does an NFL head coach throw to challenge a ruling on the field?
Red
An NFL head coach throws a Red flag to challenge a call; the challenge system arrived in 1999, and the flag must be out before the next snap.
Q 06How many timeouts does each NFL team get per half?
3
Each NFL team gets 3 timeouts per half; unused ones do not roll over, which is why teams burn them at the end of the second quarter.
Q 07How does a punt returner signal that he wants a fair catch?
Waving one arm above his head
A returner signals a fair catch by waving one arm above his head; once he does, the ball is dead when caught and he may not advance it.
Q 08For a sideline catch to count in the NFL, how many feet must the receiver get down in bounds?
Two
The NFL requires Two feet, or another body part other than the hands, down in bounds; college needs only one foot, which is why rookies' toe-tap catches get overturned.
Q 09How many offensive players must be on the line of scrimmage at the snap?
7
At least 7 offensive players must be on the line of scrimmage at the snap; only the ends on that line and the backs behind it are eligible receivers.
Q 10From which yard line does a normal NFL kickoff take place?
35
A normal NFL kickoff comes from the kicking team's 35-yard line, a spot the league kept when it rewrote the rest of the kickoff in 2024.
Q 11How far must an onside kick travel before the kicking team can legally recover it?
10 yards
An onside kick must travel 10 yards, or be touched by the receiving team, before the kickers may recover it, and even a clean recovery ends the play.
Q 12How long is a regular-season NFL overtime period, in minutes?
10
If it ends still tied, the game is a tie; only the playoffs keep adding periods until someone wins.
Q 13What is the ball-length space between the offensive and defensive lines at the snap called?
The neutral zone
The neutral zone is the ball-length strip between the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage; only the snapper may have any part of his body in it before the snap.
Q 21Under the 2024 NFL rules, which of these was a condition for attempting an onside kick?
The kicking team had to be trailing
In 2024 the kicking team had to be trailing, in the fourth quarter, and had to declare the kick to the officials, which ended the surprise onside kick.
Q 22After conceding a safety, from which yard line does the scored-upon team put the ball back in play?
Its own 20
After a safety the scored-upon team free-kicks from its own 20; the kick may be a punt, a drop kick or a place kick, and most teams punt it.
Q 23What happens if a quarterback commits intentional grounding while standing in his own end zone?
Q 14Which team calls the opening coin toss in the NFL?
The visitors
The visitors call the coin toss, which happens within three minutes of kickoff; the winner usually defers so it can receive to start the second half.
Q 15In the NFL, where is the ball placed after defensive pass interference?
At the spot of the foul
NFL defensive pass interference is a spot foul: the ball is placed at the spot of the foul, so a deep-ball flag can move the offense half the field; college enforcement is gentler.
Q 16Which penalty is called when an offensive lineman flinches before the snap?
False start
A lineman who flinches before the snap commits a false start, a dead-ball foul whistled immediately; only a back may be in motion, and never toward the line.
Q 17How many seconds is the NFL's shorter play clock after timeouts, penalties and turnovers?
25
The same shorter clock follows the two-minute warning, an extra point and any replay review.
Q 18How long is a standard NFL extra-point kick, in yards, since the 2015 rule change?
33
Since 2015 the snap for an extra point comes 13 yards farther back, making it a 33-yard kick that misses a few dozen times a season.
Q 19In the 2025 season, where was the ball spotted after a touchback on an NFL kickoff?
Its own 35
The spot crept up from the 20 to the 25 to the 30 and then the 35 in 2025, each move designed to make kicking it deep less attractive than letting it be returned.
Q 20Under the NFL's 2024 dynamic kickoff, where do the kicking team's players other than the kicker line up?
Opponents' 40
Under the dynamic kickoff, the ten coverage players line up at the opponents' 40; nobody may move until the ball hits the ground or a returner, ending the old full-speed collisions.
The defense is awarded a safety
Intentional grounding in the passer's own end zone means the defense is awarded a safety, as does offensive holding there, because the penalty is enforced from behind the goal line.
Q 24How does an official signal a safety?
Palms together above the head
An official signals a safety with palms together above the head; both arms straight up means a touchdown or a successful kick, and arms outstretched with palms down means unsportsmanlike conduct.
Q 25What is the penalty for an ineligible receiver being downfield on a pass play?
5 yards
An ineligible receiver downfield costs 5 yards from the previous spot, with no loss of down; the sting is that a completed pass comes back.
Q 26Which NFL jersey-number range is always ineligible to catch a pass unless the player reports as eligible?
50 to 79
Players numbered 50 to 79 are ineligible unless they report to the officials, which is how an offensive tackle can line up as a tight end for a trick play.
Q 27In college football, defensive pass interference is capped at how many yards from the previous spot?
15
The pro version can cost 40 yards on the same play, which is why NFL cornerbacks are coached to grab early rather than late.
Q 28If defensive pass interference happens in the end zone, where does the NFL place the ball?
At the 1
End-zone pass interference puts the ball at the 1 with an automatic first down, so the offense gets a fresh set of downs from a yard out.
Q 29After the two-minute warning, an offensive foul that stops the clock triggers what extra consequence?
A 10-second runoff
After the warning, an offensive foul that stops a running clock also brings a 10-second runoff; the offense can avoid it by spending a timeout, if it has one.
Q 30Under which rules is an untouched runner down when his knee hits the turf?
NCAA only
NCAA only: college rules down a runner whose knee touches the ground, while in the NFL he may get up and keep running unless a defender touched him or he gave himself up.