An Analysis of the Defense First Strategy in College Football Overtime Games

Division 1-A college football adopted overtime rules in 1996. There have been 328 overtime games since, and only four times have coaches opted to go on offense first upon winning the coin toss. Thus, there is an accepted belief that starting on defense first is advantageous, as validated by surveying college coaches. This study examines past game data to analyze whether there is truly an advantage to being on defense first. Results show some support for this idea, but that there may also be situations where not following the defense first strategy is worthwhile. Implications to coaches are discussed.