Touchdown
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD[1]) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the football into the opponent's end zone. More specifically, a touchdown is when a player is in possession of the ball, any part of the ball is in the end zone they are attacking, and the player is not down.
For other uses, see Touchdown (disambiguation).
Because of the speed at which football happens, it is often hard for an official to make the correct call based on their vantage point alone. Most professional football leagues, such as the National Football League (NFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL), as well as some college leagues, such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), allow certain types of plays to be reviewed. Among these plays are touchdowns, as well as all other scoring plays, dangerous or unsportsmanlike conduct by players or staff, out-of-bounds calls, the place on the field where the official spots the ball after a play, and turnovers. Coaches can also challenge calls, provided they are made during a play eligible to be reviewed; the only exception is during periods of the game where coaches' challenges are restricted, such as the last two minutes of each half. The NFL and CFL review all scoring plays and turnovers regardless of whether the call was questionable, and therefore do not allow coaches to challenge those plays, either. The NCAA allows Division I FBS teams to review plays throughout the regular season and postseason, while Division I FCS teams can only use it during the playoffs, Division II teams only during the quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship game, and Division III teams only during the semifinals and championship game.[2]
In American football and Canadian football, a touchdown is worth six points and is followed by an extra point or two-point conversion attempt.
When the first uniform rules for American football were enacted by the newly formed Intercollegiate Football Association following the 1876 Rugby season, a touchdown required touching the ball to the ground past the goal line, and counted for 1⁄4 of a kicked goal (except in the case of a tie) and allowed the offense the chance to kick for goal by placekick or dropkick from a spot along a line perpendicular to the goal line and passing through the point where the ball was touched down, or through a process known as a "punt-out", where the attacking team would kick the ball from the point where it was touched down to a teammate. If the teammate could fair catch the ball, he could follow with a try for goal from the spot of the catch, or resume play as normal (in an attempt to touch down the ball in a spot more advantageous for kicking). The governing rule at the time read: "A match shall be decided by a majority of touchdowns. A goal shall be equal to four touchdowns; but in case of a tie a goal kicked from a touchdown shall take precedence over four touchdowns."[6]
The ability to score a touchdown on the point-after attempt (two-point conversion) was added to NCAA football in 1958 and also used in the American Football League during its ten-year run from 1960 to 1969. It was subsequently adopted by high school football in 1969, the CFL in 1975 and the NFL in 1994.[6][7] The short-lived World Football League, a professional American football league that operated in 1974 and 1975, gave touchdowns a seven-point value.