Western Michigan beat Buffalo on Saturday, 71-68. The game took seven overtimes to finish, tying it for the longest game in the history of the Football Bowl Subdivision. The box score, which you can see in full here, is a work of art.
WMU beats Buffalo in record-tying 7 overtimes, setting new FBS scoring record
The Broncos and Bulls made college football history.
Previously, there had been three games sharing the seven-OT record: 2001 Arkansas-Ole Miss, 2003 Arkansas-Kentucky, and 2006 North Texas-FIU. College football overtime is a blast, but its rules don’t encourage long games, so this almost never happens.
It also breaks 2016 Syracuse-Pitt’s FBS scoring record:
Teams are required to go for two-point conversions on touchdowns after the first two overtime periods, which means frequent chances for the teams to land on different point totals and end the game. Each teams starts with first-and-10 from the opponent’s 25, and trading exactly even point totals for more than a few OT periods is really hard to accomplish.
You’ll note that by the sixth OT on Saturday, there were few fans left at Buffalo’s stadium (even relative to the few fans who show up for MAC games at all):
When the game went to the seventh OT, a Buffalo player noted it this way:
This game took forever, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET and didn’t finish until after 8. It was a long slog and kind of a mess, but those are just features of college football.
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