Okay, so, I’ve been getting into football lately, both college and NFL. And something kept bugging me – do they use the same size ball? It might seem like a dumb question, but I was genuinely curious. So, I started digging around to figure this out.
First, I grabbed a standard NFL football we had lying around the house. I measured it, end to end, and it came out to be around 11 inches. Then, I remembered seeing something about the weight online, so I tossed it on our kitchen scale, and sure enough, it was about 14 ounces, give or take.
Next, I went down a rabbit hole online, looking up info about college footballs. Turns out, they can be a tad smaller. Most places said college balls could be anywhere from 10.5 to 11.25 inches long. A bit of a wider range than the NFL, that’s for sure. It seems like they are not as strict about it. I also found that the official NFL football size is 28-28.5 inches long-ways, while the college is 27-28.5 inches long-ways, and it can be different dependin’ on who made it.
Then I tried to compare the circumference ’cause that’s what really matters when you’re gripping the ball, right? I didn’t have the right tools to measure this, so I had to rely on what I found online. Here is what I got:
- NFL: 28-28.5 inches in circumference, longways.
- College: 27-28.5 inches, also longways. And like I just said, it can change depending on the maker.
So, yeah, there’s a bit of a difference. Not huge, but definitely there. I even stumbled upon some articles talking about how quarterback hand size is a big deal in the NFL combines. It makes sense – bigger hands, better grip, especially with that slightly larger ball.
My conclusion
After all this “research” (and by research, I mean mostly Googling and measuring stuff around my house), I realized that the size difference isn’t massive. Still, it is interesting how even these small changes can matter at the professional level. It also got me thinking about all the other little things that differ between college and pro football. It’s a whole different ball game, literally!
