Why the 25?

Did the college football OT creators decide on the 25-yard line to start OT possessions so OT would not last long? Perhaps, they figured one team would not score a TD and the other team would on their first possession and the game would be over. Or, maybe they wanted to have the ball continuously in "scoring position." Really, I am unable to come up with a justification for the starting position.

In the NFL, they play sudden death (or sudden victory) in OT. People complain about the pro system and label it "unfair" because one team can win the game without giving the other team a shot. Ah ha. Fair. Starting OT possessions 25 yards from a score adds to the inequity in college football.

Each team should get one possession. But, rather than placing the ball at the 25, each team should have to kick off (from the 35) once. This brings special teams into OT to a greater extent. Special teams are, often, an integral phase of a team, so minimizing them to just the FG unit can hurt teams with good return and coverage units.

The more crucial problem with the current system is that you are in scoring position from the beginning. Why is this a problem? Sticking with teams A and B, with A having the ball first, we can look at the current system. If A scores a TD, B then knows it has to score a TD. This does not just factor into 4th down decisions. Obviously, B will not kick a FG on 4th down to, at best, lose by 4. Not only will teams try to convert 4th downs, they have the added benefit of knowing they will go for it on 4th down as they make calls and run plays on previous downs. On 3rd and 1, they might play fake and try to hit a TD pass, knowing that they will have another chance at picking up the first down even if they are unsuccessful on 3rd down.

How does having each team kick off help make it more fair? It does not change the fact that the 2nd team knows what the first team did. B still has an advantage over A, but it's minimized. Why? To score, each team has to put together some sort of drive. So, until A is in FG range, they have the knowledge that they have to go for it on 4th down. Let's say the 25 is the edge of FG range and drives usually start on a team's own 25. It could take four first downs to get into FG range. On each of those sets, the team will know they have four downs to pick up 10 yards whether they have the ball first or have it second. Going second is an advantage at all times in the current system, whereas it is only really advantageous when you are in FG range. So, by making teams kickoff you reduce the percentage of the time when going 2nd is an advantage drastically, from 100% of the field that is in play to 25-40% of the field in play (depending on who your kicker is and where you start the drive after receiving the kickoff). Having teams drive more of the field increases the likelihood of defensive stops and is a better test of football than the hokey, contrived, 25-yard line starting position employed in the current system.