Comparison of American football and rugby union
A rugby union game is divided into two halves of 40 minutes (or shorter for lower-grade games, and breaks given halfway through each half if playing conditions are considered to be extreme) separated by a half time period of up to 15 minutes in an international match. Most notably, a rugby union game will continue after the scheduled end of a half (half-time or full-time) until the ball becomes dead - any occurrence that would have play restart with a scrum or lineout, or when a team scores. This has led to some "nail-biting" finishes where teams losing by only a small margin work their way towards scoring, and games can go on several minutes over time. Something similar can occur at the end of either half in American football, though usually for only a few seconds of additional time, because a play that begins before the half expires continues until the ball is dead regardless of whether there is any time left on the clock. In both sports, the clock is also stopped during substitutions and for injuries, so the referee does not need to add stoppage time as is done in soccer/Association football. American football games are made up of four quarters of 15 minutes each (less at the high school and youth levels), but the clock stops and starts according to specific rules, so that a 15-minute quarter lasts much longer.
SEC Championship Game
Matchups that have occurred more than once:
Division standings are based on each team's overall conference record. The SEC Commissioner's Regulations requires each football team play all eight conference games in a season in order to be eligible to compete for a divisional title and play in the SEC Championship Game. Often, two or more teams tie for the best record in their division and each team is recognized as a divisional co-champion. However, tiebreakers are used to determine who will represent the division in the championship game."NOTE: Although all division rivals meet during the season and NCAA overtime is played, the SEC has provisions in case a game ends in a tie, which is possible under NCAA Rule 3-3-3 (c.2) and (d), Suspending the Game, and Commissioner's Regulations (including a tie game after the end of three periods, at the point the game is suspended in the fourth period, or end of regulation, or if one team had played their overtime period but the opponent had not played, when the game reaches the conference curfew of 1:30 a.m. local time), or if the two tied teams did not play an official game because of weather (including a game that ends before the end of three periods), which is possible because numerous conference teams have had games affected by hurricanes but also lightning. As such, SEC rules, written before overtime was implemented in regular season play, still contain the remaining procedures if those circumstances were to happen."Currently the SEC champion plays in the Sugar Bowl unless they have been selected to play in a College Football Playoff semi-final bowl. In the SEC Championship Game era, eleven winners of the game have gone on to win the national title (outright or shared), with thirteen SEC teams winning national titles overall, including seven consecutive titles from the 2006–2012 seasons. There are two occasions when the SEC champion advanced to the BCS or CFP but lost to another SEC team which won the national championship: In 2011 LSU won the SEC Championship Game and advanced to the BCS National Championship Game which they lost 21–0 to fellow SEC member Alabama, and in 2017 Georgia won the SEC Championship Game and advanced to the College Football Playoff, defeating Oklahoma in the semifinal and advancing to the CFP final game, which they lost 26–23 in overtime to SEC member Alabama.