Oregon vs Ohio State College National Championship Football Squares Free Printable

The first national championship for college football will be taking place Monday, January 12 between the Oregon Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes. While it’s yet to be seen how popular this event will become, it has the makings to create the hype and interest to become a mini Super Bowl. With college football fans gathered around the TV, it’s also a great opportunity to play football squares to make the game more interesting for all those involved. Below you’ll find a basic overview of how the college national championship football squares is played.

Print the National Championship Football Squares Chart

The first step is create a 10 x 10 football squares chart. The easiest way to do that is to simply print the free Oregon Ducks – Ohio State Buckeyes football square chart below (click on the image below for printable chart)

Choose a Value for the Squares

If you are doing a bit of friendly wagering, you’ll need to choose a value for each football square. This is the amount of money each person who will participate in the game will need to pay for each square they claim. The value of each square is completely up to you and the group you will be playing with. Some examples and what the total pool amount are:

• 10 cent squares would make for a 10 dollar pool
• 25 cent squares would make for a 25 dollar pool
• 50 cent squares would make for a 50 dollar pool
• $1 squares would make for a 100 dollar pool
• $2 squares would make for a 200 dollar pool
• $5 squares would make for a 500 dollar pool
• $10 squares would make for a 1,000 dollar pool

Playing for money is completely optional. Many people choose not to charge an amount for each square, and instead buy small prizes they give away to the winner for each quarter or at the end of the game.

Claiming the Squares

The first step is to place numbers across the top and down the side of the football square chart, to have all those participating claim all of the 100 spaces inside the chart. The most common way to do this is to have people initial the space(s) they want, but another option is to assign each person a number or a color. The most important aspect is everyone playing can easily identify who “owns” each square.

Randomly Assign Numbers 0 – 9

There’s a specific reason you assign the participants squares before randomly assigning numbers to the top row and left side row of the chart. The reason is certain numbers (0, 3, 7) are much more likely to appear in football scores than other numbers (2, 5). If participants knew where the numbers were before filling in all the squares, those writing their initials first would have a huge advantage over those who filled in their squares after them. Most people randomize the numbers by picking them out of a container. By doing this after all the squares have been assigned, the participants who get the most coveted numbers are determined by luck.

Decide How to Award Prizes

There are a variety of ways to award the prizes. In most cases a small prize is given for the score after each quarter of the football game, with a larger prize going to the winning square at the end of the game. Another option is to give the same prize for each quarter throughout the game, or to just give a prize to the person with the winning square at the end of the game. Below you can see some of the prize distribution options:

Determining Winners

The way to determine the winner in football squares is look at the last number of the score for both teams. For example, if the score is Oregon 14 and Ohio State 17 after the first quarter, you would take the “4” column from the Ducks side and “7” from the Buckeyes side. You then use your fingers to run the lines together until they meet. Where they meet is the winning square. Follow the same process at half-time, after the third quarter and the final score of the game.