Is 6 1 possible in football?

Can a Football Game End 6-1? Here's the Real Answer

You’ve probably seen wild football scores—last-second field goals, blowouts, and even defensive showdowns ending in odd numbers. But can a game really end 6-1? At first glance, it sounds off. After all, most scoring in football comes in chunks of 3 (field goals), 6 (touchdowns), or 7 (touchdowns with extra points). But the truth is a bit more nuanced.

The answer lies in how scoring rules work. A safety—when the defense tackles an offensive player in their own end zone—counts for two points. But there’s also a rarely used possibility: the one-point safety. This can only happen during a conversion attempt after a touchdown, if the defense fumbles the ball into their own end zone and the offensive team recovers it but is tackled there. That’s where a single point for the defense comes into play.

Here’s the catch: a one-point safety can only occur if the other team first scores a touchdown. That means a team can’t score a single point out of nowhere. So, scores like 1–0, 2–1, or even 5–1 are impossible in American football. But a final score like 6–1? That’s a different story. If one team scores a touchdown (6 points), and the other team earns a one-point safety during the ensuing extra point attempt, then yes—6–1 becomes possible, at least in theory.

Has it ever happened? Not in the NFL. But the rule exists, and college football once recorded a one-point safety in a 2013 game between Baylor and West Virginia, though it wasn’t the final score. So while 6–1 might never show up on a scoreboard again, it’s not ruled out by the rules—just by probability.