How come in College football you can have two people with the same number?

Question

I am watching the Ohio State vs. Youngstown State game, and so far i have seen two number 1s. and two number 2s. So just wondering why you can have two people with the same number.

Answer 1

Because of two reasons:

1.  Getting as many people into the game as possible is a good thing - particularly for platooning and "walk-ons".

2.  No jersey number can have more than two digits.

When there is more than one player wearing the same number, they cannot be on the field at the same time.  Officials are always notified in advance of number doubles.

Answer 2

mostly because many schools can dress into the 100's of players for home games.  There is going to be overlapping numbers somewhere.  Plus Ohio State has "retired" certain numbers like 45 and 31 which doesn't help.  Though the players with the same number cannot be on the field at the same time.