Why Touchdowns Are Worth Six Points

In the beginning, there were field goals, and referees said they were good, but only when they flew over the rope strung between two posts.

Rugby and football in the 1870s were pushing, shoving, and kicking games in which the ball sometimes popped out from the mass of players in the maul, allowing a back to pick it up and run with it. Teams did not receive credit for touchdowns. Instead, touchdowns had value because they led to free kicks, while goals kicked from the field (field goals) were contested.

Football treated all goals equally. Whether kicked from the field or after a touchdown, all goals were equal, and the team kicking the most goals won the match. (The number of "safety touchdowns" helped determine the winner when teams kicked an equal number of goals.)

Walter Camp devised a points-based scoring system in 1883 that reflected how Americans playing rugby/football increasingly valued running with the ball rather than kicking it. The chart below shows the history of scoring changes in college football.