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History Like other modern codes of football, modern American football has its origins in various games, all known as "football", played at public schools in England in the mid-19th century. By the 1840s, students at Rugby School in England were playing a game in which players were able to pick up the ball and ran with it, a sport later known as Rugby football (or rugby). The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there, and was soon being played at Canadian colleges. However, the first game played between teams representing American colleges was played under rules more similar to the 1863 rules of the English Football Association, the basis of the modern form of soccer. The game, between Rutgers University and Princeton University, took place on November 6, 1869 at College Field (now the site of the College Avenue Gymnasium), New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rutgers won, by a score of 6 "runs" to 4. Other colleges followed suit and, for a short time, soccer became the dominant code of "football" at U.S. colleges. Rutgers and Princeton, along with Columbia and Yale, met on 18 October 1873 to establish rules governing their athletic competition, and specifically to codify rules for the emerging sport of football. The American experience with rugby-style games began in 1874 at a meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts between Harvard University and Montreal, Quebec's McGill University. The McGill team played a rugby-style game, while Harvard was isolated from other U.S. colleges by the fact that it played under rules which allowed greater handling of the ball than soccer. The teams agreed to play under compromise rules. The Harvard students took to the rugby rules and adopted them as their own. Walter Camp, known as the "Father of American Football," is credited with changing the game from a variation of rugby into a unique sport. Camp is responsible for pioneering the play from scrimmage (earlier games featured a rugby scrum), most of the modern elements of scoring, the eleven-man team, and the traditional offensive setup of the seven-man line and the four-man backfield. Camp not only shaped the game, but also had a hand in popularizing it. He published numerous articles in publications such as Collier's Weekly and Harper's Weekly and chose the first College Football All-America Team. College football increased in popularity through the remainder of the 19th century. It also became increasingly violent. President Theodore Roosevelt threatened, in 1906, to ban the sport following a series of player deaths from injuries suffered during games. The response to this was the formation of what became the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which set rules governing the sport. One of the resulting rule changes was the introduction of the forward pass. Another was the banning of "mass momentum" plays (many of which, like the infamous "flying wedge", were sometimes literally deadly). Prior to the founding of the National Football League, and for a few decades thereafter, college football was the predominant venue of American football. Innovations in strategy and style of play originated in college football and spread to the pro game gradually. It was not until the post-World War II era that the pro game achieved ascendancy in the eyes of the average American sports fan. Even with the emergence of the NFL, college football remains extremely popular throughout the U.S. Because the accessibility of the pro game is limited to major urban areas, the college game is especially popular in predominantly rural areas; some particularly notable examples of this may be found in Oklahoma, Nebraska, West Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Central Pennsylvania, and throughout the Southern United States. Although the college game has a much larger margin for talent than its pro counterpart, the sheer number of fans following major colleges provides a financial equalizer for the game, with Division I programs playing in, and consistently selling out huge stadiums (several of which have seating capacity exceeding 100,000). In many cases, the college stadiums employ bench-style seating (as oppsed to individual seats with backs and arm rests). This allows them to seat more fans in a given amount of space than the typical pro stadium, which tends to be a bit more luxurious. A lack of a pro franchise is not necessarily an indicator of where the college game is most successful; for example, in California, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Florida -- states which all have multiple NFL franchises -- there are universities that also rank in the upper financial echelons of the college football. It is worth noting that, in many cases, though both collegiate and professional football teams exist in the same state, they often reside in different cities. Though college football is often a source of revenue for the participating university, college athletes, unlike professionals, are unpaid. Though many receive scholarships and financial assistance from the university, the income from these sources is often meager, and certainly not sufficient to support a family. Because of this, the NCAA does not condone students financially supporting their family. Like other students, the NCAA encourages students to use their experiences in college to learn to be financially independent upon graduation. The season schedule The college football season begins two to three weeks earlier than the NFL, toward the end of August. Until 2003, the regular season was officially ushered in by the Kickoff Classic (other pre-season games such as the Eddie Robinson Classic and the Pigskin Classic have also been played). Recent NCAA rules changes have eliminated these games. The regular season continues through early December, ending with the annual Army-Navy Game and several conference championship games on the same weekend. The postseason consists of a series of bowl games that showcase top college teams. Bowl games generally match two teams of similar standing from different conferences, although some pit a high ranked team from a smaller conference against a lower ranked team from a more prestigious one. Division I-A football is the only NCAA sport which doesn't decide its champion with a playoff. In the past, the unofficial national champion was determined by various polls, such as the AP Poll, Coaches Poll, and the United Press International Poll. This system was problematic, as two polls often named different champions. Since 1998, the National Championship has been determined by the Bowl Championship Series. This formula, incorporating numerous computer rankings and human polls, is used to determine the top two teams in the country.• The two teams compete for the championship in one of the BCS bowls, rotating among four bowls every season. This system is not without controversy. Some critics argue that the system unfairly favors teams from large conferences, and that the process used to select the teams can be just as ambiguous as the earlier poll system. Also, to add to the controversy, the Bowl Championship Series champion has not always been the undisputed national champion; for example, in 2003, the Associated Press and Bowl Championship Series chose different champions, which is precisely what the system was designed to prevent. However, most years do have a consensus national champion. The season concludes with series of all-star bowl games in January. These include the East-West Shrine Game, the Gridiron Classic, the Hula Bowl, and the Senior Bowl. However, the Gridiron Classic was recently declared canceled for 2006 due to lack of sponsorship.• The length of the season has gradually increased over the course of the game's history. In spring 2005, the NCAA ruled that teams could schedule twelve regular-season games (up from eleven) beginning in the 2006 season.• This decision was met with some criticism from those who claimed that expanding the season would overwork the athletes. In the spring, many colleges stage a scrimmage between their offensive and defensive players. The spring game generally comes at the conclusion of spring practice. Rules Although rules for the high school, college, and NFL games are generally consistent, there are some differences. The NCAA determines the regulations for Division I-A, I-AA, II, and III games (The NAIA is a separate organization). Some unique rules are: For a more general discussion of football rules, see The rules of American football. National championships NCAA Division I-A
NCAA Division I-AA
NCAA Division II NCAA Division III Defunct Conferences and Teams NAIA Conferences College Bowl Games Bowl Championship Series Other Current Bowl Games All-Star Games College football awards See also Notes | |||||||||||||
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