A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy. College football was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States. College football remains extremely popular today among students, alumni, and other fans of the sport. Contents 1 History 2 The season schedule 3 Rules 4 National championships 5 NCAA divisions and conferences 5.1 NCAA Division I-A 5.2 NCAA Division I-AA 5.3 NCAA Division II 5.4 NCAA Division III 5.5 Defunct Conferences and Teams 6 NAIA Conferences 7 College Bowl Games 7.1 Bowl Championship Series 7.2 Other Current Bowl Games 7.3 All-Star Games 8 College football awards 9 See also 10 External links History A college football game between Texas Tech University and the U.S. Naval Academy. The first game played between teams representing different colleges or universities was played on November 6, 1869 between Rutgers University and Princeton University, at College Field (now the site of the College Avenue Gymnasium), New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rutgers won, by a score of 6 to 4. As the score would seemingly indicate, the game bore little resemblance to the game of today. The rules of that game were the 1863 rules of the English Football Association, the basis of the modern form of soccer. The development of the American game can be traced to a meeting between the Harvard University and McGill University football teams in 1874. The two teams were used to playing different brands of football — the McGill team played a rugby-style game, while Harvard played a soccer-style game. The teams agreed to play under compromise rules, and from this meeting the game of football began to evolve in both the United States and Canada. 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 more rural areas; some particularly notable examples of this may be found in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Alabama and Iowa. Although the college game has a much larger margin for talent than its pro counterpart, the sheer number of fans following major college 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). However, 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 and Florida -- states which all have multiple NFL franchises -- there are universities that also rank in the upper financial echelons of the college football. Generally, college games are played on Saturdays, while professional games happen on Sundays. This arrangement has allowed the two games to flourish simultaneously, rather than compete with one another. 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 policy changes have eliminated some of 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 Associated Press Poll, CNN/USA Today 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 four BCS bowls. 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. 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 cancelled 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, I-AA, II, and III games (The NAIA is a separate organization). Some unique rules are: A pass is ruled complete if one of the receiver's feet is inbounds at the time of the catch. In the NFL, both feet must be inbounds. A player is considered down when any part of his body other than the feet or hands touches the ground. In the NFL a player is active until he is tackled by a member of the opposing team. The game-clock is stopped when a first down is achieved, until the first-down markers are moved to the new line of scrimmage. When a game goes to overtime, each team is given one possession from its opponent's twenty-five yard line. The leader after those possessions is declared the winner. This continues, switching the order of possessions for each overtime, until one team leads the other at the end of the overtime. Extra points do not count from the 3rd overtime on, making it necessary for teams scoring touchdowns to attempt a two-point conversion. Two-point conversions are attempted from the three yard line. The NFL uses the two yard line. For a more general discussion of football rules, see The rules of American football. National championships NCAA Division I-A national football champions NCAA Division I-AA national football championship NCAA Division I-AA Year-by-year playoff results NCAA Division II national football championship NCAA Division III national football championship NAIA national football championship NCAA divisions and conferences NCAA Division I-A Atlantic Coast Conference Big East Conference Big Ten Conference Big 12 Conference Conference USA Mid-American Conference Mountain West Conference Pacific Ten Conference Southeastern Conference Sun Belt Conference Western Athletic Conference NCAA Division I-A Independent Schools NCAA Division I-AA Atlantic Ten Conference, will be replaced by Colonial Athletic Association starting in 2007 Big Sky Conference Big South Conference Gateway Football Conference Great West Football Conference Ivy League Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Northeast Conference Ohio Valley Conference Patriot League Pioneer Football League Southern Conference Southland Conference Southwestern Athletic Conference NCAA Division I-AA Independent Schools NCAA Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Great Northwest Athletic Conference Gulf South Conference Lone Star Conference Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association North Central Conference Northeast Ten Conference Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference South Atlantic Conference Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference NCAA Division II independent schools NCAA Division III American Southwest Conference Atlantic Central Football Conference College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Centennial Conference Freedom Football Conference Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Illini-Badger Football Conference Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Middle Atlantic Corporation Midwest Conference Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference New England Football Conference New England Small College Athletic Conference New Jersey Athletic Conference North Coast Athletic Conference Northwest Athletic Conference Ohio Athletic Conference Old Dominion Athletic Conference Presidents' Athletic Conference Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference University Athletic Association Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association USA South Athletic Conference Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference NCAA Division III independent schools Defunct Conferences and Teams List of defunct Division I football teams List of defunct college football conferences List of Division I schools that have never sponsored football NAIA Conferences Central States Football League Dakota Athletic Conference Frontier Conference Great Plains Athletic Conference Heart of America Athletic Conference Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Mid-South Conference Mid-States Football Association Upper Midwest Athletic Conference NAIA independent schools College Bowl Games Bowl Championship Series Fiesta Bowl Orange Bowl Rose Bowl Sugar Bowl Other Current Bowl Games Alamo Bowl Capital One Bowl Champs Sports Bowl Cotton Bowl Emerald Bowl Fort Worth Bowl Gator Bowl GMAC Bowl Hawaii Bowl Holiday Bowl Houston Bowl Independence Bowl Insight Bowl Las Vegas Bowl Liberty Bowl Meineke Car Care Bowl Motor City Bowl MPC Computers Bowl Music City Bowl New Orleans Bowl Outback Bowl Peach Bowl Poinsettia Bowl Sun Bowl All-Star Games Senior Bowl East-West Shrine Game Hula Bowl List of college bowl games, including defunct bowls and non-Division I games College football awards Bronko Nagurski Trophy - outstanding defensive player Buck Buchanan Award - outstanding Division I-AA defensive player College Football All-America Team - originally selected by Walter Camp. Chuck Bednarik Award - outstanding defensive player Dave Rimington Trophy - outstanding center Davey O'Brien Award - outstanding quarterback Dick Butkus Award - outstanding linebacker Doak Walker Award - outstanding running back Fred Biletnikoff Award - outstanding wide receiver Gagliardi Trophy - outstanding Division III player Grantland Rice Award - Division I national champion Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award - outstanding senior quarterback Lou Groza Award - outstanding placekicker Harlon Hill Trophy - outstanding Division II player Heisman Trophy - player of the year Lombardi Award - outstanding offensive or defensive lineman Manning Award - outstanding quarterback Maxwell Award - player of the year Mosi Tatupu Award - outstanding special teams player Outland Trophy - outstanding offensive or defensive interior lineman Paul "Bear" Bryant Award - outstanding head coach Walter Payton Award - outstanding Division I-AA offensive player Jim Thorpe Award - outstanding defensive back See also Bowl Championship Series College Football Hall of Fame College rivalries External links NCAA football official site NCAA football section NCAA football stats An account of the first game Don Hansen's Football Gazette I-AA College Football Weekly Preview A round-up of the academic studies regarding the benefits of a strong collegiate athletic program Bowl Championship Series A site devoted to schools which no longer play football College Football Hall of Fame College Football Rankings and Picks 2005-06 Division I-A College football Bowl Game season: New Orleans (Dec. 20) | GMAC (Dec. 21) | Poinsettia (Dec. 22) | Las Vegas (Dec. 22) | Fort Worth (Dec. 23) | Hawaii (Dec. 24) | Motor City (Dec. 26) | Champs Sports (Dec. 27) | Insight (Dec. 27) | MPC Computers (Dec. 28) | Alamo (Dec. 28) | Emerald (Dec. 29) | Holiday (Dec. 29) | Music City (Dec. 30) | Sun (Dec. 30) | Independence (Dec. 30) | Peach (Dec. 30) | Meineke Car Care (Dec. 31) | Liberty (Dec. 31) | Houston (Dec. 31) | Outback (Jan. 2) | Cotton (Jan. 2) | Gator (Jan. 2) | Capital One (Jan. 2) Bowl Championship Series games: Sugar Bowl (Jan. 2) Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 2) Orange Bowl (Jan. 3) Rose Bowl (Jan. 4) Post-BCS All-Star Games: East-West Shrine Game (Jan. 21) | Hula Bowl (Jan. 21) | Senior Bowl (Jan. 28) Search Term: "College_football" Categories: American football | College football | Intercollegiate athletics in the United States