View source for College football

{{Short description|College version of American/Canadian football}}
{{about|gridiron football played at an amateur level}}
{{redirect|NCAA football|the video game series|College Football (video game series){{!}}''NCAA Football'' (video game series)}}
{{Distinguish|College soccer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox sport overview
| title = College football
| image = [[File:US Navy 051203-N-2383B-223 U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman fullback Adam Ballard (22) rushes for one of two touchdowns while being persued by Army defenders Cason Shrode (54) and Taylor Justice (42).jpg|250px]]
| caption = [[Navy Midshipmen football|Navy]] fullback Adam Ballard (#22) rushes while being pursued by [[Army Black Knights football|Army]] defenders Cason Shrode (#54) and Taylor Justice (#42) in the 2005 [[Army–Navy Game]], a college football rivalry in the U.S.
| union = {{plainlist|
* [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]]
* [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics|NAIA]]
* [[National Christian College Athletic Association|NCCAA]]
* [[National Junior College Athletic Association|NJCAA]]
* [[United States Collegiate Athletic Association|USCAA]]
* [[California Community College Athletic Association|CCCAA]]
}}
| country = 
| sport = [[American football]],
[[Canadian football]]
| noncountry = 
| nickname = 
| first = [[1869 college football season|1869]]
| registered = 
| clubs = <!-- COMPETITIONS -->
| national_list = 
| club_list = {{plainlist|
'''NCAA''':
* [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS|Division I (FBS)]]
* [[College Football Playoff National Championship|Playoff National (FBS)]]
* [[College Football Playoff|Playoff (FBS)]]
* [[NCAA Division I Football Championship|Division I (FCS)]]
* [[NCAA Division II football championship|Division II]]
* [[NCAA Division III football championship|Division III]]
'''NAIA''':
* [[NAIA Football National Championship|National Championship]]
'''NJCAA''':
* [[NJCAA National Football Championship|National Championship]]
}}
| intl_list = <!-- AUDIENCE RECORDS -->
| match = 156,990 ([[Tennessee Volunteers football|Tennessee]] [[Battle at Bristol|45–24]] [[Virginia Tech Hokies football|Virginia Tech]] at [[Bristol Motor Speedway]]), 10 Sep 2016<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2019/Attend.pdf|title=Attendance Records|date=September 29, 2019|website=fs.ncaa.org|access-date=September 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929235715/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2019/Attend.pdf|archive-date=September 29, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
| league = <!-- FAN GROUPS -->
| fan_org = 
}}

'''College football''' is [[gridiron football]] that is played by teams of amateur [[Student athlete|student-athletes]] at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football [[American football in the United States|first gained popularity in the United States]].

Like gridiron football generally, college football is most popular in the United States and Canada. While no single governing body exists for college football in the United States, most schools, especially those at the highest levels of play, are members of the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA). In Canada, collegiate football competition is governed by [[U Sports]] for universities. The [[Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association]] (for colleges) governs soccer and other sports but not gridiron football. Other countries, such as [[Organización Nacional Estudiantil de Fútbol Americano|Mexico]], [[American football in Japan|Japan]] and [[Korea American Football Association|South Korea]], also host college football leagues with modest levels of support.

Unlike most other major [[sports in North America]], no official [[minor league]] [[Farm team|farm organizations]] exist for [[American football]] or [[Canadian football]]. Therefore, college football is generally considered to be the second tier of American and Canadian football; ahead of [[High school football|high school competition]], but below [[Professional gridiron football|professional competition]]. In some parts of the United States, especially the [[Southern United States|South]] and [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], college football is more popular than professional football.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Koo |first=Ben |date=August 3, 2017 |title=The Electoral map of football: The NFL vs. college football |url=http://thecomeback.com/nfl/the-electoral-map-of-football-the-nfl-vs-college-football.html |access-date=November 19, 2017 |work=The Comeback}}</ref> For much of the 20th century, college football was generally considered to be more prestigious than professional football.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-04-30 |title=American football - College, Golden Age, Rules {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/sports/American-football/College-footballs-golden-age |access-date=2025-06-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

The overwhelming majority of professional football players in the [[National Football League]] (NFL) and other leagues previously played college football. The [[NFL draft]] each spring sees 224 players selected and offered a contract to play in the league, with the vast majority coming from the NCAA. Other professional leagues, such as the [[Canadian Football League]] (CFL) and [[United Football League (2024)|United Football League]] (UFL), hold their own drafts each year which also see primarily college players selected. Players who are not selected can still attempt to obtain a professional roster spot as an [[Free agent#Undrafted|undrafted free agent]]. Despite these opportunities, only around 1.6% of NCAA college football players end up playing professionally in the NFL.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 20, 2020 |title=Football: Probability of competing beyond high school |url=https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2015/2/27/football-probability-of-competing-beyond-high-school.aspx |access-date=December 4, 2023 |website=ncaa.org}}</ref>

==History==
{{see also|History of American football|History of Canadian football}}{{Summarize section|date=December 2023}}
Even after the emergence of the professional [[National Football League]] (NFL), college football has remained extremely popular throughout the U.S.<ref>[http://sev.prnewswire.com/sports/20070109/NYTU17309012007-1.html While Still the Nation's Favorite Sport, Professional Football Drops in Popularity – Baseball and college football are next in popularity] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902220050/http://sev.prnewswire.com/sports/20070109/NYTU17309012007-1.html |date=September 2, 2007 }} at the Harris Interactive website, accessed January 28, 2010.</ref> 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 – the highest level – playing in huge stadiums, six of which have seating capacity exceeding 100,000 people.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The 25 biggest college football stadiums in the country {{!}} NCAA.com|url=https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2018-07-30/25-biggest-college-football-stadiums-country|access-date=2022-02-22|website=www.ncaa.com|language=en}}</ref> In many cases, college stadiums employ bench-style seating, as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests (although many stadiums do have a small number of chair back seats in addition to the bench seating). This allows them to seat more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium, which tends to have more features and comforts for fans. Only three stadiums owned by U.S. colleges or universities, [[L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium|L&N Stadium]] at the [[Louisville Cardinals football|University of Louisville]], [[Center Parc Stadium]] at [[Georgia State Panthers football|Georgia State University]], and [[FAU Stadium]] at [[Florida Atlantic Owls football|Florida Atlantic University]], consist entirely of chair back seating.

College athletes, unlike players in the NFL, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries. Colleges are only allowed to provide non-monetary compensation such as [[athletic scholarship]]s that provide for tuition, housing, and books. With new bylaws made by the NCAA, college athletes can now receive [[Name, image and likeness|"name, image, and likeness"]] (NIL) deals, a way to get sponsorships and money before their pro debut.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://journals.humankinetics.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/AcuCustom/SiteName/Documents/DocumentItem/3972.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530212851/http://journals.humankinetics.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/AcuCustom/SiteName/Documents/DocumentItem/3972.pdf |archive-date=2013-05-30 |url-status=live |title=University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries |publisher=Journals.humankinetics.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu |access-date=December 18, 2012}}</ref>

===Rugby football in Great Britain and Canada===
Modern North American football has its origins in various games, all known as "football", played at [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public schools]] in Great Britain in the mid-19th century. By the 1840s, students at [[Rugby School]] were playing a game in which players were able to pick up the ball and run with it, a sport later known as [[rugby football]]. The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there and was soon being played at Canadian colleges.

The first documented gridiron football game was played at [[University College, University of Toronto|University College]], a college of the [[University of Toronto]], on November 9, 1861. One of the participants in the game involving [[University of Toronto]] students was [[William Mulock]], later chancellor of the school. A football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play then are unclear.

In 1864, at [[Trinity College (University of Toronto)|Trinity College]], also a college of the University of Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football. Modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the [[Montreal Football Club]] was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club in Canada.

===American college football===
Early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional "[[Medieval football|mob football]]" played in Great Britain. The games remained largely unorganized until the 19th century, when [[Intramural sports|intramural]] games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football. [[Princeton University]] students played a game called "ballown" as early as 1820.<ref>{{Cite web |last=UntilDays.com |last2=Team |first2=UntilDays |date=2017-04-17 |title=2025-How many days until College Football Starts? Untildays.com |url=https://www.untildays.com/until-college-football/ |access-date=2025-10-18 |website=Untildays.com |language=en-US}}</ref> 

In 1827, a [[Harvard University|Harvard]] tradition known as "Bloody Monday" began, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes. In 1860, both the town police and the college authorities agreed the Bloody Monday had to go. Harvard students responded by going into mourning for a mock figure called "Football Fightum", for whom they conducted funeral rites. The authorities held firm, and it was another dozen years before football was once again played at Harvard. [[Dartmouth College|Dartmouth]] played its own version called "[[Old division football]]", the rules of which were first published in 1871, though the game dates to at least the 1830s. All of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities. They remained largely "mob" style games, with huge numbers of players attempting to advance the ball into a goal area, often by any means necessary. Rules were simple, and violence and injury were common.<ref name=PFRA1/><ref name=ODF>{{cite web | last = Meacham | first = Scott | title = Old Division Football, The Indigenous Mob Soccer Of Dartmouth College (pdf) | publisher = dartmo.com | year = 2006 | url = http://www.dartmo.com/football/Football_Meacham.pdf | access-date = May 16, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061009084613/http://www.dartmo.com/football/Football_Meacham.pdf | archive-date = October 9, 2006 | url-status = live }}</ref> The violence of these mob-style games led to widespread protests and a decision to abandon them. [[Yale]], under pressure from the city of [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]], banned the play of all forms of football in 1860.<ref name=PFRA1/>

American football historian [[Parke H. Davis]] described the period between 1869 and 1875 as the 'Pioneer Period'; the years 1876–93 he called the 'Period of the American Intercollegiate Football Association'; and the years 1894–1933 he dubbed the "Period of Rules Committees and Conferences".<ref name=UND>{{cite web|url=http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/nd-m-fb-a-nattit.html|title=Notre Dame Football :: UND.COM :: The Official Site of Notre Dame Athletics|access-date=December 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223190232/http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/nd-m-fb-a-nattit.html|archive-date=December 23, 2015}}</ref>

====Princeton–Columbia–Yale–Rutgers====
{{main|1869 college football season}}
{{multiple image
|header = The first game
|align  =
|total_width  =300
|image1 = The first game rutgers targum nov 1869.jpg
|image2 = Birthplace of College football plaque (cropped).jpg
|footer = '''Left''': "The Foot-Ball Match", a news article on the first college football game ever played, published in ''[[The Daily Targum|The Targum]]'', the [[Rutgers University]] student newspaper, in November 1869. '''Right''': A plaque on College Avenue on the campus of Rutgers University in [[New Brunswick, New Jersey]] commemorating the location where the first college football game was played.
}}
On November 6, 1869, [[Rutgers Scarlet Knights football|Rutgers University]] faced [[Princeton Tigers football|Princeton University]], then known as the College of New Jersey, in [[1869 New Jersey vs. Rutgers football game|the first collegiate football game]]. The game more closely resembled soccer than [[American football|football]] as it is played in the 21st century. It was played with a [[ball (association football)|round ball]], and used a set of rules suggested by Rutgers captain [[William J. Leggett]], based on [[The Football Association]]'s [[laws of the Game (association football)|first set of rules]], which were an early attempt by the former pupils of England's public schools, to unify the rules of their various public schools.<ref name=PFRA1/><ref name=histfoot>{{cite web | title = The History of Football | work=The History of Sports | publisher=Saperecom | year = 2007 | url = http://www.historyoffootball.net/ | access-date =May 15, 2007}}</ref><ref name="NFL1869">{{cite web | title = NFL History3039–1910 | work = NFL.com | publisher = NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910 | access-date = May 15, 2007 | archive-date = January 2, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080102045951/http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=1800s |work=Rutgers Through The Years |publisher=Rutgers University |url=http://ruweb.rutgers.edu/timeline/1800.htm |access-date=May 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070120202924/http://ruweb.rutgers.edu/timeline/1800.htm |archive-date=January 20, 2007}}</ref> 

The game was played at a Rutgers Field in [[New Brunswick, New Jersey]]. Two teams of 25 players attempted to score by kicking the ball into the opposing team's goal. Throwing or carrying the ball was not allowed, but there was plenty of physical contact between players. The first team to reach six goals was declared the winner. Rutgers won by a score of six to four. A rematch was played at Princeton a week later under Princeton's own set of rules (one notable difference was the awarding of a "free kick" to any player that caught the ball on the fly, which was a feature adopted from The Football Association's rules; the [[fair catch kick]] rule has survived through to modern American game). Princeton won that game by a score of 8 – 0. [[Columbia University|Columbia]] joined the series in 1870 and by 1872 several schools were fielding intercollegiate teams, including Yale and [[Stevens Institute of Technology]].<ref name=PFRA1/>

[[Columbia University]] was the third school to field a team. The Lions traveled from New York City to New Brunswick on November 12, 1870, and were defeated by Rutgers 6 to 3. The game suffered from disorganization and the players kicked and battled each other as much as the ball. Later in 1870, Princeton and Rutgers played again with Princeton defeating Rutgers 6–0. This game's violence caused such an outcry that no games at all were played in 1871. Football came back in 1872, when Columbia played Yale for the first time. The Yale team was coached and captained by David Schley Schaff, who had learned to play football while attending [[Rugby School]]. Schaff himself was injured and unable to play the game, but Yale won the game 3–0 nonetheless. Later in 1872, Stevens Tech became the fifth school to field a team. Stevens lost to Columbia, but beat both New York University and City College of New York during the following year.

By 1873, the college students playing football had made significant efforts to standardize their fledgling game. Teams had been scaled down from 25 players to 20. The only way to score was still to bat or kick the ball through the opposing team's goal, and the game was played in two 45-minute halves on fields 140 yards long and 70 yards wide. On October 20, 1873, representatives from Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City to codify the first set of intercollegiate football rules. Before this meeting, each school had its own set of rules and games were usually played using the home team's own particular code. At this meeting, a list of rules, based more on the Football Association's rules than the rules of the recently founded [[Rugby Football Union]], was drawn up for intercollegiate football games.<ref name=PFRA1/>

====Harvard–McGill (1874)====
{{main|1874 Harvard vs. McGill football game}}
[[File:HarvardMcGill.jpg|thumb|The [[1874 Harvard vs. McGill football game|McGill vs. Harvard football game]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] in 1874; Harvard won 3–0.]]
Old "Football Fightum" had been resurrected at [[Harvard University|Harvard]] in 1872, when Harvard resumed playing football. Harvard, however, preferred to play a rougher version of football called "the Boston Game" in which the kicking of a round ball was the most prominent feature though a player could run with the ball, pass it, or dribble it (known as "babying"). The man with the ball could be tackled, although hitting, tripping, "hacking" and other unnecessary roughness was prohibited. There was no limit to the number of players, but there were typically ten to fifteen per side. A player could carry the ball only when being pursued.

As a result of this, Harvard refused to attend the rules conference organized by Rutgers, Princeton and Columbia at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City on October 20, 1873, to agree on a set of rules and regulations that would allow them to play a form of football that was essentially Association football; and continued to play under its own code. While Harvard's voluntary absence from the meeting made it hard for them to schedule games against other American universities, it agreed to a challenge to play the rugby team of [[McGill University]], from [[Montreal]], in a two-game series. It was agreed that two games would be played on Harvard's Jarvis baseball field in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] on May 14 and 15, 1874: one to be played under Harvard rules, another under the stricter [[rugby union|rugby]] regulations of McGill. Jarvis Field was at the time a patch of land at the northern point of the Harvard campus, bordered by Everett and Jarvis Streets to the north and south, and Oxford Street and Massachusetts Avenue to the east and west. Harvard beat McGill in the "Boston Game" on the Thursday and held McGill to a 0–0 tie on the Friday. The Harvard students took to the rugby rules and adopted them as their own,<ref name=PFRA1>{{cite book | chapter = No Christian End! | title = The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889 | publisher = Professional Football Researchers Association | chapter-url = http://www.profootballresearchers.com/articles/No_Christian_End.pdf | access-date = January 26, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150402124846/http://www.profootballresearchers.com/articles/No_Christian_End.pdf | archive-date = April 2, 2015 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.athletics.mcgill.ca/varsity_sports_article.ch2?article_id=111 Infamous 1874 McGill-Harvard game turns 132] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206062313/http://www.athletics.mcgill.ca/varsity_sports_article.ch2?article_id=111 |date=December 6, 2006 }} at McGill Athletics, published by McGill University (no further authorship information available). This article incorporates text from the ''McGill University Gazette'' (April 1874), two issues of ''The Montreal Gazette'' (May 14 and 19, 1874). Accessed January 29, 2007.</ref><ref name=davis>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/football002320mbp#page/n77/mode/2up|title=Football, the American intercollegiate game|page=64|author=Parke H. Davis|author-link=Parke H. Davis}}</ref> The games featured a round ball instead of a rugby-style oblong ball.<ref name=davis/> This series of games represents an important milestone in the development of the modern game of American football.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/athletics/newsroom/spotlight/item/?item_id=106694 |title=Spotlight Athletics |publisher=Mcgill.ca |date=May 14, 2012 |access-date=October 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018211559/http://www.mcgill.ca/athletics/newsroom/spotlight/item/?item_id=106694 |archive-date=October 18, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Parke H. Davis '93 On Harvard Football|page=583|journal=Princeton Alumni Weekly|volume=16|date=March 29, 1916|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ThJbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA583|via=[[Google books]]}}</ref> In October 1874, the Harvard team once again traveled to Montreal to play McGill in rugby, where they won by three tries.

In as much as Rugby football had been transplanted to Canada from England, the McGill team played under a set of rules which allowed a player to pick up the ball and run with it whenever he wished. Another rule, unique to McGill, was to count [[Try (rugby)|tries]] (the act of grounding the football past the opposing team's goal line; there was no end zone during this time), as well as goals, in the scoring. In the Rugby rules of the time, a try only provided the attempt to kick a free goal from the field. If the kick was missed, the try did not score any points itself.

====Harvard–Tufts, Harvard–Yale (1875)====
Harvard quickly took a liking to the rugby game, and its use of the [[Try (rugby)|try]] which, until that time, was not used in American football. The try would later evolve into the score known as the [[touchdown]]. On June 4, 1875, Harvard faced [[Tufts University]] in the first game between two American colleges played under rules similar to the McGill/Harvard contest, which was won by Tufts 1–0.<ref>Gardner (1996){{full citation needed|date=June 2021}}</ref> The rules included each side fielding 11 men at any given time, the ball was advanced by kicking or carrying it, and tackles of the ball carrier stopped play – actions of which have carried over to the modern version of football played today.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gridiron gridlock: Citing research, Tufts claims football history is on its side |first=Kevin Paul |last=Dupont |date=September 23, 2004 |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2004/09/23/gridiron_gridlock/?page=full}}</ref>

Harvard later challenged its closest rival, Yale, to which the Bulldogs accepted. The two teams agreed to play under a set of rules called the "Concessionary Rules", which involved Harvard conceding something to Yale's soccer and Yale conceding a great deal to Harvard's rugby. They decided to play with 15 players on each team. On November 13, 1875, Yale and Harvard played each other for the first time ever, where Harvard won 4–0. At the first [[Harvard–Yale football rivalry|The Game]] (as the annual contest between Harvard and Yale came to be named) the future "father of American football" [[Walter Camp]] was among the 2000 spectators in attendance. Walter, a native of [[New Britain, Connecticut]], would enroll at Yale the next year. He was torn between an admiration for Harvard's style of play and the misery of the Yale defeat, and became determined to avenge Yale's defeat. Spectators from Princeton also carried the game back home, where it quickly became the most popular version of football.<ref name=PFRA1/>

On November 23, 1876, representatives from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met at the [[Massasoit House]] hotel in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]] to standardize a new code of rules based on the rugby game first introduced to Harvard by McGill University in 1874. Three of the schools—Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton—formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, as a result of the meeting. Yale initially refused to join this association because of a disagreement over the number of players to be allowed per team (relenting in 1879) and Rutgers were not invited to the meeting. The rules that they agreed upon were essentially those of [[rugby union]] at the time with the exception that points be awarded for scoring a [[Try (rugby)|try]], not just the [[Try (rugby)|conversion]] afterwards ([[Conversion (gridiron football)|extra point]]). Incidentally, rugby was to make a similar change to its scoring system 10 years later.<ref name=PFRA2>{{cite book |chapter=Camp and His Followers: American Football 1876–1889 |title=The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889 |publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association |chapter-url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Camp_And_Followers.pdf |access-date=January 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929152206/http://profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Camp_And_Followers.pdf |archive-date=September 29, 2010}}</ref>

====Walter Camp: Father of American football====
{{Main|Walter Camp}}
[[File:Walter Camp - Project Gutenberg eText 18048.jpg|thumb|[[Walter Camp]], the "Father of American Football", then the captain of the [[Yale Bulldogs football|Yale University football team]], in 1878]]
[[Walter Camp]] is widely considered to be the most important figure in the development of American football.<ref name="histfoot"/><ref name="NFL1869"/><ref name=PFRA2/> As a youth, he excelled in sports like [[Track and field athletics|track]], baseball, and association football, and after enrolling at [[Yale]] in 1876, he earned varsity honors in every sport the school offered.<ref name=PFRA2/>

Following the introduction of rugby-style rules to American football, Camp became a fixture at the Massasoit House conventions where rules were debated and changed. Dissatisfied with what seemed to him to be a disorganized mob, he proposed his first rule change at the first meeting he attended in 1878: a reduction from fifteen players to eleven. The motion was rejected at that time but passed in 1880. The effect was to open up the game and emphasize speed over strength. Camp's most famous change, the establishment of the [[line of scrimmage]] and the [[Snap (football)|snap]] from [[center (American football)|center]] to [[quarterback]], was also passed in 1880. Originally, the snap was executed with the foot of the center. Later changes made it possible to snap the ball with the hands, either through the air or by a direct hand-to-hand pass.<ref name=PFRA2/> [[Rugby league]] followed Camp's example, and in 1906 introduced the [[play-the-ball]] rule, which greatly resembled Camp's early scrimmage and center-snap rules. In 1966, rugby league introduced a four-tackle rule (changed in 1972 to a six-tackle rule) based on Camp's early down-and-distance rules.

Camp's new scrimmage rules revolutionized the game, though not always as intended. Princeton, in particular, used scrimmage play to slow the game, making incremental progress towards the end zone during each [[Down (gridiron football)|down]]. Rather than increase scoring, which had been Camp's original intent, the rule was exploited to maintain control of the ball for the entire game, resulting in slow, unexciting contests. At the 1882 rules meeting, Camp proposed that a team be required to advance the ball a minimum of five yards within three downs. These down-and-distance rules, combined with the establishment of the line of scrimmage, transformed the game from a variation of rugby football into the distinct sport of American football.<ref name=PFRA2/>

Camp was central to several more significant rule changes that came to define American football. In 1881, the field was reduced in size to its modern dimensions of 120 by 53{{fraction|1|3}} yards (109.7 by 48.8 meters). Several times in 1883, Camp tinkered with the scoring rules, finally arriving at four points for a touchdown, two points for [[Extra point|kicks after touchdowns]], two points for safeties, and five for [[Field goal (football)|field goals]]. Camp's innovations in the area of point scoring influenced rugby union's move to point scoring in 1890.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} In 1887, game time was set at two-halves of 45 minutes each. Also in 1887, two paid officials—a [[Referee (American football)|referee]] and an [[Official (American football)#Umpire|umpire]]—were mandated for each game. A year later, the rules were changed to allow tackling below the waist, and in 1889, the officials were given whistles and stopwatches.<ref name=PFRA2/>

After leaving Yale in 1882, Camp was employed by the New Haven Clock Company until his death in 1925. Though no longer a player, he remained a fixture at annual rules meetings for most of his life, and he personally selected an annual [[All-America|All-American team]] every year from 1889 through 1924. The [[Walter Camp Football Foundation]] continues to select All-American teams in his honor.<ref name=camp>{{cite web|title=The History of Walter Camp |publisher=The Walter Camp Foundation |url=http://waltercamp.org/index.php/info/ |access-date=January 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071218214118/http://waltercamp.org/index.php/info/ |archive-date=December 18, 2007}}</ref>
{{clear}}

===Scoring table===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;"
|+Historical college football scoring<ref>A compilation of seven sources:
* "[http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/bay/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/09-ma-section05.pdf History.]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513181529/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/bay/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/09-ma-section05.pdf |date=May 13, 2012 }}. ''2009 Baylor Football Media Almanac''. Baylor Athletics (Baylor University). Retrieved October 11, 2009.
* The National Collegiate Athletic Association. "[http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/Stats_Manuals/Football/2008%20Football%20Stats%20Manual.pdf Section 11—Extra Points.]" {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220165858/http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/Stats_Manuals/Football/2008%20Football%20Stats%20Manual.pdf |date=December 20, 2008 }}. ''2008 Football Statisticians' Manual''. August 2008. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
* Professional Football Researchers Association. "[http://www.ivyrugby.com/n.php?n=162 Yale's Walter Camp and 1870s Rugby.]" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100711024546/http://www.ivyrugby.com/n.php?n=162 |date=July 11, 2010 }}. ''The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889''. Ivy League Rugby Conference (2009-01-31). Retrieved 2009-10-11.
* Johnson, Greg (2008-08-28). "[https://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/4a9e53804e0d4e12911df11ad6fc8b25/2_PT_Story.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=4a9e53804e0d4e12911df11ad6fc8b25 Two-point conversion turns 50.]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611124131/http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/4a9e53804e0d4e12911df11ad6fc8b25/2_PT_Story.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=4a9e53804e0d4e12911df11ad6fc8b25 |date=June 11, 2011 }}. ''The NCAA News''. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
* "[http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910 NFL History by Decade: 1869–1910.]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102045951/http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910 |date=January 2, 2008 }}. National Football League. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
* "[http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1911-1920 NFL History by Decade: 1911–1920.]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115043331/http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1911-1920 |date=January 15, 2008 }}. National Football League. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
* {{cite book 
 |url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2015/fbs.pdf 
 |chapter=College Football Rules Changes 
 |title=2015 NCAA Football Records: Football Bowl Subdivision Records 
 |publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association 
 |page=186 
 |access-date=January 24, 2016 
 |archive-date=August 2, 2019 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802032517/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2015/fbs.pdf 
 |url-status=live 
 }}</ref>
|-
! Era !! [[Touchdown]] !! [[Field goal (football)|Field goal]] !! [[conversion (gridiron football)|Conversion]] (kick) !! [[Two-point conversion|Conversion]] (touchdown)!! [[Safety (American football score)|Safety]] !! [[Safety (American football score)#Safeties on PAT/conversion tries|Conversion safety]] !! [[conversion (gridiron football)#Duration of the play|Defensive conversion]]
|-
| 1883 || 2 || rowspan="3" | 5 || 4 || rowspan="6" | – || 1 || rowspan="6" | – || rowspan="7" | –
|-
| 1883–1897 || 4 || 2 || rowspan="7" | 2
|-
| 1898–1903 || rowspan="3" | 5 || rowspan="6" | 1 
|-
| 1904–1908 || 4 
|-
| 1909–1911 || rowspan="4" | 3 
|-
| 1912–1957 || rowspan="3" | 6 
|-
| 1958–1987 || rowspan="2" | 2 || rowspan="2" | 1 
|-
| 1988–present || 2
|-
| colspan="8" | Note: For brief periods in the late 19th century, some penalties awarded one or more points for the opposing teams, and some teams in the late 19th and early 20th centuries chose to negotiate their own scoring system for individual games.
|}

===Expansion===
College football expanded greatly during the last two decades of the 19th century. Several major [[List of NCAA college football rivalry games|rivalries]] date from this time period.

November 1890 was an active time in the sport. In [[Baldwin City, Kansas]], on November 22, 1890, college football was first played in the state of [[Kansas]]. [[Baker Wildcats football|Baker]] beat [[Kansas Jayhawks football|Kansas]] 22–9.<ref name="kshs">{{cite web|url=http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-college-football-in-kansas/12834|publisher=Kansas Historical Quarterly|title=College Football in Kansas|first=Harold|last=Evans|date=August 1940|pages=285–311|access-date=September 11, 2012}}</ref> On the 27th, [[Vanderbilt Commodores football|Vanderbilt]] played [[University of Nashville|Nashville]] (Peabody) at [[Athletic Park (Nashville)|Athletic Park]] and won 40–0. It was the first time organized football played in the state of [[Tennessee]].<ref name='TNEncyc1890'>{{cite web
|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=474
|author=John Majors
|publisher=Tennessee Historical Society
|access-date=November 29, 2006
|title=College Football
}}</ref> The 29th also saw the first instance of the [[Army–Navy Game]]. [[Navy Midshipmen football|Navy]] won 24–0.

====East====
Rutgers was first to extend the reach of the game. An intercollegiate game was first played in the state of New York when Rutgers played [[Columbia Lions football|Columbia]] on November 2, 1872. It was also the first scoreless tie in the history of the fledgling sport.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/rutgers/1872-schedule.html|publisher=Sports Reference.com|title=1872 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Schedule and Results|access-date=April 12, 2011|archive-date=November 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105122128/http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/rutgers/1872-schedule.html}}</ref> [[Yale Bulldogs football|Yale football]] starts the same year and has its first match against Columbia, the nearest college to play football. It took place at [[Hamilton Park (New Haven)|Hamilton Park]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and was the first game in New England. The game was essentially soccer with 20-man sides, played on a field 400 by 250 feet. Yale wins 3–0, Tommy Sherman scoring the first goal and Lew Irwin the other two.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/m-footbl/2014-15/files/TIMELINE_OF_YALE_FOOTBALL_after_2014_season.doc |access-date=March 24, 2015 |title=Timeline of Yale Football |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912102915/http://www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/m-footbl/2014-15/files/TIMELINE_OF_YALE_FOOTBALL_after_2014_season.doc |archive-date=September 12, 2015}}</ref>

After the first game against Harvard, Tufts took its squad to [[Bates College]] in [[Lewiston, Maine]] for the first football game played in [[Maine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dl.tufts.edu/catalog/tei/tufts:UA069.005.DO.00001/chapter/F00006|title=Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220075111/http://dl.tufts.edu/catalog/tei/tufts:UA069.005.DO.00001/chapter/F00006|archive-date=December 20, 2014}}</ref> This occurred on November 6, 1875.

[[Penn Quakers football|Penn]]'s Athletic Association was looking to pick "a twenty" to play a game of football against Columbia. This "twenty" never played Columbia, but did play twice against Princeton.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/sports/football/1800s/origins1.html|title=Penn Football:Origins To 1901|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923173453/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/sports/football/1800s/origins1.html|archive-date=September 23, 2015}}</ref> Princeton won both games 6 to 0. The first of these happened on November 11, 1876, in [[Philadelphia]] and was the first intercollegiate game in the state of [[Pennsylvania]].

[[Brown Bears football|Brown]] entered the intercollegiate game in 1878.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3i4KOu7MiEC&pg=PA15|page=15|title=Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession|author=Mark F. Bernstein|via=[[Google books]]|isbn=978-0-8122-3627-9|date=August 22, 2001|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press }}</ref>

The first game where one team scored over 100 points happened on October 25, 1884, when [[1884 Yale Bulldogs football team|Yale]] routed [[Dartmouth Big Green football|Dartmouth]] 113–0. It was also the first time one team scored over 100 points and the opposing team was shut out.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/yale/yearly_results.php?year=1880|publisher=[[College Football Data Warehouse]]|access-date=April 4, 2011|first=David|last=DeLassus|title=Yale Yearly Results (1880–1884)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213154608/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/yale/yearly_results.php?year=1880|archive-date=February 13, 2010}}</ref> The next week, Princeton outscored Lafayette 140 to 0.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/princeton/yearly_results.php?year=1880|publisher=[[College Football Data Warehouse]]|access-date=April 4, 2011|first=David|last=DeLassus|title=Princeton Yearly Results (1880–1884)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021084709/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/princeton/yearly_results.php?year=1880|archive-date=October 21, 2012}}</ref>

The first intercollegiate game in the state of Vermont happened on November 6, 1886, between [[Dartmouth Big Green football|Dartmouth]] and [[Vermont Catamounts football|Vermont]] at [[Burlington, Vermont]]. Dartmouth won 91 to 0.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2081624/the_new_york_times/|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 7, 1886|page=3|title=College Football Games|access-date=March 27, 2015|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

[[Penn State Nittany Lions football|Penn State]] played its first season in 1887,<ref name="nationalchamps.net">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalchamps.net/NCAA/database/pennstate_database.htm|title=Penn State Football History Database|work=nationalchamps.net}}</ref> but had no head coach for their first five years, from 1887 to 1891.<ref name="nationalchamps.net"/> The teams played its home games on the [[Old Main (Pennsylvania State University)|Old Main]] lawn on campus in [[State College, Pennsylvania]]. They compiled a 12–8–1 record in these seasons, playing as an independent from 1887 to 1890.

In 1891, the [[Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Football Association]] (PIFA) was formed. It consisted of [[Bucknell University]], [[Dickinson College]], [[Franklin & Marshall College]], [[Haverford College]], Penn State, and [[Swarthmore College]]. [[Lafayette College]], and [[Lehigh University]] were excluded because it was felt they would dominate the Association. Penn State won the championship with a 4–1–0 record. Bucknell's record was 3–1–1 (losing to Franklin & Marshall and tying Dickinson). The Association was dissolved prior to the 1892 season.<ref name="nationalchamps.net"/>

The first [[1892 Wyoming Seminary vs. Mansfield State Normal football game|nighttime football game]] was played in [[Mansfield, Pennsylvania]] on September 28, 1892, between [[Mansfield University of Pennsylvania|Mansfield State Normal]] and [[Wyoming Seminary]] and ended at halftime in a 0–0 tie.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joycetice.com/articles/1892foot.htm|title=Mansfield, Pennsylvania – It happened one night – First Football under lights – Mansfield PA 1892|access-date=December 23, 2015}}</ref> The Army–Navy game of 1893 saw the first documented use of a [[History of the football helmet|football helmet]] by a player in a game. [[Joseph M. Reeves]] had a crude leather helmet made by a shoemaker in [[Annapolis]] and wore it in the game after being warned by his doctor that he risked death if he continued to play football after suffering an earlier kick to the head.<ref>[http://www.pasttimesports.biz/history.html "History of the Football Helmet"] from [http://www.pasttimesports.biz/ ''Past Time Sports'']. Accessed March 11, 2015</ref>

====Middle West====
[[File:Fielding Yost-1902.jpg|thumb|A 1902 football game between the [[Minnesota Golden Gophers football|University of Minnesota]] and the [[Michigan Wolverines football|University of Michigan]]]]
[[File:Wisconsin1903FootballTeam.jpg|thumb|The [[Wisconsin Badgers football|University of Wisconsin]] football team in 1903]]
In 1879, the [[Michigan Wolverines football|University of Michigan]] became the first school west of Pennsylvania to establish a college football team. On May 30, 1879, Michigan beat [[Racine College]] 1–0 in a game played in Chicago. The ''Chicago Daily Tribune'' called it "the first rugby-football game to be played west of the [[Allegheny Mountains|Alleghenies]]."<ref name="Will Perry: The Wolverines: A Story of Michigan Football 1974">{{cite book|author=Will Perry|title=The Wolverines: A Story of Michigan Football|publisher=The Strode Publishers|year=1974|isbn=978-0-87397-055-6|url=https://archive.org/details/wolverinesstoryo0000perr}}</ref> Other Midwestern schools soon followed suit, including the [[University of Chicago]], [[Northwestern University]], and the [[Minnesota Golden Gophers football|University of Minnesota]]. The first western team to travel east was the [[1881 Michigan Wolverines football team|1881 Michigan team]], which played at Harvard, Yale and Princeton.<ref>{{cite web |title=Harvard Football Timeline |publisher=Harvard University Sports Information Office |url=http://www.the-game.org/history-timeline-harvard.htm |work=TheGame.org |access-date=February 18, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827211337/http://www.the-game.org/history-timeline-harvard.htm |archive-date=August 27, 2008 }}</ref><ref>Nelson (1994), p. 48</ref> The nation's first college football league, the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (also known as the Western Conference), a precursor to the [[Big Ten Conference]], was founded in 1895.<ref>{{cite web | title = Big Ten History | work = Big Ten Conference – Official Athletic Site – Traditions | year = 2007 | url = http://bigten.cstv.com/trads/big10-trads.html | access-date = May 19, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070113080920/http://bigten.cstv.com/trads/big10-trads.html | archive-date = January 13, 2007 }}</ref>

Led by coach [[Fielding H. Yost]], Michigan became the first "western" national power. From 1901 to 1905, Michigan had a 56-game undefeated streak that included a 1902 trip to play in the first college football [[bowl game]], which later became the [[Rose Bowl (game)|Rose Bowl Game]]. During this streak, Michigan scored 2,831 points while allowing only 40.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|p=16}}

Organized intercollegiate football was first played in the state of [[Minnesota]] on September 30, 1882, when [[Hamline University|Hamline]] was convinced to play [[Minnesota Golden Gophers football|Minnesota]]. Minnesota won 2 to 0.<ref name="Years">{{cite book | last = Men's Intercollegiate Athletic Department of the University of Minnesota | editor = Ralph Turtinen | title = 100 Years of Golden Gopher Football | publisher = John Roberts | year = 1981}}</ref> It was the first game west of the [[Mississippi River]].

November 30, 1905, saw [[Chicago Maroons football|Chicago]] defeat Michigan 2 to 0. Dubbed "The First Greatest Game of the Century",<ref name="LA84">{{cite news|author=Robin Lester|title=Michigan-Chicago 1905: The First Greatest Game of the Century|publisher=Journal of Sport History, Vol. 18, No. 2|date=Summer 1991|url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1991/JSH1802/jsh1802f.pdf|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-date=February 12, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212105445/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1991/JSH1802/jsh1802f.pdf}}</ref> it broke Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak and marked the end of the "Point-a-Minute" years.

====South====
[[File:1895_Auburn_-_Georgia_football_game_at_Piedmont_Park_in_Atlanta_Georgia.jpg|thumb|alt=An 1895 football game between Auburn and Georgia|300x300px|An 1895 football game between [[Auburn University|Auburn]] and [[University of Georgia|Georgia]]]]
[[File:Vmi v hokies football game 1894.jpg|thumb|An 1894 football game in [[Staunton, Virginia]] between [[VMI Keydets football|VMI]] and [[Virginia Tech Hokies football|Virginia Tech]]]]
[[File:Sewanee 1899 Football Team.jpg|thumb|[[Sewanee Tigers football|Sewanee]]'s 1899 "Iron Men"]]
[[File:Vanderbilt football 1904.jpg|thumb|The 1904 [[Vanderbilt Commodores football|Vanderbilt]] team in action; note the grid pattern on the field]]
Organized collegiate football was first played in the state of [[Virginia]] and the south on November 2, 1873, in [[Lexington, Virginia|Lexington]] between [[Washington and Lee Generals football|Washington and Lee]] and [[1873 VMI Keydets football team|VMI]]. Washington and Lee won 4–2.<ref name="generalssports.com">{{Cite web|url = http://www.generalssports.com/information/athletics_history/index|title = A History of Washington and Lee Athletics| work=Washington & Lee |access-date = February 9, 2015}}</ref> Some industrious students of the two schools organized a game for October 23, 1869, but it was rained out.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kxuEYG6WmOsC&pg=PA53|page=53|title=Evolvements of Early American Foot Ball: Through the 1890/91 Season|author=Melvin I. Smith|isbn=978-1-4343-6247-6|year=2008|publisher=AuthorHouse }}</ref> Students of the [[University of Virginia]] were playing pickup games of the kicking-style of football as early as 1870, and some accounts even claim it organized a game against Washington and Lee College in 1871; but no record has been found of the score of this contest. Due to scantiness of records of the prior matches some will claim [[Virginia Cavaliers football|Virginia]] v. Pantops Academy November 13, 1887, as the first game in Virginia.

On April 9, 1880, at [[Stoll Field/McLean Stadium|Stoll Field]], [[Transylvania University]] (then called Kentucky University) beat [[Centre Colonels football|Centre College]] by the score of {{frac|13|3|4}}&ndash;0 in what is often considered the first recorded game played in the [[American South|South]].<ref>Becky Riddle, "Stoll Field", ExploreKYHistory, accessed February 4, 2015, http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/153.</ref> The first game of "scientific football" in the South was the first instance of the [[Victory Bell (Duke–North Carolina)|Victory Bell]] rivalry between [[North Carolina Tar Heels football|North Carolina]] and [[Duke Blue Devils football|Duke]] (then known as Trinity College) held on [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving Day]], 1888, at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in [[Raleigh, North Carolina]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1990/JSH1701/jsh1701b.pdf|journal=Journal of Sport History|volume=17|number=1|year=1990|title=John Franklin Crowell, Methodism, and the Football Controversy at Trinity College, 1887–1894|author=Jim L. Sumner|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080840/http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1990/JSH1701/jsh1701b.pdf|archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref>

On November 13, 1887, the [[Virginia Cavaliers football|Virginia Cavaliers]] and Pantops Academy fought to a scoreless tie in the first organized football game in the state of [[Virginia]].<ref>{{cite book |title= University of Virginia Football Vault |last= Ratcliffe |first= Jerry |year=2008 |publisher= Whitman Publishing, LLC|location= Atlanta, Ga.|isbn= 978-0-7948-2647-5|page= 8 |url= http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/u4812190}}</ref> Students at UVA were playing pickup games of the kicking-style of football as early as 1870, and some accounts even claim that some industrious ones organized a game against [[Washington and Lee Generals football|Washington and Lee College]] in 1871, just two years after Rutgers and Princeton's historic first game in 1869. But no record has been found of the score of this contest. Washington and Lee also claims a 4 to 2 win over [[VMI Keydets football|VMI]] in 1873.<ref name="generalssports.com"/>

On October 18, 1888, the [[Wake Forest Demon Deacons football|Wake Forest Demon Deacons]] defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels 6 to 4 in the first intercollegiate game in the state of [[North Carolina]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wfu.edu/history/HST_WFU/pub_wfu.html|title=Wake Forest: A Look Back}}</ref>

On December 14, 1889, [[Wofford Terriers football|Wofford]] defeated [[Furman Paladins football|Furman]] 5 to 1 in the first intercollegiate game in the state of [[South Carolina]]. The game featured no uniforms, no positions, and the rules were formulated before the game.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/336821/106|title=Furman University – 2014 FB Record Book|access-date=December 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219105420/http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/336821/106|archive-date=December 19, 2014}}</ref>

January 30, 1892, saw the first football game played in the [[Deep South]] when the [[1892 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia Bulldogs]] defeated [[Mercer Bears football|Mercer]] 50–0 at [[Herty Field]].

The beginnings of the contemporary [[Southeastern Conference]] and [[Atlantic Coast Conference]] start in 1894. The [[Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association]] (SIAA) was founded on December 21, 1894, by [[William Lofland Dudley|William Dudley]], a chemistry professor at [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]].<ref>Greg Roza, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ul4vwD8hmUIC ''Football in the SEC (Southeastern Conference)''], p. 1, 2007, {{ISBN|1-4042-1919-6}}.</ref> The original members were [[University of Alabama|Alabama]], [[Auburn University|Auburn]], [[University of Georgia|Georgia]], [[Georgia Institute of Technology|Georgia Tech]], [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|North Carolina]], [[Sewanee: The University of the South|Sewanee]], and [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]]. [[Clemson University|Clemson]], [[Cumberland University|Cumberland]], [[University of Kentucky|Kentucky]], [[LSU Tigers football|LSU]], [[Mercer University|Mercer]], [[University of Mississippi|Mississippi]], [[Mississippi State University|Mississippi A&M]] (Mississippi State), [[Rhodes College|Southwestern Presbyterian University]], [[University of Tennessee|Tennessee]], [[University of Texas at Austin|Texas]], [[Tulane University|Tulane]], and the [[University of Nashville]] joined the following year in 1895 as invited charter members.<ref name="handbook">{{cite book |title=Handbook of Southern Intercollegiate Track and Field Athletics |last=Bailey |first=John Wendell |year=1924 |publisher=Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College |page=14}}</ref> The conference was originally formed for "the development and purification of college athletics throughout the South".<ref name="SIAA-1895">{{cite book |title=Southern Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association |year=1895 |publisher=E. D. Stone |location=Athens, Georgia |access-date=October 13, 2011 |url=http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/exhibits/Athletics/SIAA_handbook1895.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404041408/http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/exhibits/Athletics/SIAA_handbook1895.pdf |archive-date=April 4, 2012 }}</ref>

The first [[forward pass]] in football likely occurred on October 26, 1895, in a game between Georgia and [[North Carolina Tar Heels football|North Carolina]] when, out of desperation, the ball was thrown by the North Carolina back Joel Whitaker instead of punted and [[George Stephens (American football)|George Stephens]] caught the ball.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tarheeltimes.com/football/first-forward-pass.aspx |title=Tarheels Credited With Throwing First Forward Pass|work=Tar Heel Times |access-date=January 14, 2013}}</ref> On November 9, 1895, [[John Heisman]] executed a hidden ball trick using quarterback [[Reynolds Tichenor]] to get [[1895 Auburn Tigers football team|Auburn]]'s only touchdown in a 6 to 9 loss to [[1895 Vanderbilt Commodores football team|Vanderbilt]]. It was the first game in the south decided by a field goal.<ref name=slants>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=897&dat=19310124&id=-aNaAAAAIBAJ&pg=4042,1045626|author=Alan Gould|title=Sport Slants|work=Prescott Evening Courier|date=January 24, 1931}}</ref> Heisman later used the trick against [[Glenn Warner|Pop Warner]]'s Georgia team. Warner picked up the trick and later used it at Cornell against Penn State in 1897.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1978030//|title=Ball Under The Jersey|work=Lincoln Evening Journal|page=21|date=December 18, 1930|access-date=March 13, 2015|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He then used it in 1903 at Carlisle against Harvard and garnered national attention.

The [[1899 Sewanee Tigers football team|1899 Sewanee Tigers]] are one of the all-time great teams of the early sport. The team went 12–0, outscoring opponents 322 to 10. Known as the "Iron Men", with just 13 men they had a six-day road trip with five shutout wins over [[1899 Texas A&M Aggies football team|Texas A&M]]; [[Texas Longhorns football|Texas]]; [[1899 Tulane Green Wave football team|Tulane]]; [[1899 LSU Tigers football team|LSU]]; and [[Ole Miss Rebels football|Ole Miss]]. It is recalled memorably with the phrase "...&nbsp;and on the seventh day they rested."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story/_/id/7001627/sec-expansion-conference-consider-sewanee-long-lost-founding-member|title=Sewanee, long-lost member of the SEC|author=Patrick Dorsey|date=September 23, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://larrydagenhart.writersresidence.com/system/attachments/files/28681/original/On_the_7th_Day_They_Rested_p1.pdf?1362597610|title=On the 7th Day They Rested|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023114629/http://larrydagenhart.writersresidence.com/system/attachments/files/28681/original/On_the_7th_Day_They_Rested_p1.pdf?1362597610|archive-date=October 23, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Grantland Rice]] called them "the most durable football team I ever saw."<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19411127&id=SaQhAAAAIBAJ&pg=3862,5618014|title = Grantland Rice|date = November 27, 1941|work = Reading Eagle}}</ref>

Organized intercollegiate football was first played in the state of Florida in 1901.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.stetson.edu/alumni/homecoming/history.php%7ctitle=History|title=Homecoming 2015|access-date=December 23, 2015}}{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> A 7-game series between intramural teams from Stetson and Forbes occurred in 1894. The first intercollegiate game between official varsity teams was played on November 22, 1901. Stetson beat Florida Agricultural College at Lake City, one of the four forerunners of the University of Florida, 6–0, in a game played as part of the Jacksonville Fair.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1999/08/27/florida-power-the-earl-years/|title=Florida Power:The Early Years|date=August 17, 1999|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-date=February 4, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204064255/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1999-08-27/features/9908270221_1_stetson-rollins-university-of-florida}}</ref>

On September 27, 1902, [[Georgetown Hoyas football|Georgetown]] beat Navy 4 to 0. It is claimed by Georgetown authorities as the game with the first ever "roving center" or [[linebacker]] when [[Percy Given]] stood up, in contrast to the usual tale of [[Germany Schulz]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ck3AAAAIAAJ&q=percy+given|page=128|year=1962|title=Football Immortals|author=Alexander M. Weyand}}</ref> The first linebacker in the South is often considered to be [[Frank Juhan]].

On [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving Day]] 1903, a game was scheduled in [[Montgomery, Alabama]] between the best teams from each region of the [[Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association]] for an "SIAA championship game", pitting [[1903 Cumberland Bulldogs football team|Cumberland]] against Heisman's [[1903 Clemson Tigers football team|Clemson]]. The game ended in an 11–11 tie causing many teams to claim the title. Heisman pressed hardest for Cumberland to get the claim of champion. It was his last game as Clemson head coach.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8McdQD3SY00C&q=%22m%20l%20bridges%22%20cumberland%20football&pg=PA95|title=From Maverick to Mainstream: Cumberland School of Law, 1847–1997|author=Langum, David J|page=95|isbn=978-0-8203-3618-3|date=January 1, 2010|publisher=University of Georgia Press }}</ref>

1904 saw big coaching hires in the south: [[Mike Donahue]] at Auburn, [[John Heisman]] at Georgia Tech, and [[Dan McGugin]] at Vanderbilt were all hired that year. Both Donahue and McGugin just came from the north that year, Donahue from Yale and McGugin from Michigan, and were among the initial inductees of the [[College Football Hall of Fame]]. The undefeated [[1904 Vanderbilt Commodores football team|1904 Vanderbilt team]] scored an average of 52.7 points per game, the most in college football that season, and allowed just four points.

====Southwest====
The first college football game in [[Oklahoma Territory]] occurred on November 7, 1895, when the "Oklahoma City Terrors" defeated the [[Oklahoma Sooners football|Oklahoma Sooners]] 34 to 0. The Terrors were a mix of Methodist college and high school students.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CfAsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT12|title=The Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia: 2nd Edition|author=Ray Dozier|page=12|isbn=978-1-61321-620-0|date=October 1, 2013|publisher=Sports }}</ref> The Sooners did not manage a single first down. By next season, Oklahoma coach [[John A. Harts]] had left to prospect for gold in the Arctic.<ref name="Ray Soldan">{{cite web|url=http://newsok.com/a-look-back-at-high-school-football-in-1900s-decade/article/2477201|title= A Look Back at High School Football in 1900s Decade|author=Ray Soldan|date=September 11, 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YWaSyZ3g220C&pg=PT179|title=Echoes of Oklahoma Sooners Football: The Greatest Stories Ever Told|author=Triumph Books|page=179|isbn=978-1-61749-034-7|date=September 2007|publisher=Triumph Books }}</ref> Organized football was first played in the territory on November 29, 1894, between the Oklahoma City Terrors and Oklahoma City High School. The high school won 24 to 0.<ref name="Ray Soldan"/>

====Pacific Coast====
[[File:1888-USC-football-team.gif|thumb|The first [[USC Trojans football|USC football team]] in 1888; before they were nicknamed the "Trojans", they were known as the USC Methodists.]]
[[File:1893 Stanford American football team.jpg|thumb|The 1893 [[Stanford Cardinal football|Stanford University]] football team]]
[[File:Stanford Field.png|thumb|The [[Big Game (American football)|Big Game]] between Stanford and [[California Golden Bears football|Cal]] was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914.]]
The [[University of Southern California]] first fielded an American football team in 1888. Playing its first game on November 14 of that year against the Alliance Athletic Club, in which USC gained a 16–0 victory. Frank Suffel and [[Henry H. Goddard]] were playing coaches for the first team which was put together by quarterback Arthur Carroll; who in turn volunteered to make the pants for the team and later became a tailor.<ref name=USC2004MediaGuide201>Mal Florence ''et al.'', [http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/usc/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/04-mg-137-211.pdf The Trojan Heritage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204804/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/usc/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/04-mg-137-211.pdf |date=March 3, 2016 }}, ''2004 USC Football Media Guide'', USC Athletic Department, pp. 201–209.</ref> USC faced its first collegiate opponent the following year in fall 1889, playing [[Loyola Marymount Lions|St. Vincent's College]] to a 40–0 victory.<ref name="USC2004MediaGuide201"/> In 1893, USC joined the Intercollegiate Football Association of Southern California (the forerunner of the [[SCIAC]]), which was composed of USC, [[Occidental College]], [[California Institute of Technology|Throop Polytechnic Institute (Caltech)]], and [[Chaffey College]]. [[Pomona College]] was invited to enter, but declined to do so. An invitation was also extended to [[Los Angeles High School]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Intercollegiate Football: The U.S.C. Beats Throop By a Score of 22 to 12 at Pasadena|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 22, 1893}}</ref>

In 1891, the first [[1891 Stanford football team|Stanford football team]] was hastily organized and played a four-game season beginning in January 1892 with no official head coach. Following the season, Stanford captain John Whittemore wrote to [[Yale Bulldogs football|Yale]] coach [[Walter Camp]] asking him to recommend a coach for Stanford. To Whittemore's surprise, Camp agreed to coach the team himself, on the condition that he finish the season at Yale first.<ref name=migdol>{{cite book|last=Migdol|first=Gary|title=Stanford: Home of Champions|pages=11–13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOl08FmEDIMC&pg=PA11|publisher=Sports Publishing LLC|year=1997 |isbn=978-1-57167-116-5|access-date = May 6, 2014}}</ref> As a result of Camp's late arrival, Stanford played just three official games, against San Francisco's [[Olympic Club]] and rival [[California Golden Bears football|California]]. The team also played exhibition games against two Los Angeles area teams that Stanford does not include in official results.<ref name=lah>{{cite news|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH18921227.2.25#|title=Seventy-four to nothing|date=December 27, 1892|newspaper=Los Angeles Herald|access-date=May 6, 2014}}</ref><ref name=cfbdw>{{cite web|url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/stanford/yearly_results.php?year=1892 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140506215258/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/stanford/yearly_results.php?year=1892 |archive-date=May 6, 2014 |title=Stanford Game-by-Game Results; 1892–1895 |publisher=College Football Data Warehouse |access-date=May 6, 2014}}</ref> Camp returned to the East Coast following the season, then returned to coach Stanford in [[1894 Stanford football team|1894]] and [[1895 Stanford football team|1895]].

On December 25, 1894, Amos Alonzo Stagg's [[Chicago Maroons football|Chicago Maroons]] agreed to play Camp's [[1894 Stanford football team|Stanford football team]] in San Francisco in the first postseason intersectional contest, foreshadowing the modern [[bowl game]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2418.html|title=Amos Alonzo Stagg and Football at Chicago}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Football's Greatest Coaches|author=Edwin Pope|year=1956|page=232|url=https://archive.org/stream/fottballsgreates00pope#page/232/mode/2up/search/intersectional|author-link=Edwin Pope|publisher=Atlanta,: Tupper and Love}}</ref> Future president [[Herbert Hoover]] was Stanford's student financial manager.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OmwfnipKuogC&pg=PA70|title=The Anatomy of a Game|author=David M. Nelson|page=70|isbn=978-0-87413-455-1|year=1994|publisher=University of Delaware Press }}</ref> Chicago won 24 to 4.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ntBDmB_fYo8C&pg=PA15|title=Stanford: Home of Champions|author=Gary Migdol|page=15|isbn=978-1-57167-116-5|year=1997|publisher=Sports Publishing LLC }}</ref> Stanford won a rematch in Los Angeles on December 29 by 12 to 0.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1894/12/30/page/5/article/stanford-defeats-staggs-eleven|page=5|work=Chicago Tribune|title=Stanford Defeats Stagg's Eleven|date=December 30, 1894}}</ref>

The [[Big Game (American football)|Big Game]] between Stanford and California is the oldest college football rivalry in the West. The first game was played on San Francisco's [[Haight Street Grounds]] on March 19, 1892, with Stanford winning 14–10. The term "Big Game" was first used in 1900, when it was played on Thanksgiving Day in San Francisco. During that game, a large group of men and boys, who were observing from the roof of the nearby S.F. and Pacific Glass Works, fell into the fiery interior of the building when the roof collapsed, resulting in 13 dead and 78 injured.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4811831| title = A Ghastly Holocaust: Football Spectators Plunged into Molten Glass, ''The (Adelaide) Advertiser'', (Friday 11 January 1901), p. 6.| newspaper = Advertiser| date = January 11, 1901}}</ref><ref>Twenty Score Persons Make Awful Plunge: Seventeen People Meet Most Awful Death: Two San Jose Men Die Amid Sizzling Shrieking Human Mass in Collapsed Factory at Big Game, ''The (San Jose) Evening News'', (Friday November 30, 1900), [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GEoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B6QFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1470%2C5329715 p. 1], [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GEoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B6QFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2068%2C5348447 p. 5.]</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SLMnAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ngQGAAAAIBAJ&pg=3394%2C5939585| title = Through a Roof to Death, ''The (Crawfordsville) Daily News-Review'', (Friday, 30 November 1900), p. 2.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=r9EUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RZsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6073%2C2351685| title = Spectators Fell Into Molten Glass: Thirteen Dead, One Hundred Injured by Collapse of a Roof Overlooking the Stanford-Berkeley Game at San Francisco, ''The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review'', (Friday 30 November 1900), p. 1.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19001130| title = Death Reaps a Dread Harvest of Lives and Plunges City into Gloom, ''The San Francisco Call'', (Friday, 30 November 1900), p. 2.}}</ref> On December 4, 1900, the last victim of the disaster (Fred Lilly) died, bringing the death toll to 22; and, to this day, the "Thanksgiving Day Disaster" remains the deadliest accident to kill spectators at a U.S. sporting event.<ref>[https://archive.today/20140617232301/http://www.sfweekly.com/2012-08-15/news/football-san-francisco-and-pacific-glass-works-history-sports-tragedy/full Eskanazi, J., "Sudden Death: Boys Fell to Their Doom in S.F.'s Forgotten Disaster"] ''San Francisco Weekly News'', August 15, 2012</ref>

The [[University of Oregon]] began playing American football in 1894 and played its first game on March 24, 1894, defeating [[Albany College]] 44–3 under head coach [[Cal Young]].<ref name=timeline>{{cite web|url=http://sportshistory.uoregon.edu/timeline|title=Timeline|access-date=December 23, 2015}}</ref><ref name=McCannOFB>{{cite book|last1=McCann|first1=Michael C.|title=Oregon Ducks Football: 100 Years of Glory|date=1995|publisher=McCann Communications Corp.|location=Eugene, Oregon|isbn=978-0-9648244-7-8}}{{page needed|date=June 2021}}</ref><ref name=TODS13>{{Cite book|title=Tales from the Oregon Ducks Sideline |last=Libby |first=Brian |publisher=Sports Publishing LLC}}[http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/oregon/yearly_results.php?year=1894 College Football Data Warehouse: Oregon Yearly Results 1894] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010072858/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/oregon/yearly_results.php?year=1894 |date=October 10, 2014}}</ref> Cal Young left after that first game and J.A. Church took over the coaching position in the fall for the rest of the season. Oregon finished the season with two additional losses and a tie, but went undefeated the following season, winning all four of its games under head coach Percy Benson.<ref name=TODS13/><ref name=CFBDW1894>[http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/oregon/yearly_results.php?year=1894 College Football Data Warehouse: Oregon Yearly Results 1894] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010072858/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/oregon/yearly_results.php?year=1894 |date=October 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>[http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/oregon/yearly_results.php?year=1895 College Football Data Warehouse: Oregon Yearly Results 1895] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010072141/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/oregon/yearly_results.php?year=1895 |date=October 10, 2014}}</ref> In 1899, the Oregon football team left the state for the first time, playing the [[California Golden Bears]] in [[Berkeley, California]].<ref name=timeline/>

American football at [[Oregon State University]] started in 1893 shortly after athletics were initially authorized at the college. Athletics were banned at the school in May 1892, but when the strict school president, Benjamin Arnold, died, President John Bloss reversed the ban.<ref>{{cite web|last=Forgard|first=Benjamin|title=The Evolution of School Spirit and Tradition at Oregon State University|url=http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/29283/School%20Spirit%20and%20Tradition.pdf?sequence=1|access-date=May 30, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017220048/http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/29283/School%20Spirit%20and%20Tradition.pdf?sequence=1|archive-date=October 17, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Bloss's son William started the first team, on which he served as both coach and quarterback.<ref>{{cite web|last=Edmonston|first=George Jr.|title=The Birth of OSU Football|url=http://www.osualum.com/s/359/index.aspx?sid=359&gid=1&pgid=539|publisher=OSU Alumni Association|access-date=May 30, 2012|archive-date=October 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017233421/http://www.osualum.com/s/359/index.aspx?sid=359&gid=1&pgid=539}}</ref> The team's first game was an easy 63–0 defeat over the home team, Albany College.

In May 1900, Yost was hired as the football coach at [[Stanford University]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Likes Yost's Manner: President Jordan of Leland Stanford University Gives His Opinion of the Coach|newspaper=Lawrence Daily Journal|date=May 8, 1900|page=4|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2989072/likes_yosts_manner/}}</ref> and, after traveling home to West Virginia, he arrived in [[Palo Alto, California]], on August 21, 1900.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stanford's Football Coach Has Arrived|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=August 22, 1900|page=4|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/27618966/?terms=yost%2Bstanford%2Bfootball}}</ref> Yost led the 1900 Stanford team to a 7–2–1, outscoring opponents 154 to 20. The next year in 1901, Yost was hired by [[Charles A. Baird]] as the head football coach for the [[Michigan Wolverines football]] team. On January 1, 1902, [[Fielding H. Yost|Yost]]'s dominating [[1901 Michigan Wolverines football team]] agreed to play a 3–1–2 team from [[Stanford University]] in the inaugural "Tournament East-West football game" what is now known as the ''[[Rose Bowl Game]]'' by a score of 49–0 after Stanford captain Ralph Fisher requested to quit with eight minutes remaining.

The [[1905 Stanford football team|1905 season]] marked the first meeting between Stanford and USC. Consequently, Stanford is USC's oldest existing rival.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/100310aaa.html|title=USC Football Heads To Bay Area To Face No. 16 Stanford|publisher=[[USC Trojans]]|date=October 3, 2010|access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208165348/http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/100310aaa.html|archive-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref> The [[Big Game (football)|Big Game]] between Stanford and [[California Golden Bears football|Cal]] on November 11, 1905, was the first played at [[Stanford Field]], with Stanford winning 12–5.<ref name=migdol/>

In 1906, citing concerns about the violence in American Football, universities on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]], led by [[University of California, Berkeley|California]] and [[Stanford University|Stanford]], replaced the sport with rugby union.<ref name=park>{{cite journal
 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1984/JSH1103/jsh1103b.pdf
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807203402/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1984/JSH1103/jsh1103b.pdf
 |archive-date=August 7, 2010
|title=From Football to Rugby—and Back, 1906–1919: The University of California–Stanford University Response to the "Football Crisis of 1905" 
 |last=Park 
 |first=Roberta J 
 |journal=Journal of Sport History 
 |volume=11 
 |number=3 
 |page=33 
 |date=Winter 1984 
}}</ref> At the time, the future of American football was very much in doubt and these schools believed that rugby union would eventually be adopted nationwide.<ref name=park/> Other schools followed suit and also made the switch included [[University of Nevada, Reno|Nevada]], [[Saint Mary's College of California|St. Mary's]], [[Santa Clara University|Santa Clara]], and [[University of Southern California|USC]] (in 1911).<ref name=park/> However, due to the perception that West Coast football was inferior to the game played on the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] anyway, East Coast and Midwest teams shrugged off the loss of the teams and continued playing American football.<ref name=park/> With no nationwide movement, the available pool of rugby teams to play remained small.<ref name=park/> The schools scheduled games against local club teams and reached out to rugby union powers in Australia, New Zealand, and especially, due to its proximity, Canada. The annual [[Big Game (American football)|Big Game]] between Stanford and California continued as rugby, with the winner invited by the [[British Columbia Rugby Union]] to a tournament in Vancouver over the Christmas holidays, with the winner of that tournament receiving the Cooper Keith Trophy.<ref name=park/><ref name=goldsmith>
{{cite journal
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JAMTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA742
|title=Why California Likes Rugby
|last=Goldsmith
|first=A. A
|pages=742–750
|journal=Outing
|date=October 1913 – March 1914
|volume=63
}}</ref><ref name=bcru>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.bcrugby.com/bcrugby/index.php?submenu=HISTORY&src=gendocs&ref=History&category=About_Us 
 |title=History 
 |publisher=British Columbia Rugby Union 
 |access-date=October 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415083752/http://www.bcrugby.com/bcrugby/index.php?submenu=HISTORY&src=gendocs&ref=History&category=About_Us 
 |archive-date=April 15, 2012}}</ref>

During 12 seasons of playing rugby union, Stanford was remarkably successful: the team had three undefeated seasons, three one-loss seasons, and an overall record of 94 wins, 20 losses, and 3 ties for a winning percentage of .816. However, after a few years, the school began to feel the isolation of its newly adopted sport, which was not spreading as many had hoped. Students and alumni began to clamor for a return to American football to allow wider intercollegiate competition.<ref name=park/> The pressure at rival California was stronger (especially as the school had not been as successful in the Big Game as they had hoped), and in 1915 California returned to American football. As reasons for the change, the school cited rule change back to American football, the overwhelming desire of students and supporters to play American football, interest in playing other East Coast and Midwest schools, and a patriotic desire to play an "American" game.<ref name=park/> California's return to American football increased the pressure on Stanford to also change back in order to maintain the rivalry. Stanford played its 1915, 1916, and 1917 "Big Games" as rugby union against [[Santa Clara Broncos|Santa Clara]] and California's football "Big Game" in those years was against [[Washington Huskies football|Washington]], but both schools desired to restore the old traditions.<ref name=park/> The onset of American involvement in World War I gave Stanford an out: In 1918, the Stanford campus was designated as the Students' Army Training Corps headquarters for all of California, [[Nevada]], and [[Utah]], and the commanding officer Sam M. Parker decreed that American football was the appropriate athletic activity to train soldiers and rugby union was dropped.<ref name=park/>

====Mountain West====
[[File:Colorado football team 1890.jpg|thumb|[[Colorado Buffaloes football|Colorado]]'s first football team in 1890]]
[[File:Utah vs. Colorado 1916.jpg|thumb|Kickoff during the 1916 Colorado – [[Utah Utes football|Utah]] game]]
[[File:1905 Utah football team.jpg|thumb|The 1905 Utah football team]]
The [[University of Colorado Boulder|University of Colorado]] began playing American football in 1890. [[Colorado Buffaloes football|Colorado]] found much success in its early years, winning eight Colorado Football Association Championships (1894–97, 1901–08).

The following was taken from the ''Silver & Gold'' newspaper of December 16, 1898. It was a recollection of the birth of Colorado football written by one of CU's original gridders, John C. Nixon, also the school's second captain. It appears here in its original form:

{{blockquote|At the beginning of the first semester in the fall of '90 the boys rooming at the dormitory on the campus of the U. of C. being afflicted with a super-abundance of penned up energy, or perhaps having recently drifted from under the parental wing and delighting in their newly found freedom, decided among other wild schemes, to form an athletic association. Messrs Carney, Whittaker, Layton and others, who at that time constituted a majority of the male population of the University, called a meeting of the campus boys in the old medical building. Nixon was elected president and Holden secretary of the association.

It was voted that the officers constitute a committee to provide uniform suits in which to play what was called "association football". Suits of flannel were ultimately procured and paid for assessments on the members of the association and generous contributions from members of the faculty.&nbsp;...

The Athletic Association should now invigorate its base-ball and place it at par with its football team; and it certainly has the material with which to do it. The U of C should henceforth lead the state and possibly the west in athletic sports.&nbsp;...

The style of football playing has altered considerably; by the old rules, all men in front of the runner with the ball, were offside, consequently we could not send backs through and break the line ahead of the ball as is done at present. The notorious V was then in vogue, which gave a heavy team too much advantage. The mass plays being now barred, skill on the football field is more in demand than mere weight and strength.

|author=John C. Nixon|source=''Silver & Gold'', December 16, 1898<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cubuffs.com/pdf3/6982.pdf | title=Buff Milestones | author=John C. Nixon | publisher=CUBuffs.com reprint of Silver & Gold article | access-date=2007-06-04 | date=1898-12-16 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606155231/http://www.cubuffs.com/pdf3/6982.pdf | archive-date=2011-06-06}}</ref>}}

In 1909, the [[Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference]] was founded, featuring four members: Colorado, [[Colorado College]], [[Colorado School of Mines]], and [[Colorado State University|Colorado Agricultural College]]. The [[University of Denver]] and the [[University of Utah]] joined the RMAC in 1910. For its first thirty years, the RMAC was considered a major conference equivalent to today's Division I, before 7 larger members left and formed the [[Mountain States Conference]] (also called the Skyline Conference).

===Violence, formation of NCAA===
College football increased in popularity through the remainder of the 19th and early 20th century. It also became increasingly violent. Between 1890 and 1905, 330 college athletes died as a direct result of injuries sustained on the football field. These deaths could be attributed to the mass formations and gang tackling that characterized the sport in its early years.

{{Quote box|quote=No sport is wholesome in which ungenerous or mean acts which easily escape detection contribute to victory.|source=[[Charles William Eliot]], President of [[Harvard University]] (1869–1909) opposing football in 1905.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Kf9KAAAAYAAJ&q=%22no%20sport%20is%20wholesome%20in%20which%20ungenerous%20or%20mean%20acts%20which%20easily%20escape%20detection%20contribute%20to%20victory%22&pg=PA188 "President Eliot on Football."] ''The School Journal, Volume 70'', United Education Company, New York, Chicago, and Boston, February 18, 1905, p. 188.</ref>|width = 30%}}

The 1894 Harvard–Yale game, known as the "Hampden Park Blood Bath", resulted in crippling injuries for four players; the contest was suspended until 1897. The annual Army–Navy game was suspended from 1894 to 1898 for similar reasons.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|pp=16–18}} One of the major problems was the popularity of mass-formations like the [[flying wedge]], in which a large number of offensive players charged as a unit against a similarly arranged defense. The resultant collisions often led to serious injuries and sometimes even death.{{sfn|Bennett|1976|p=20}} Georgia fullback [[Richard Von Albade Gammon]] notably died on the field from concussions received against Virginia in 1897, causing Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Mercer to suspend their football programs.

The situation came to a head in 1905 when there were 19 fatalities nationwide. President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] reportedly threatened to shut down the game if drastic changes were not made.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lewis |first=Guy M. |year=1969 |title=Teddy Roosevelt's Role in the 1905 Football Controversy |journal=The Research Quarterly |pmid=4903389 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=717–724}}</ref> However, the threat by Roosevelt to eliminate football is disputed by sports historians. What is absolutely certain is that on October 9, 1905, Roosevelt held a meeting of football representatives from [[Harvard University|Harvard]], [[Yale]], and [[Princeton University|Princeton]]. Though he lectured on eliminating and reducing injuries, he never threatened to ban football. He also lacked the authority to abolish football and was, in fact, actually a fan of the sport and wanted to preserve it. The President's sons were also playing football at the college and [[high school football|secondary levels]] at the time.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Tiny Maxwell and the Crisis of 1905: The Making of a Gridiron Myth |journal=College Football Historical Society |year=2001 |pages=54–57 |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/NASSH_Proceedings/NP2001/NP2001zn.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808041801/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/NASSH_Proceedings/NP2001/NP2001zn.pdf |archive-date=August 8, 2010 |author=Watterson, John}}</ref>

Meanwhile, [[John H. Outland]] held an [[1905 Fairmount vs. Washburn football game|experimental game]] in [[Wichita, Kansas]] that reduced the number of scrimmage plays to earn a first down from four to three in an attempt to reduce injuries.<ref>{{cite news  |title=TEN-YARD RULE A FAILURE.; Only Seven First Downs Made in Test Game in Kansas. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1905/12/26/archives/tenyard-rule-a-failure-only-seven-first-downs-made-in-test-game-in.html |work=The New York Times |date=1905-12-26 }}</ref> The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' reported an increase in punts and considered the game much safer than regular play but that the new rule was not "conducive to the sport".<ref>[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/349469012.html?dids=349469012:349469012&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+26%2C+1905&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=NEW+FOOTBALL+RULES+TESTED.&pqatl=google "New Football Rules Tested"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316074650/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/349469012.html?dids=349469012:349469012&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+26%2C+1905&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=NEW+FOOTBALL+RULES+TESTED.&pqatl=google |date=March 16, 2013 }} '' Los Angeles Times'', December 26, 1905</ref> In 1906, President Roosevelt organized a meeting among thirteen school leaders at the [[White House]] to find solutions to make the sport safer for the athletes. Because the college officials could not agree upon a change in rules, it was decided over the course of several subsequent meetings that an external governing body should be responsible. Finally, on December 28, 1905, 62 schools met in New York City to discuss rule changes to make the game safer. As a result of this meeting, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States was formed in 1906. The IAAUS was the original rule-making body of college football, but would go on to sponsor championships in other sports. The IAAUS would get its current name of [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA) in 1910,<ref name=Smith2000>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Rodney |title=A Brief History of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Role in Regulating Intercollegiate Athletics |journal=Marquette Sports Law Review |date=2000 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=9–22 |url=https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/sportslaw/vol11/iss1/5/ }}</ref> and still sets rules governing the sport.<ref name=Smith2000/><ref name=NCAA>{{cite web | title = The History of the NCAA | work=NCAA.org | publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association | url = https://www.ncaa.org/about/history.html | access-date =May 19, 2007 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070430205324/http://www.ncaa.org/about/history.html <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=April 30, 2007}}</ref>

The rules committee considered widening the playing field to "open up" the game, but [[Harvard Stadium]] (the first large permanent football stadium) had recently been built at great expense; it would be rendered useless by a wider field. The rules committee legalized the [[forward pass]] instead. Though it was underused for years, this proved to be one of the most important rule changes in the establishment of the modern game.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|p=18}} Another rule change banned "mass momentum" plays (many of which, like the infamous "flying wedge", were sometimes literally deadly).

===Modernization and innovation (1906–1930)===
[[File:RobinsonThrowing.jpg|thumb|A 1906 ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]'' photograph of [[Bradbury Robinson|Brad Robinson]], who threw the first legal forward pass and was the sport's first [[Triple threat man|triple threat]]]]
As a result of the 1905–1906 reforms, mass formation plays became illegal and [[forward pass]]es legal. [[Bradbury Robinson]], playing for visionary coach [[Eddie Cochems]] at [[Saint Louis University]], threw the first legal pass in a September 5, 1906, game against [[Carroll University|Carroll College]] at [[Waukesha, Wisconsin|Waukesha]]. Other important changes, formally adopted in 1910, were the requirements that at least seven offensive players be on the line of scrimmage at the time of the snap, that there be no pushing or pulling, and that interlocking interference (arms linked or hands on belts and uniforms) was not allowed. These changes greatly reduced the potential for collision injuries.<ref>John S. Watterson, [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1988/6/1988_6_102.shtml "Inventing Modern Football"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119234333/http://americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1988/6/1988_6_102.shtml |date=November 19, 2008 }}, ''American Heritage'' magazine, June 1988</ref> Several coaches emerged who took advantage of these sweeping changes. [[Amos Alonzo Stagg]] introduced such innovations as the [[huddle]], the tackling dummy, and the pre-snap shift.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|p=17}} Other coaches, such as [[Pop Warner]] and [[Knute Rockne]], introduced new strategies that still remain part of the game.

Besides these coaching innovations, several rules changes during the first third of the 20th century had a profound impact on the game, mostly in opening up the passing game. In 1914, the first roughing-the-passer penalty was implemented. In 1918, the rules on eligible receivers were loosened to allow eligible players to catch the ball anywhere on the field—previously strict rules were in place allowing passes to only certain areas of the field.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|p=22}} Scoring rules also changed during this time: field goals were lowered to three points in 1909<ref name="NFL1869"/> and touchdowns raised to six points in 1912.<ref name=NFL1911>{{cite web | title = NFL History 1911–1920 | work = NFL.com | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1911-1920 | access-date = May 15, 2007 | archive-date = January 15, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080115043331/http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1911-1920 }}</ref>

Star players that emerged in the early 20th century include [[Jim Thorpe]], [[Red Grange]], and [[Bronko Nagurski]]; these three made the transition to the fledgling NFL and helped turn it into a successful league. Sportswriter [[Grantland Rice]] helped popularize the sport with his poetic descriptions of games and colorful nicknames for the game's biggest players, including Notre Dame's "[[Four Horsemen (American football)|Four Horsemen]]" backfield and [[Fordham Rams football|Fordham University]]'s linemen, known as the "[[Seven Blocks of Granite]]".{{sfn|Vancil|2000|p=24}}

In 1907 at [[Champaign, Illinois]] Chicago and [[Illinois Fighting Illini football|Illinois]] played in the first game to have a halftime show featuring a [[marching band]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bands.illinois.edu/history |access-date=April 6, 2011 |publisher=[[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]] |title=Marching Band History |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512015409/http://bands.illinois.edu/history |archive-date=May 12, 2011}}</ref> Chicago won 42–6. On [[1911 Kansas vs. Missouri football game|November 25, 1911]] [[Kansas Jayhawks football|Kansas]] played at [[Missouri Tigers football|Missouri]] in the first [[homecoming]] football game.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.active.com/football/Articles/The_History_of_Homecoming.htm|title=The History of Homecoming|work=ACTIVE.com|access-date=December 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019180352/http://www.active.com/football/Articles/The_History_of_Homecoming.htm|archive-date=October 19, 2012|date=October 4, 2007}}</ref> The game was "broadcast" play-by-play over telegraph to at least 1,000 fans in [[Lawrence, Kansas]].<ref name="mech">{{cite news|url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/nov/27/100-years-ago-football-fans-enjoy-mechanized-repro/?print|newspaper=[[Lawrence Journal-World]]|access-date=December 27, 2011|title=100 years ago: Football fans enjoy mechanized reproduction of KU-MU game|date=November 27, 2011}}</ref> It ended in a 3–3 tie. The game between [[West Virginia Mountaineers football|West Virginia]] and [[Pittsburgh Panthers football|Pittsburgh]] on October 8, 1921, saw the first live radio broadcast of a college football game when Harold W. Arlin announced that year's [[Backyard Brawl]] played at [[Forbes Field]] on [[KDKA (AM)|KDKA]]. Pitt won 21–13.<ref>{{Cite book| editor1-last=Sciullo| editor1-first=Sam Jr.| title = 1991 Pitt Football: University of Pittsburgh Football Media Guide | publisher = University of Pittsburgh Sports Information Office | year = 1991 | location = Pittsburgh| page = 116}}</ref> On October 28, 1922, Princeton and Chicago played the first game to be nationally broadcast on radio. Princeton won 21–18 in a hotly contested game which had Princeton dubbed the "Team of Destiny".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/princeton-chicago-football-game-is-broadcast-across-the-country|title=Princeton-Chicago football game is broadcast across the country|work=HISTORY |access-date=October 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924120642/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/princeton-chicago-football-game-is-broadcast-across-the-country|archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref>

====Rise of the South====
One publication claims "The first scouting done in the South was in 1905, when [[Dan McGugin]] and Captain [[Innis Brown]], of Vanderbilt went to [[Atlanta]] to see [[Sewanee Tigers football|Sewanee]] play [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech]]."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zz-SvKTN15IC&pg=PR2-IA1|title=How to Scout Football|author=George Allen|page=3|isbn=978-1-57898-729-0|date=February 2009|publisher=Martino }}</ref> [[Fuzzy Woodruff]] claims [[Davidson Wildcats football|Davidson]] was the first in the south to throw a legal forward pass in 1906. The following season saw [[1907 Vanderbilt Commodores football team|Vanderbilt]] execute a [[Trick play#double pass|double pass play]] to set up the touchdown that beat [[Sewanee Tigers football|Sewanee]] in a meeting of the unbeaten for the SIAA championship. [[Grantland Rice]] cited this event as the greatest thrill he ever witnessed in his years of watching sports.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Boston Daily Globe|title=Grantland Rice Tells Of Greatest Thrill In Years Of Watching Sport|date=April 27, 1924|id = {{ProQuest|497709192}}}}</ref> Vanderbilt coach [[Dan McGugin]] in ''Spalding's Football Guide''{{'s}} summation of the season in the SIAA wrote "The standing. First, Vanderbilt; second, Sewanee, a might good second;" and that [[Aubrey Lanier]] "came near winning the Vanderbilt game by his brilliant dashes after receiving punts."<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vws7AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA73|pages=71–75|title=Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association Foot Ball|author=Dan McGugin|journal=The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide|date=1907|author-link=Dan McGugin}}</ref> [[Bob Blake (American football)|Bob Blake]] threw the final pass to center [[Stein Stone]], catching it near the goal among defenders. [[Honus Craig]] then ran in the winning touchdown.

=====Heisman shift=====
Using the "[[jump shift]]" offense, [[John Heisman]]'s [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech Golden Tornado]] won [[1916 Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech football game|222 to 0]] over [[Cumberland University|Cumberland]] on October 7, 1916, at [[Grant Field]] in the most lopsided victory in college football history.<ref name="pbp">{{cite news| title=Yellow Jackets-Cumberland Score Was Record One; Tops the List According to Statistics Compiled Showing All Scores Past the Century Mark| last=Davis| first=Parke H.| newspaper=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution| date=October 15, 1916| page=A3}}</ref> Tech went on a 33-game winning streak during this period. The [[1917 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team|1917 team]] was the first [[mythical national championship|national champion]] from the [[American South|South]], led by a powerful backfield. It also had the first two players from the [[Deep South]] selected first-team All-American in [[Walker Carpenter]] and [[Everett Strupper]]. [[Glenn Warner|Pop Warner]]'s [[1917 Pittsburgh Panthers football team|Pittsburgh Panthers]] were also undefeated, but declined a challenge by Heisman to a game. When Heisman left Tech after 1919, his shift was still employed by protégé [[William Alexander (coach)|William Alexander]].

=====Notable intersectional games=====
[[File:DaviesPittGT1918.jpg|thumb|[[Tom Davies (American football)|Tom Davies]] runs against undefeated and unscored upon [[1918 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team|Georgia Tech]] in the 1918 game at [[Forbes Field]]]]
In 1906, Vanderbilt defeated [[Carlisle Indians football|Carlisle]] 4 to 0, the result of a Bob Blake field goal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2054516/the_atlanta_constitution/|work=Atlanta Constitution|access-date=March 24, 2015|date=November 25, 1906|page=5|title=Vandy's Great Victory Will Live In History|author=Alex Lynn|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name="Best Eleven">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1944523//|work=Atlanta Constitution|title=Brown Calls Vanderbilt '06 Best Eleven South Ever Had|date=February 19, 1911|access-date=March 8, 2015|page=52|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> In 1907 Vanderbilt fought Navy to a 6 to 6 tie. In 1910 Vanderbilt held defending national champion Yale to a scoreless tie.<ref name="Best Eleven"/>

Helping Georgia Tech's claim to a title in 1917, the [[1917 Auburn Tigers football team|Auburn Tigers]] held undefeated, [[Chic Harley]]-led Big Ten champion [[1917 Ohio State Buckeyes football team|Ohio State]] to a scoreless tie the week before Georgia Tech beat the Tigers 68 to 7. The next season, with many players gone due to World War I, a game was finally scheduled at [[Forbes Field]] with [[1918 Pittsburgh Panthers football team|Pittsburgh]]. The Panthers, led by freshman [[Tom Davies (American football)|Tom Davies]], defeated [[1918 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team|Georgia Tech]] 32 to 0. Tech center [[Bum Day]] was the first player on a Southern team ever selected first-team All-American by [[Walter Camp]].

1917 saw the rise of another Southern team in [[Centre Colonels football|Centre]] of [[Danville, Kentucky]]. In 1921 [[Bo McMillin]]-led [[1921 Centre Praying Colonels football team|Centre]] upset defending national champion Harvard [[1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game|6 to 0]] in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history. The next year Vanderbilt fought Michigan to a [[1922 Michigan vs. Vanderbilt football game|scoreless tie]] at the inaugural game at [[Dudley Field]] (now Vanderbilt Stadium), the first stadium in the South made exclusively for college football. Michigan coach [[Fielding Yost]] and Vanderbilt coach [[Dan McGugin]] were brothers-in-law, and the latter the protégé of the former. The game featured the season's two best defenses and included a goal line stand by Vanderbilt to preserve the tie. Its result was "a great surprise to the sporting world".<ref>{{cite news|title=Football Squads Begin practice|newspaper=The Kingsport Times|date=September 14, 1923}}</ref> Commodore fans celebrated by throwing some 3,000 seat cushions onto the field. The game features prominently in Vanderbilt's history.<ref name="Traughber">cf. {{cite web|url=http://www.vucommodores.com/ot/history-corner-083006.html|title=CHC- Vandy Ties Michigan in 1922|author=Bill Traughber|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201232953/http://www.vucommodores.com/ot/history-corner-083006.html|archive-date=February 1, 2016}}</ref> That same year, Alabama upset [[Penn Quakers football|Penn]] 9 to 7.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bryantmuseum.com/TLGDetails.asp?GameDate=11/4/1922|title=Alabama vs. Pennsylvania|access-date=March 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402212820/http://bryantmuseum.com/TLGDetails.asp?GameDate=11%2F4%2F1922|archive-date=April 2, 2015}}</ref>

Vanderbilt's line coach then was [[Wallace Wade]], who coached [[Alabama Crimson Tide football|Alabama]] to the South's first [[1926 Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] victory in 1925. This game is commonly referred to as "the game that changed the south".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cptr.ua.edu/news/roses.htm |title=The Football Game That Changed the South |publisher=The University of Alabama |access-date=October 6, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526010552/http://www.cptr.ua.edu/news/roses.htm |archive-date=May 26, 2008}}</ref> Wade followed up the next season with an undefeated record and [[1927 Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] tie. Georgia's 1927 "[[1927 Georgia Bulldogs football team|dream and wonder team]]" [[1927 Georgia vs. Yale football game|defeated]] [[Yale Bulldogs football|Yale]] for the first time. Georgia Tech, led by Heisman protégé [[William Alexander (coach)|William Alexander]], gave the dream and wonder team its only loss, and the next year were national and [[1929 Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] champions. The Rose Bowl included [[Roy Riegels]]' wrong-way run. On October 12, 1929, Yale lost to Georgia in [[Sanford Stadium]] in its first trip to the south. Wade's Alabama again won a national championship and [[1931 Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] in 1930.

====Coaches of the era====
=====Glenn "Pop" Warner=====
{{Main|Pop Warner}}
Glenn "Pop" Warner coached at several schools throughout his career, including the [[Georgia Bulldogs football|University of Georgia]], [[Cornell Big Red football|Cornell University]], [[Pittsburgh Panthers football|University of Pittsburgh]], [[Stanford Cardinal football|Stanford University]], [[Iowa State Cyclones football|Iowa State University]], and [[Temple Owls football|Temple University]].{{sfn|Bennett|1976|pp=20–21}} One of his most famous stints was at the [[Carlisle Indian Industrial School]], where he coached [[Jim Thorpe]], who went on to become the first president of the [[National Football League]], an [[1912 Summer Olympics|Olympic Gold Medalist]], and is widely considered one of the best overall athletes in history.<ref>{{cite web | title = ESPN.com: Top N. American athletes of the century |work=ESPN | year = 2001 | url = https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/athletes.html | access-date =May 19, 2007}}</ref>{{sfn|Vancil|2000|p=20}} Warner wrote one of the first important books of football strategy, ''Football for Coaches and Players'', published in 1927.<ref>{{cite web | title = WorldCat entry for Football for Coaches and Players | publisher=WorldCat.org | oclc=1741453 | url = http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/1741453 | access-date =August 23, 2007}}</ref> Though the shift was invented by Stagg, Warner's [[single wing]] and double wing [[Formation (American football)|formations]] greatly improved upon it; for almost 40 years, these were among the most important formations in football. As part of his single and double wing formations, Warner was one of the first coaches to effectively use the forward pass. Among his other innovations are modern blocking schemes, the [[three-point stance]], and the [[reverse (American football)|reverse]] play.{{sfn|Bennett|1976|pp=20–21}} The youth football league, [[Pop Warner Little Scholars]], was named in his honor.

=====Knute Rockne=====
{{Main|Knute Rockne}}
[[Knute Rockne]] rose to prominence in 1913 as an [[end (American football)|end]] for the [[University of Notre Dame]], then a largely unknown Midwestern Catholic school. When Army scheduled Notre Dame as a warm-up game, they thought little of the small school. Rockne and quarterback [[Gus Dorais]] made innovative use of the forward pass, still at that point a relatively unused weapon, to defeat Army 35–13 and helped establish the school as a national power. Rockne returned to coach the team in 1918, and devised the powerful [[Notre Dame Box]] offense, based on Warner's single wing. He is credited with being the first major coach to emphasize offense over defense. Rockne is also credited with popularizing and perfecting the forward pass, a seldom used play at the time.<ref name=rockne>{{cite encyclopedia|entry=Knute Rockne |encyclopedia=MSN Encarta |year=2007 |entry-url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576926/Knute_Rockne.html |access-date=April 6, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821232020/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576926/Knute_Rockne.html |archive-date=August 21, 2009 }}</ref> The [[1924 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team|1924 team]] featured the [[Four Horsemen (American football)|Four Horsemen]] backfield. In 1927, his complex shifts led directly to a rule change whereby all offensive players had to stop for a full second before the ball could be snapped. Rather than simply a regional team, Rockne's "Fighting Irish" became famous for [[Barnstorm (athletics)|barnstorming]] and played any team at any location. It was during Rockne's tenure that the annual [[Jeweled Shillelagh|Notre Dame-University of Southern California rivalry]] began. He led his team to an impressive 105–12–5 record before his premature death in a [[1931 Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 crash|plane crash]] in 1931. He was so famous at that point that his funeral was broadcast nationally on radio.{{sfn|Bennett|1976|pp=20–21}}{{sfn|Vancil|2000|pp=19–22}}

===From a regional to a national sport (1930–1958)===
[[File:Hutson-Don-1940-grainfix.jpg|thumb|[[Don Hutson]] in 1940]]
In the early 1930s, the college game continued to grow, particularly in the [[Southern United States|South]], bolstered by fierce rivalries such as the "[[South's Oldest Rivalry]]", between Virginia and North Carolina and the "[[Deep South's Oldest Rivalry]]", between [[Georgia Bulldogs football|Georgia]] and [[Auburn Tigers football|Auburn]]. Although before the mid-1920s most national powers came from the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]] or the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], the trend changed when several teams from the South and the West Coast achieved national success. [[Wallace William Wade]]'s [[1925 Alabama Crimson Tide football team#1925|1925 Alabama]] team won the [[1926 Rose Bowl]] after receiving its first national title and [[William Alexander (coach)|William Alexander]]'s 1928 [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech]] team defeated [[California Golden Bears football|California]] in the [[1929 Rose Bowl]]. College football quickly became the most popular spectator sport in the South.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|pp=24–29}}

Several major modern college football conferences rose to prominence during this time period. The [[Southwest Athletic Conference]] had been founded in 1915. Consisting mostly of schools from Texas, the conference saw back-to-back national champions with [[TCU Horned Frogs football|Texas Christian University]] (TCU) in 1938 and [[Texas A&M Aggies football|Texas A&M]] in 1939.{{sfn|MacCambridge|1999|p=124}}<ref>{{cite web | title = A Look Back at the Southwest Conference | work = 2006–2007 Texas Almanac | publisher = The Dallas Morning News | year = 2007 | url = https://texasalmanac.com/topics/sports/look-back-southwest-conference | access-date = July 4, 2018}}</ref> The [[Pacific Coast Conference]] (PCC), a precursor to the [[Pac-12 Conference]] (Pac-12), had its own back-to-back champion in the [[USC Trojans football|University of Southern California]] which was awarded the title in 1931 and 1932.{{sfn|MacCambridge|1999|p=124}} The [[Southeastern Conference]] (SEC) formed in 1932 and consisted mostly of schools in the [[Deep South]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Ours |first=Robert M. |title=Southeastern Conference |encyclopedia=College Football Encyclopedia |publisher=Augusta Computer Services |year=2007 |url=http://www.footballencyclopedia.com/sechome.htm |access-date=May 31, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510232409/http://footballencyclopedia.com/sechome.htm |archive-date=May 10, 2007}}</ref> As in previous decades, the Big Ten continued to dominate in the 1930s and 1940s, with Minnesota winning 5 titles between 1934 and 1941, and Michigan (1933, 1947, and 1948) and [[Ohio State Buckeyes football|Ohio State]] (1942) also winning titles.{{sfn|MacCambridge|1999|p=124}}{{sfn|MacCambridge|1999|p=148}}

As it grew beyond its regional affiliations in the 1930s, college football garnered increased national attention. Four new [[bowl game]]s were created: the [[Orange Bowl (game)|Orange Bowl]], [[Sugar Bowl]], the [[Sun Bowl]] in 1935, and the [[Cotton Bowl Classic|Cotton Bowl]] in 1937. In lieu of an actual national championship, these bowl games, along with the earlier Rose Bowl, provided a way to match up teams from distant regions of the country that did not otherwise play. In 1936, the [[Associated Press]] (AP) began its [[AP Poll|weekly poll]] of prominent sports writers, ranking all of the nation's college football teams. Since there was no national championship game, the final version of the AP poll was used to determine who was crowned the [[Mythical National Championship|National Champion]] of college football.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|p=30}}

The 1930s saw growth in the passing game. Though some coaches, such as General [[Robert Neyland]] at Tennessee, continued to eschew its use, several rules changes to the game had a profound effect on teams' ability to throw the ball. In 1934, the rules committee removed two major penalties—a loss of five yards for a second incomplete pass in any series of downs and a loss of possession for an incomplete pass in the end zone—and shrunk the circumference of the ball, making it easier to grip and throw. Players who became famous for taking advantage of the easier passing game included Alabama end [[Don Hutson]] and TCU passer [[Sammy Baugh|"Slingin" Sammy Baugh]].{{sfn|Vancil|2000|pp=28–30}}

In 1935, New York City's [[Downtown Athletic Club]] awarded the first [[Heisman Trophy]] to [[Chicago Maroons football|University of Chicago]] halfback [[Jay Berwanger]], who was also the first ever [[NFL draft]] pick in 1936. The trophy was designed by sculptor [[Frank Eliscu]] and modeled after [[NYU Violets|New York University]] player [[Ed Smith (running back)|Ed Smith]]. The trophy recognizes the nation's "most outstanding" college football player and has become one of the most coveted awards in all of American sports.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Brief History of the Heisman Trophy |work=Heisman Trophy |publisher=heisman.com |url=http://www.heisman.com/history/trophy_history.php |year=2007 |access-date=May 31, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205045601/http://www.heisman.com/history/trophy_history.php |archive-date=December 5, 2009}}</ref>

During World War II, college football players enlisted in the [[Military of the United States|armed force]]s, some [[List of american football games in Europe during World War II|playing in Europe during the war]]. As most of these players had eligibility left on their college careers, some of them returned to college at [[United States Military Academy|West Point]], bringing Army back-to-back national titles in 1944 and 1945 under coach [[Earl Blaik|Red Blaik]]. [[Doc Blanchard]] (known as "Mr. Inside") and [[Glenn Davis (halfback)|Glenn Davis]] (known as "Mr. Outside") both won the [[Heisman Trophy]], in 1945 and 1946. On the coaching staff of those 1944–1946 Army teams was future [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]] coach [[Vince Lombardi]].{{sfn|MacCambridge|1999|p=148}}{{sfn|Vancil|2000|p=39}}

The 1950s saw the rise of yet more [[Dynasty (sports)|dynasties]] and power programs. [[Oklahoma Sooners football|Oklahoma]], under coach [[Bud Wilkinson]], won three national titles (1950, 1955, 1956) and all ten [[Big Eight Conference]] championships in the decade while building a record 47-game winning streak. [[Woody Hayes]] led Ohio State to two national titles, in 1954 and 1957, and won three [[Big Ten Conference football champions|Big Ten titles]]. The [[Michigan State Spartans football|Michigan State Spartans]] were known as the "football factory" during the 1950s, where coaches [[Biggie Munn]] and [[Duffy Daugherty]] led the Spartans to two national titles and two [[Big Ten Conference football champions|Big Ten titles]] after joining the [[Big Ten Conference|Big Ten]] athletically in 1953. Wilkinson and Hayes, along with Robert Neyland of Tennessee, oversaw a revival of the running game in the 1950s. Passing numbers dropped from an average of 18.9 attempts in 1951 to 13.6 attempts in 1955, while teams averaged just shy of 50 running plays per game. Nine out of ten Heisman Trophy winners in the 1950s were runners. Notre Dame, one of the biggest passing teams of the decade, saw a substantial decline in success; the 1950s were the only decade between 1920 and 1990 when the team did not win at least a share of the national title. [[Paul Hornung]], Notre Dame quarterback, did, however, win the Heisman in 1956, becoming the only player from a losing team ever to do so.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|pp=41–45}}{{sfn|MacCambridge|1999|p=172}}

The [[1956 Sugar Bowl]] also gained international attention when Georgia's pro-segregationist [[Marvin Griffin|Gov. Griffin]] publicly threatened [[Georgia Tech]] and its President [[Blake Van Leer]] over allowing the first African American player to play in a collegiate bowl game in the south.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2019/11/14/20914927/rearview-revisited-segregation-and-the-sugar-bowl-georgia-tech-pittsburgh-bobby-grier-1955-1956-game |publisher=Georgia Tech|title=Rearview Revisited: Segregation and the Sugar Bowl|author=Jake Grantl|date=2019-11-14|access-date=2019-11-14}}</ref>

===Modern college football (since 1958)===
[[File:UVA v. Penn State, Sep. 8 2012.jpg|thumb|The [[Virginia Cavaliers football|Virginia Cavaliers]] (orange and blue home uniforms) playing [[Penn State Nittany Lions football|Penn State Nittany Lions]] (all-white away uniforms) in 2012 at [[Scott Stadium]]]]
Following the enormous success of the [[1958 NFL Championship Game]], college football no longer enjoyed the same popularity as the NFL, at least on a national level. While both games benefited from the advent of television, since the late 1950s, the NFL has become a nationally popular sport while college football has maintained strong regional ties.{{sfn|MacCambridge|1999|p=171}}{{sfn|Bennett|1976|p=56}}<ref name=greatest>{{cite web | last = Barnidge | first = Tom | title = 1958 Colts remember the "Greatest Game" | work=nfl.com | year = 2000 | url = http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/6032205 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070624164703/http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/6032205 | archive-date=June 24, 2007 | access-date =March 21, 2007}} reprinted from Official [[Super Bowl XXXIII]] Game Program.</ref>

As professional football became a national television phenomenon, college football did as well. In the 1950s, Notre Dame, which had a large national following, formed its own network to broadcast its games, but by and large the sport still retained a mostly regional following. In 1952, the NCAA claimed all television broadcasting rights for the games of its member institutions, and it alone negotiated television rights. This situation continued until 1984, when several schools brought a suit under the [[Sherman Antitrust Act]]; the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] [[NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma|ruled against the NCAA]] and schools are now free to negotiate their own television deals. [[ABC Sports]] began broadcasting a national Game of the Week in 1966, bringing key matchups and rivalries to a national audience for the first time.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|pp=46–48}}

New formations and play sets continued to be developed. [[Emory Bellard]], an assistant coach under [[Darrell Royal]] at the [[Texas Longhorns football|University of Texas]], developed a three-back [[option offense|option]] style offense known as the [[wishbone formation|wishbone]]. The wishbone is a run-heavy offense that depends on the quarterback making last second decisions on when and to whom to hand or pitch the ball to. Royal went on to teach the offense to other coaches, including [[Bear Bryant]] at Alabama, [[Chuck Fairbanks]] at Oklahoma and [[Pepper Rodgers]] at [[UCLA Bruins football|UCLA]]; who all adapted and developed it to their own tastes.{{sfn|Vancil|2000|p=56}} The strategic opposite of the wishbone is the [[spread offense]], developed by professional and college coaches throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Though some schools play a run-based version of the spread, its most common use is as a passing offense designed to "spread" the field both horizontally and vertically.{{sfn|Bennett|1976|pp=209–217}} Some teams have managed to adapt with the times to keep winning consistently. In the rankings of the [[NCAA Division I football win–loss records|most victorious programs]], [[Michigan Wolverines football|Michigan]], [[Ohio State Buckeyes football|Ohio State]], and [[Alabama Crimson Tide football|Alabama]] ranked first, second, and third in total wins.

====Growth of bowl games====
{{see also|Bowl game}}

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; text-align: center; width: 200px; font-size: 0.9em;"
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| '''Growth of bowl<br />games 1930–2022'''<ref name=bowls1>{{cite news | last = Call | first = Jeff | title = Changing seasons: Y. reconnects with past, but bowl scene not the same | work=Deseret News | date = December 20, 2006 | page = D5}}</ref>
|-
! width=90 | Year
! # of games
|-
| 1930
| 1
|-
| 1940
| 5
|-
| 1950
| 8
|-
| 1960
| 8
|-
| 1970
| 8
|-
| 1980
| 15
|-
| 1990
| 19
|-
| 2000
| 25
|-
| 2010
| 35
|-
|2022
|42 (Plus CFP national championship game)<ref>{{Cite web |title=2022–23 Bowl Schedule |url=https://bowlseason.com/sports/bowl/schedule/2022-23 |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=BOWL SEASON |language=en}}</ref>
|}
In 1940, for the highest level of college football, there were only five bowl games (Rose, Orange, Sugar, Sun, and Cotton). By 1950, three more had joined that number and in 1970, there were still only eight major college bowl games. The number grew to eleven in 1976. At the birth of cable television and cable sports networks like [[ESPN]], there were fifteen bowls in 1980. With more national venues and increased available revenue, the bowls saw an explosive growth throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In the thirty years from 1950 to 1980, seven bowl games were added to the schedule. From 1980 to 2008, an additional 20 bowl games were added to the schedule.<ref name=bowls1/><ref name=hickok1>{{cite web|title=College Bowl Games |work=Hickok Sports |year=2006 |url=http://www.hickoksports.com/history/collbowl.shtml |access-date=June 1, 2007 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020223060707/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/collbowl.shtml |archive-date=February 23, 2002}}</ref> Some have criticized this growth, claiming that the increased number of games has diluted the significance of playing in a bowl game. Yet others have countered that the increased number of games has increased exposure and revenue for a greater number of schools, and see it as a positive development.<ref>{{cite web|last=Celizic |first=Mike |title=Too many bowl games? Nonsense |publisher=MSNBC |date=December 9, 2006 |url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15943416/ |access-date=June 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070129041736/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15943416/ |archive-date=January 29, 2007}}</ref> Teams participating in bowl games also get to practice up to four hours per day or 20 hours per week until their bowl game concludes.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Temple |first=Jesse |title=What Wisconsin extending its bowl streak would mean to Badgers players |work=The New York Times |date=November 20, 2022 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3904283/2022/11/17/wisconsin-college-football-bowl-game/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |language=en}}</ref> There is no limit on the number of practices during the bowl season, so teams that play later in the season (usually ones with more wins) get more opportunity to practice than ones that play earlier. This bowl practice period can be compared to the spring practice schedule when teams can have 15 on-field practice sessions.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-18 |title=Spring football practice recommendations advance |url=https://www.ncaa.org/news/2022/1/18/media-center-spring-football-practice-recommendations-advance.aspx |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=NCAA.org |language=en}}</ref> Many teams that play late in the bowl season use the first few practices for evaluation and development of younger players while resting the starters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Additional practices create balancing act for bowl teams |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2016/12/21/additional-practices-create-balancing-act-for-bowl-teams/95720950/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref>

{{Clear}}

== Organization ==
College teams mostly play other similarly sized schools through the NCAA's divisional system. [[NCAA Division I|Division I]] generally consists of the major collegiate athletic powers with larger budgets, more elaborate facilities, and (with the exception of a few conferences such as the [[Pioneer Football League]]) more athletic scholarships. However, the size of the [[NCAA Division I|Division I]] schools can vary widely. With the introduction of NIL (players can be directly paid by universities for their name, image and likeness), this widens the gap between the major conferences such as Southeastern Conference (SEC), Big 10 (BIG10), Big 12 (BIG12), Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Group of 5 teams in the American Athletic Conference (AAC), Conference USA (CUSA), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West Conference (MW), and Sun Belt Conference (SBC). The NIL collective from fans/alumnis is significantly larger in the bigger conferences because of [[Revenue sharing|Revenue Sharing]]. In the larger conferences Revenue Sharing will add an average of 15,394,899 million dollars per team, and the larger [[Power conferences|Power 4]] conference teams will add an average of 20.5 million dollars This only widens the gap between the big and small conferences, making it nearly impossible to win a National Championship as a smaller [[NCAA Division I|Division I]] school.

=== Division 2 and 3 ===
[[NCAA Division II|Division II]] primarily consists of smaller public and private institutions that offer fewer scholarships and no Revenue Sharing unlike Division I. [[NCAA Division III|Division III]] institutions also field teams, but do not offer any scholarships tied directly to athletics. However, these teams usually give academic scholarships to aid student athletes.

Football teams in Division I are further divided into the [[Football Bowl Subdivision|Bowl Subdivision]] (consisting of the largest programs) and the [[NCAA Football Championship Subdivision|Championship Subdivision]]. The Bowl Subdivision has historically not used an organized tournament to determine its champion, and instead teams compete in post-season [[List of college bowl games|bowl games]]. That changed with the debut of the four-team [[College Football Playoff]] at the end of the 2014 season, However, the NCAA does not operate that tournament, and its winner is not automatically crowned National Champion.

Teams in each of these four divisions are further divided into various regional conferences.

Several organizations operate college football programs outside the jurisdiction of the NCAA:

* The [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics]] has jurisdiction over more than 80 college football teams, mostly in the Midwest.
* The [[National Junior College Athletic Association]] has jurisdiction over two-year institutions, except in California.
* The [[California Community College Athletic Association]] governs sports, including football, at that state's two-year institutions. CCCAA members compete for their own championships and do not participate in the NJCAA.
* [[Club football]], a sport in which student clubs run the teams instead of the colleges themselves, is overseen by two organizations: the [[National Club Football Association]] and the Intercollegiate Club Football Federation. The two competing sanctioning bodies have some overlap, and several clubs are members of both organizations.
* As of the upcoming 2025 season, 15 schools play [[sprint football]], played under standard NCAA rules but with a requirement that all players must weigh less than the average college student (that threshold is set, as of 2024, at 178 pounds (81 kg), with the added requirement of a minimum body fat content of 5%). Nine schools, all in the northeastern quadrant of the U.S., play in the Collegiate Sprint Football League, which has operated since 1934. The Midwest Sprint Football League started play in 2022 with six members, all in the Midwest and Upper South. It added two members in that region in 2023, lost one of its charter members after the 2023 season due to the school's impending closure, and lost one of the 2023 arrivals when it dropped sprint football after the 2024 season.

A college that fields a team in the NCAA is not restricted from fielding teams in club or sprint football, and several colleges field two teams, a varsity (NCAA) squad and a club or sprint squad (no schools, as of 2025, field both club ''and'' sprint teams at the same time).

== Official rules and notable rule distinctions ==
{{See also|American football rules}}
Although rules for the high school, college, and [[National Football League|NFL]] games are generally consistent, there are several minor differences. Before 2023, a single NCAA Football Rules Committee determined the playing rules for Division I (both Bowl and Championship Subdivisions), II, and III games (the [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics]] (NAIA) is a separate organization, but uses the NCAA rules). As part of an NCAA initiative to give each division more autonomy over its governance, separate rules committees have been established for each NCAA division.

* 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 or when the ball carrier is tackled or otherwise falls and loses possession of the ball as he contacts the ground with any part of his body, with the sole exception of the holder for field goal and extra point attempts. In the NFL a player is active until he is tackled or forced down by a member of the opposing team (down by contact).
* Before the 2023 season, the clock stopped after the offense completed a first down and began again—assuming it is following a play in which the clock would not normally stop—once the referee declared the ball ready for play. Since 2023, this has only been the case in the last two minutes of a half in NCAA Divisions I and II; Division III adopted this rule in 2024. In the NFL the clock does not explicitly stop for a first down.
* Overtime was introduced in 1996, eliminating most ties except in the regular season. Since 2021, during each of the first two overtime periods, each team is given one possession from its opponent's 25-yard line with no game clock. The play clock remains in use, and each team is allowed one timeout per period. Any team that scores a touchdown in either of the first two overtimes must attempt a two-point conversion. Beginning with the third overtime, each team takes possession at the opponent's 3-yard line and can only score by conversion. A coin toss determines which team will have possession first at the start of each overtime period. Play continues until one team leads the other at the end of a period. [In the NFL overtime is decided by a [[Overtime (sports)#American and Canadian football|modified sudden-death period]] of 10 minutes in regular-season games (no overtime in preseason up to [[1973 NFL season|1973]] & since [[2021 NFL season|2021]]) and 15 minutes in playoff games, and regular-season games can still end in a tie if neither team scores. Overtime for regular-season games in the [[National Football League|NFL]] began with the [[1974 NFL season|1974 season]]; the overtime period for all games was 15 minutes until it was shortened for non-playoff games effective in [[2017 NFL season|2017]]. In the postseason, if the teams are still tied, teams will play multiple overtime periods until either team scores.]
** A tie game is still possible, per NCAA Rule 3–3–3 (c) and (d). If a game is suspended because of inclement weather while tied, typically in the second half or at the end of regulation, and the game is unable to be continued, the game ends in a tie. Similar to baseball, if one team has scored in its possession and the other team has not completed its possession, the score during the overtime can be wiped out and the game ruled a tie. Some conferences may enforce a curfew for the safety of the players. If, because of numerous overtimes or weather, the game reaches the time-certain finish imposed by the curfew tied, the game is ruled a tie.
* [[Try (American football)|Extra point tries]] are attempted from the three-yard line. Kicked tries count as one point. Teams can also go for "the [[two-point conversion]]" which is when a team will line up at the three-yard line and try to score. If they are successful, they receive two points, if they are not, then they receive zero points. Starting with the 2015 season, the NFL uses the 15-yard line as the line of scrimmage for placekick attempts, but the two-yard line for two-point attempts. The two-point conversion was not implemented in the NFL until 1994, but it had been previously used in the old American Football League (AFL) before it merged with the NFL in 1970.
* The defensive team may score two points on a point-after touchdown attempt by returning a blocked kick, fumble, or interception into the opposition's end zone. In addition, if the defensive team gains possession, but then moves backward into the end zone and is stopped, a one-point safety will be awarded to the offense, although, unlike a real safety, the offense kicks off, opposed to the team charged with the safety. This college rule was added in 1988. The NFL, which previously treated the ball as dead during a conversion attempt—meaning that the attempt ended when the defending team gained possession of the football—adopted the college rule in 2015.
* Through 2023, the [[two-minute warning]] was not used in college football, except in rare cases where the scoreboard clock has malfunctioned and is not being used. The NCAA adopted the two-minute warning (under the name "two-minute timeout") in 2024.
* There is an option to use instant replay review of officiating decisions. Division I FBS schools use replay in virtually all games; replay is rarely used in lower division games. Every play is subject to booth review with coaches only having one challenge. In the NFL, only scoring plays, turnovers, the final 2:00 of each half and all overtime periods are reviewed, and coaches are issued two challenges (with the option for a third if one of the two challenges was successful).
* Since the 2012 season, the ball is placed on the 25-yard line following a touchback on either a kickoff or a free kick following a safety. The NFL adopted this rule in 2018. In all other touchback situations at all levels of the game, the ball is placed on the 20.
* Among other rule changes in 2007, kickoffs were moved from the 35-yard line back five yards to the 30-yard line, matching a change that the NFL had made in 1994. Some coaches and officials questioned this rule change as it could lead to more injuries to the players as there will likely be more kickoff returns. The rationale for the rule change was to help reduce dead time in the game. The NFL returned its kickoff location to the 35-yard line effective in 2011; college football did not do so until 2012.
* Several changes were made to college rules in 2011, all of which differ from NFL practice:
** If a player is penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for actions that occurred during a play ending in a touchdown by that team, but before the goal line was crossed, the touchdown will be nullified. In the NFL, the same foul would result in a penalty on the conversion attempt or ensuing kickoff, at the option of the non-penalized team.
** If a team is penalized in the final minute of a half and the penalty causes the clock to stop, the opposing team now has the right to have 10 seconds run off the clock in addition to the yardage penalty. The NFL has a similar rule in the final minute of the half, but it applies only to specified violations against the offensive team. The new NCAA rule applies to penalties on both sides of the ball.
** Players lined up outside the tackle box—more specifically, those lined up more than 7 yards from the center—will now be allowed to block below the waist only if they are blocking straight ahead or toward the nearest sideline.
** On placekicks, each offensive lineman can be engaged by no more than two defensive players. The defenders risk a 5-yard penalty upon violation.
* In 2018, the NCAA made a further change to touchback rules that the NFL adopted in [[2023 NFL season|2023]]; a fair catch on a kickoff or a free kick following a safety that takes place between the receiving team's goal line and 25-yard lines is treated as a touchback, with the ball placed at the 25.
* Yards lost on [[Quarterback sack|quarterback sacks]] are included in individual rushing yardage under NCAA rules. In the NFL, yards lost on sacks are included in team passing yardage, but are not included in individual passing statistics.

==Coaching==
{{main|Head coach#College football}}

== Determination of national champion ==
{{Main|Bowl Championship Series}}

{{See also|NJCAA National Football Championship|NCAA Division I Football Championship}}
Currently, the NCAA Division I football teams are divided into two divisions – the "football bowl subdivision" (FBS) and the "football championship subdivision"(FCS). As indicated by the name, the FBS teams are eligible to play in post-season bowls. The FCS teams, Division II, Division III, National Junior College teams play in sanctioned tournaments to determine their annual champions. There is not now, and never has been, an NCAA-sanctioned tournament to determine the champion of the top-level football teams.

With the growth of bowl games, it became difficult to determine a national champion in a fair and equitable manner. As conferences became contractually bound to certain bowl games (a situation known as a [[Automatic bids to non-BCS bowls|tie-in]]), match-ups that guaranteed a consensus national champion became increasingly rare.

=== Bowl Coalition ===
In 1992, seven conferences and independent Notre Dame formed the [[Bowl Coalition]], which attempted to arrange an annual No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup based on the final AP poll standings. The Coalition lasted for three years; however, several scheduling issues prevented much success; tie-ins still took precedence in several cases. For example, the Big Eight and SEC champions could never meet, since they were contractually bound to different bowl games. The coalition also excluded the Rose Bowl, arguably the most prestigious game in the nation, and two major conferences—the Pac-10 and Big Ten—meaning that it had limited success.

=== Bowl Alliance ===
In 1995, the Coalition was replaced by the [[Bowl Alliance]], which reduced the number of bowl games to host a national championship game to three—the [[Fiesta Bowl|Fiesta]], Sugar, and Orange Bowls—and the participating conferences to five—the [[Atlantic Coast Conference|ACC]], [[Southeastern Conference|SEC]], [[Southwest Conference|Southwest]], [[Big Eight Conference|Big Eight]], and [[Big East Conference (1979–2013)|Big East]]. It was agreed that the No.1 and No.2 ranked teams gave up their prior bowl tie-ins and were guaranteed to meet in the national championship game, which rotated between the three participating bowls. The system still did not include the [[Big Ten Conference|Big Ten]], [[Pac-12 Conference|Pac-10]], or the [[Rose Bowl Game|Rose Bowl]], and thus still lacked the legitimacy of a true national championship. However, one positive side effect is that if there were three teams at the end of the season vying for a national title, but one of them was a [[Pac-10]]/[[Big Ten]] team bound to the [[Rose Bowl Game|Rose Bowl]], then there would be no difficulty in deciding which teams to place in the Bowl Alliance "national championship" bowl; if the [[Pac-10]] / [[Big Ten]] team won the [[Rose Bowl Game|Rose Bowl]] and finished with the same record as whichever team won the other bowl game, they could have a share of the national title. This happened in the final year of the Bowl Alliance, with [[1997 Michigan Wolverines football team|Michigan]] winning the [[1998 Rose Bowl]] and [[1997 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team|Nebraska]] winning the [[1998 Orange Bowl]]. Without the [[Pac-10]]/[[Big Ten]] team bound to a bowl game, it would be difficult to decide which two teams should play for the national title.

=== Bowl Championship Series ===
{{Main|Bowl Championship Series}}
In 1998, a new system was put into place called the [[Bowl Championship Series]]. For the first time, it included all major conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10, and SEC) and four major bowl games (Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta). The champions of these six conferences, along with two "at-large" selections, were invited to play in the four bowl games. Each year, one of the four bowl games served as a national championship game. Also, a complex system of human polls, computer rankings, and strength of schedule calculations was instituted to rank schools. Based on this ranking system, the No.1 and No.2 teams met each year in the national championship game. Traditional tie-ins were maintained for schools and bowls not part of the national championship. For example, in years when not a part of the national championship, the Rose Bowl still hosted the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions.

The system continued to change, as the formula for ranking teams was tweaked from year to year. At-large teams could be chosen from any of the [[NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision|Division I-A]] conferences, though only one selection—[[2004 Utah Utes football team|Utah]] in 2005—came from a BCS non-AQ conference. Starting with the 2006 season, a fifth game—simply called the [[BCS National Championship Game]]—was added to the schedule, to be played at the site of one of the four BCS bowl games on a rotating basis, one week after the regular bowl game. This opened up the BCS to two additional at-large teams. Also, rules were changed to add the champions of five additional conferences ([[Conference USA]] [C-USA], the [[Mid-American Conference]] [MAC], the [[Mountain West Conference]] [MW], the [[Sun Belt Conference]] and the [[Western Athletic Conference]] [WAC]), provided that said champion ranked in the top twelve in the final BCS rankings, or was within the top 16 of the BCS rankings and ranked higher than the champion of at least one of the [[Power Five conferences|BCS Automatic Qualifying (AQ) conferences]]. Several times since this rule change was implemented, schools from non-AQ conferences have played in BCS bowl games. In 2009, [[2009 Boise State Broncos football team|Boise State]] played [[2009 TCU Horned Frogs football team|TCU]] in the [[2010 Fiesta Bowl|Fiesta Bowl]], the first time two schools from non-AQ conferences played each other in a BCS bowl game. The last team from the non-AQ ranks to reach a BCS bowl game in the BCS era was [[2012 Northern Illinois Huskies football team|Northern Illinois in 2012]], which played in (and lost) the [[2013 Orange Bowl]].

=== College Football Playoff ===
The longtime resistance to a playoff system at the FBS level finally ended with the creation of the [[College Football Playoff]] (CFP) beginning with the 2014 season. The CFP is a multi-team single-elimination tournament (originally four teams; expanded to 12 teams in the 2024 season) whose participants are chosen and seeded by a selection committee. Originally, the semifinals were hosted by two of the group of traditional bowl games known as the New Year's Six, with hosts rotating in a three-year cycle. In the current format, the first round is held at campus sites, with the quarterfinals and semifinals hosted by New Year's Six bowls. In both formats, semifinal winners advance to the [[College Football Playoff National Championship]], whose host is determined by open bidding several years in advance.

The 10 FBS conferences are formally and popularly divided into two groups:

* [[Power conferences|Power Four]] – Four of the six AQ conferences of the BCS era, specifically the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC. The Pac-12 had been part of this group until [[2021–2026 NCAA conference realignment#Pac-12 Conference|its 2024 collapse]]. During the CFP's four-team era, each champion of these conferences was assured of a spot in a New Year's Six bowl, though not necessarily in a semi-final game. [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish football|Notre Dame]] remains a football independent, but is counted among the Power Five because of its full but non-football ACC membership, including a football scheduling alliance with that conference. In the 2020 season, Notre Dame played as a full-time member of the conference due to the effects that COVID-19 had on the college football season, causing many conferences to play conference-only regular seasons. Before the 2024 CFP expansion, Notre Dame had its own arrangement for access to the New Year's Six games if it met certain standards.
* [[Group of Five conferences|Group of Five]] – The remaining FBS conferences – American, CUSA, MAC, MW, and Sun Belt. The Pac-12, reduced to two teams after its collapse, is generally treated as a de facto Group of Five league. The other three current FBS independents, [[Army Black Knights football|Army]], [[UConn Huskies football|UConn]], and [[UMass Minutemen football|UMass]], are also considered to be part of this group. During the four-team CFP era, one conference champion from this group received a spot in a New Year's Six game. In the current 12-team era, the top conference champion from this group receives an automatic CFP berth. In the first seven seasons of the CFP, the Group of Five did not place a team in a semi-final. In 2021, Cincinnati, then a member of The American, qualified for the Playoff, becoming the first Group of 5 team to qualify (and only such team to do so in the four-team era). In the first season of the 12-team CFP in 2024, Boise State received a first-round bye into the New Year's Six. Of the 10 Group of Five teams selected for New Year's Six bowls, four have won their games.

=== Playoff Games ===
----
[[File:Ny6 bowl games.png|thumb|New Years 6 Bowl Games]]
Starting in the 2014 season, four [[NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision|Division I FBS]] teams were selected at the end of regular season to compete in a playoff for the FBS national championship. As the playoff got expanded in the offseason following the 2024 season, there had to be a committee gathered to vote on the 12 teams making the expanded playoff. The playoff committee is made up of 12 men and 1 woman.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2025-26 Selection Committee Roster |url=https://collegefootballplayoff.com/sports/selection-committee/roster/2025-26 |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=College Football Playoff |language=en}}</ref> These people were chosen by the “CFP Management Committee” and mostly are made up of past coaches, players and Athletic Directors.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-09-13 |title=A New Perspective on College Football Playoff Selection |url=https://collegefootballplayoff.com/news/2025/9/23/a-new-perspective-on-college-football-playoff-selection.aspx |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=College Football Playoff |language=en}}</ref> They were tasked to choose 12 of the ‘best’ or ‘most qualified’ teams in the country. This was modified prior to the [[2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season|2024 season]], allowing twelve teams, four of which being conference champions, to compete for a FBS national championship. The inaugural champions for the four-team '''and''' twelve-team playoff were the [[2014 Ohio State Buckeyes football team|2014 Ohio State Buckeyes]] (four-team) and the [[2024 Ohio State Buckeyes football team|2024 Ohio State Buckeyes]] (twelve-team). The [[College Football Playoff]] replaced the [[Bowl Championship Series]], which had been used as a selection method to determine the national championship game participants since in the 1998 season. The Ohio State Buckeyes won the most recent playoff 34–23 over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the 2025 College Football Playoff. The inaugural 12 team playoff field consisted of : Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, Arizona State, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, Indiana, SMU, and Clemson.

At the [[NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision|Division I FCS]] level, the teams participate in a 24-team playoff (most recently expanded from 20 teams in 2013) to determine the national championship. Under the current playoff structure, the top eight teams are all seeded, and receive a bye week in the first round. The highest seed receives automatic home field advantage. Starting in 2013, non-seeded teams can only host a playoff game if both teams involved are unseeded; in such a matchup, the schools must bid for the right to host the game. Selection for the playoffs is determined by a selection committee, although usually a team must have an 8–4 record to even be considered. Losses to an FBS team count against their playoff eligibility, while wins against a Division II opponent do not count towards playoff consideration. Thus, only Division I wins (whether FBS, FCS, or FCS non-scholarship) are considered for playoff selection. The Division I National Championship game is held in [[Frisco, Texas]].

[[NCAA Division II|Division II]] and [[NCAA Division III|Division III]] of the NCAA also participate in their own respective playoffs, crowning national champions at the end of the season. The [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics]] also holds a playoff.

==National championships==
* [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS]] – Overview of systems for determining national champions at the highest level of college football from 1869 to present.
** [[College Football Playoff]] – Four-team playoff for determining national champions at the highest level of college football beginning in 2014. After a vote by the College Football Playoff's Board of Managers, the Playoff was expanded to 12 teams in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=College Football Playoff expansion: Board agrees to 12-team field with aim to implement as soon as possible |url=https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-expansion-board-agrees-to-12-team-field-with-aim-to-implement-as-soon-as-possible/ |first1= Shehan |last1=Jeyarajah |first2=Dennis |last2=Dodd |date=Sep 2, 2022 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=CBS Sports}}</ref>
** [[Bowl Championship Series]] – The primary method of determining the national champion at the highest level of college football from 1998 to 2013; preceded by the [[Bowl Alliance]] (1995–1997) and the [[Bowl Coalition]] (1992–1994).
* [[NCAA Division I Football Championship]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.div1fbchampionship.com/|title=NCAA Division I Football Championship|access-date=December 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329233628/http://www.div1fbchampionship.com/|archive-date=March 29, 2010}}</ref> – Playoff for determining the national champion at the second highest level of college football, [[Division I FCS]], from 1978 to present.
** [[NCAA Division I FCS Consensus Mid-Major Football National Championship]] – Awarded by poll from 2001 to 2007 for a subset of the second-highest level of play in college football, FCS.
* [[NCAA Division II Football Championship]] – Playoff for determining the national champion at the third highest level of college football from 1973 to present.
* [[NCAA Division III Football Championship]] – Playoff for determining the national champion at the fourth highest level of college football from 1973 to present.
* [[NAIA Football National Championship|NAIA National Football Championship]] – Playoff for determining the national champions of college football governed by the [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics]].
* [[NJCAA National Football Championship]] – Playoff for determining the national champions of college football governed by the [[National Junior College Athletic Association]].
* [[List of Collegiate Sprint Football League champions|CSFL Championship]] – Champions of the Collegiate Sprint Football League, a conference that plays the weight-restricted variant of [[sprint football]].
* MSFL Championship – Launched in 2022 as the championship for the Midwest Sprint Football League, another sprint football league.

==Team maps==
<gallery>
File:NCAA FBS programs.png|Map of Division I (A) FBS
File:NCAA FCS programs.png|Map of Division I (AA) FCS
File:NCAA D2 programs.png|Map of NCAA Division II
File:NCAA D3 programs.png|Map of NCAA Division III
File:NAIA programs.png|Map of NAIA
File:NJCAA fb.png|Map of NJCAA
File:CCCAA fb.png|Map of CCCAA
</gallery>

==Bowl games==
{{main|Bowl game|List of college bowl games}}

Unlike other college football divisions and most other sports—collegiate or professional—the [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS|Football Bowl Subdivision]], formerly known as Division I-A college football, has historically not employed a playoff system to determine a champion. Instead, it has a series of postseason "bowl games". The annual National Champion in the Football Bowl Subdivision is then instead traditionally determined by a vote of sports writers and other non-players.

This system has been challenged often, beginning with an NCAA committee proposal in 1979 to have a four-team playoff following the bowl games.<ref>{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Gordon S. |title=N.C.A.A. Committee Urges Football Playoff |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/08/archives/ncaa-committee-urges-football-playoff-aiaw-asks-ncaa-restraint.html |work=The New York Times |date=1979-01-08 }}</ref> However, little headway was made in instituting a playoff tournament until 2014, given the entrenched vested economic interests in the various bowls. Although the NCAA publishes lists of claimed FBS-level national champions in its official publications, it has never recognized an official FBS national championship; this policy continues even after the establishment of the [[College Football Playoff]] (which is not directly run by the NCAA) in 2014. As a result, the official Division I National Champion is the winner of the Football Championship Subdivision, as it is the highest level of football with an NCAA-administered championship tournament. (This also means that FBS student-athletes are the only NCAA athletes who are ineligible for the [[Elite 90 Award]], an academic award presented to the upper class player with the highest grade-point average among the teams that advance to the championship final site.)

The first bowl game was the [[1902 Rose Bowl]], played between [[1902 Michigan Wolverines football team|Michigan]] and [[Stanford Cardinal football|Stanford]]; Michigan won 49–0. It ended when Stanford requested and Michigan agreed to end it with 8 minutes on the clock. That game was so lopsided that the game was not played annually until 1916, when the Tournament of Roses decided to reattempt the postseason game. The term "bowl" originates from the shape of the [[Rose Bowl (stadium)|Rose Bowl stadium]] in [[Pasadena, California]], which was built in 1923 and resembled the Yale Bowl, built in 1915. This is where the name came into use, as it became known as the [[Rose Bowl Game]]. Other games came along and used the term "bowl", whether the stadium was shaped like a bowl or not.

At the Division I FBS level, teams must earn the right to be [[bowl eligible]] by winning at least 6 games during the season (teams that play 13 games in a season, which is allowed for [[Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football|Hawaii]] and any of its home opponents, must win 7 games). They are then invited to a bowl game based on their conference ranking and the tie-ins that the conference has to each bowl game. For the 2009 season, there were 34 bowl games, so 68 of the 120 Division I FBS teams were invited to play at a bowl. These games are played from mid-December to early January and most of the later bowl games are typically considered more prestigious.

After the Bowl Championship Series, additional all-star bowl games round out the post-season schedule through the beginning of February.

===Division I FBS National Championship Games===

{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2023}}

{{main|Bowl Championship Series|College Football Playoff}}

Partly as a compromise between both bowl game and playoff supporters, the NCAA created  the [[Bowl Championship Series]] (BCS) in 1998 to create a definitive national championship game for college football. The series included the four most prominent bowl games (Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl), while the national championship game rotated each year between one of these venues.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-07-06 |title=Man behind creation of BCS pleased with results - USATODAY.com |website=[[USA Today]] |url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bowls/2007-12-06-bcs2-football_N.htm |access-date=2023-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706130117/http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bowls/2007-12-06-bcs2-football_N.htm |archive-date=July 6, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=June 9, 1998 |title=New Formula for Football Championship Announced |url=http://www.fansonly.com/schools/md/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/061098aaa.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000307235112/http://www.fansonly.com/schools/md/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/061098aaa.html |archive-date=March 7, 2000 |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=Fans Only}}</ref> The BCS system was slightly adjusted in 2006, as the NCAA added a fifth game to the series, called the National Championship Game. This allowed the four other BCS bowls to use their normal selection process to select the teams in their games while the top two teams in the BCS rankings would play in the new National Championship Game.

The BCS selection committee used a complicated, and often controversial, computer system to rank all Division I-FBS teams and the top two teams at the end of the season played for the national championship.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ESPN.com – NCF/PREVIEW00 – BCS 101: Understanding how it works |url=http://www.espn.com/ncf/preview00/s/2000/0811/679200.html |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=www.espn.com}}</ref> This computer system, which factored in newspaper polls, online polls, coaches' polls, strength of schedule, and various other factors of a team's season, led to much dispute over whether the two best teams in the country were being selected to play in the National Championship Game.
[[File:Ny6 bowl games.png|thumb|NY6 Bowl Games]]
The BCS ended after the 2013 season and, since the 2014 season, the [[NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision|FBS]] national champion has been determined<ref>{{Cite web |title=Overview |url=https://collegefootballplayoff.com/sports/2016/9/30/overview.aspx |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=College Football Playoff |language=en}}</ref> by a four-team tournament known as the [[College Football Playoff]] (CFP). A selection committee of college football experts decides the participating teams. Six major bowl games known as the [[New Year's Six]] (NY6)—the [[Rose Bowl Game|Rose]], [[Sugar Bowl|Sugar]], [[Cotton Bowl Classic|Cotton]], [[Orange Bowl|Orange]], [[Peach Bowl|Peach]], and [[Fiesta Bowl|Fiesta]] Bowls—rotate on a three-year cycle as semi-final games, with the winners advancing to the [[College Football Playoff National Championship]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Year's Six matchups announced {{!}} NCAA.com |url=https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2016-12-04/college-football-bowls-new-years-six-matchups-announced |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=www.ncaa.com |language=en}}</ref> This arrangement was contractually locked in until the 2026 season, but an agreement was reached on CFP expansion to 12 teams effective with the 2024 season.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-01 |title=Rose Bowl OK's new deal for 12-team CFP in '24 |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35152132/rose-bowl-agrees-amended-deal-paving-way-early-cfp-expansion |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}</ref>

In the new CFP format, no conferences will receive automatic bids. Playoff berths will be awarded to the top six conference champions in the CFP rankings, plus the top six remaining teams (which may include other conference champions). The top four conference champions receive first-round byes. All first-round games will be played at the home field of the higher seed. The winners of these games advance to meet the top four seeds in the quarterfinals. The NY6 games will host the quarterfinals and semi-finals, rotating so that each bowl game will host two quarterfinals and one semi-final in a three-year cycle. The CFP National Championship will continue to be held at a site determined by open bidding several years in advance.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-27 |title=College Football Playoff expected to keep format for expanded 12-team bracket despite conference realignment |url=https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-expected-to-keep-format-for-expanded-12-team-bracket-despite-conference-realignment/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=CBSSports.com |language=en}}</ref>

== Awards ==

=== Division I FBS ===

* [[Heisman Trophy]]
* [[Maxwell Award]]
* [[Walter Camp Award]]
* [[Outland Trophy]]
* [[Associated Press College Football Player of the Year|Associated Press Player of the Year]] [[Beans]]
* [[Johnny Rodgers Award]]
* [[Fred Biletnikoff Award]]
* [[Lou Groza Award]]
* [[Lombardi Award]]
* [[Bronko Nagurski Trophy]]
* [[Dick Butkus Award]]
* [[Jim Thorpe Award]]
* [[Doak Walker Award]]
* [[William V. Campbell Trophy|Campbell Trophy]]
* [[Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award]]
* [[Home Depot Award]]
* [[Ray Guy Award]]
* [[John Mackey Award]]
* [[Burlsworth Trophy]]
* [[Jet Award]]
* [[Paul Hornung Award]]
* [[Jon Cornish Trophy]]
* [[Patrick Mannelly Award]]

=== Division I FCS ===

* [[Walter Payton Award]]
* [[Buck Buchanan Award]]
* [[Jerry Rice Award]]

==Controversy==
With college football being a business that brings in over 1 billion dollars a year, there are some points of controversy. Usually corruption is involved with businesses that bring in that much money and college football is no different. The only difference is that the universities are ill-equipped to deal with said corruption. <ref>{{Cite news |last=Baker |first=Matt |date=2025-07-22 |title=What are college football programs actually worth? Experts say from $1.65 billion to $0 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6507297/2025/07/22/how-much-college-football-programs-worth/ |access-date=2025-10-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Salzberg |first=Steven |title=Football is corrupting America's universities: it needs to go |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2011/11/26/football-is-corrupting-americas-universities-it-needs-to-go/ |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=SCHALIN: Time for universities to punt football |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/1/time-for-universities-to-punt-football/ |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=The Washington Times |language=en-US}}</ref> According to William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the [[University System of Maryland|University of Maryland System]] and co-director of the [[Knight Commission|Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics]], "We've reached a point where big-time intercollegiate athletics is undermining the integrity of our institutions, diverting presidents and institutions from their main purpose."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pappano |first1=Laura |title=How Big-Time Sports Ate College Life |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/how-big-time-sports-ate-college-life.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/how-big-time-sports-ate-college-life.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited |work=The New York Times |date=20 January 2012 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> Football coaches often make more than the presidents of the universities which employ them.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Newman |first1=Jonah |title=Coaches, Not Presidents, Top Public-College Pay List |url=https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/data/coaches-not-presidents-top-public-college-pay-list |work=Chronicle of Higher Education |date=16 May 2014 }}</ref> Athletes are alleged to receive preferential treatment both in academics and when they run afoul of the law.<ref>{{cite news |title=Errors in Inquiry on Rape Allegations Against FSU's Jameis Winston |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/16/sports/errors-in-inquiry-on-rape-allegations-against-fsu-jameis-winston.html |work=The New York Times |date=16 April 2014 }}</ref> Although in theory football is an extra-curricular activity engaged in as a sideline by students, it is widely believed to turn a substantial profit, from which the athletes receive no direct benefit. There has been serious discussion about making student-athletes university employees to allow them to be paid.<ref>Gregg Doyel, "Time to pay college football players – changing times, money says so", CBS Sports, September 25, 2013, http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gregg-doyel/23838595/its-time-pay-college-football-players----changing-times-money-say-so {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903081057/http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gregg-doyel/23838595/its-time-pay-college-football-players----changing-times-money-say-so |date=September 3, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gilmore |first=Rod |date=2007-01-17 |title=Gilmore: Show the college athletes the money |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/columns/story?columnist=gilmore_rod&id=2733624 |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Branch |first=Taylor |date=2011-09-07 |title=The Shame of College Sports |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/ |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Strauss |first1=Ben |last2=Tracy |first2=Marc |title=N.C.A.A. Must Allow Colleges to Pay Athletes, Judge Rules |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/sports/federal-judge-rules-against-ncaa-in-obannon-case.html |work=The New York Times |date=2014-08-08 }}</ref> In reality, the majority of major collegiate football programs operated at a financial loss in 2014.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2015/11/23/running-up-the-bills/ Playing in the Red]. ''Washington Post''. Retrieved January 9, 2017.</ref>

There had been discussions on changing rules that prohibited compensation for the use of a player's name, image, and likeness (NIL), but change did not start to come until the mid-2010s. This reform first took place in the NAIA, which initially allowed all student-athletes at its member schools to receive NIL compensation in 2014,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.naia.org/membership/2020-21/files/NIL_FAQs_for_ASA.pdf |title=Name, Image and Likeness FAQs |publisher=National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics |date=September 14, 2020 |access-date=March 11, 2021}}</ref> and beginning in 2020 specifically allowed these individuals to reference their athletic participation in their endorsement deals.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://www.naia.org/general/2020-21/releases/NIL_Announcement |title=NAIA Passes Landmark Name, Image and Likeness Legislation |publisher=National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics |date=October 6, 2020 |access-date=March 11, 2021}}</ref> The NCAA passed its own NIL reform, very similar to the NAIA's most recent reform, in July 2021, after its hand was forced by multiple states that had passed legislation allowing NIL compensation, most notably [[Fair Pay to Play Act|California]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/30945653/social-media-stardom-how-changes-nil-benefit-athlete-influencers-ncaa |title=Social media stardom: How changes to NIL will benefit athlete-influencers across the NCAA |first=David M. |last=Hale |website=ESPN |date=March 8, 2021 |access-date=March 11, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Murphy |first=Dan |title=Let's make a deal: NCAA athletes cashing in on name, image and likeness |url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31738893/ncaa-athletes-cashing-name-image-likeness |website=ESPN |access-date=July 2, 2021 |date=July 1, 2021}}</ref> NIL deals have allowed college athletes to entertain pushing off entering the draft given their ability to earn large wages while finishing their degrees.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bumbaca |first=Chris |title='A moving target': NFL front offices adapting to transfer portal, NIL era |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/draft/2025/04/16/college-football-nil-transfer-portal-nfl-draft/83111467007/ |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref>

On June 3 of 2021, "The NCAA's board of directors adopted a temporary rule change that opened the door for NIL activity, instructing schools to set their own policy for what should be allowed with minimal guidelines" (Murphy 2021). On July 1 of 2021, the new rules set in and student athletes could start signing endorsements using their name, image and likeness. "The NCAA has asked Congress for help in creating a federal NIL law. While several federal options have been proposed, it's becoming increasingly likely that state laws will start to go into effect before a nationwide change is made. There are 28 states with NIL laws already in place and multiple others that are actively pursuing legislation" (Murphy 2021).

[[Charlie Baker]] called for a ban on all college football betting (and betting on college sports in general) because of [[Proposition bet|prop bets]] for student athletes. With past scandals and threats to college athletes, Baker requested states with sports betting to adjust their regulations to remove these bet types. While some were quick to do so (including Louisiana, Colorado, Ohio), others rejected the notion and continued to offer sports betting the same way.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-04 |title=E-News {{!}} NCAA President Charlie Baker urges state lawmakers across the country to ban prop bets on college athletes |url=https://enews.wvu.edu/articles/2024/04/04/ncaa-president-charlie-baker-urges-state-lawmakers-across-the-country-to-ban-prop-bets-on-college-athletes |access-date=2024-08-23 |website=enews.wvu.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-26 |title=States With College Football Props {{!}} What States Have CFB Props |url=https://www.collegefootballprops.com/states/ |access-date=2024-08-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Injuries ===
According to 2017 study on brains of deceased [[gridiron football]] players, 99% of tested brains of [[NFL]] players, 88% of [[CFL]] players, 64% of semi-professional players, 91% of college football players, and 21% of [[high school football]] players had various stages of [[Chronic traumatic encephalopathy|CTE]]. The study noted that it has limitations due to "selection bias" in that the brains donated are from families who suspected CTE, but "The fact that we were able to gather so many instances of a disease that was previously considered quite rare, in eight years, speaks volumes." <ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-07-26 |title=BU Researchers Find CTE in 99% of Former NFL Players Studied |url=https://www.bu.edu/articles/2017/cte-former-nfl-players/ |access-date=2025-10-16 |website=Boston University |language=en}}</ref>This study however, is dated and there has been some speculation that this was an attempt at shutting down football for children as it only picked the prolonged CTE patients and heavily injured professional players. Over the last decade injury prevention has taken leaps and bounds in all levels of football.

=== Evolution of Helmet Technology ===
With the large amount of injuries that happen in college football, there had to be something done to lower the risk of head and neck
[[File:Xenith_Helmet.png|thumb|276x276px|Center cut of a modern Xenith helmet]]
related injuries. With this, the NCAA and NFL have pushed the bar in helmet technology. With the introduction of National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment in 1978, <ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://nocsae.org/about-nocsae/history/ |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=NOCSAE |language=en-US}}</ref> helmet standards has taken leaps and bounds toward being safer for players. These new helmets are packed with sensors, gel padding and new age technology. With these advanced helmets being used now, there has been a downturn in concussions across all levels of college football.<ref>{{Cite web |last=GoRout |date=2024-12-30 |title=Football Helmet Technology: Innovations Transforming the Game |url=https://gorout.com/football-helmet-technology/ |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=GoRout |language=en-US}}</ref> With the push for safer helmets comes the introduction of the Guardian Cap, this is a soft shell like pad that goes over the helmet of a player in practice that reduces the chances of head injury by 40%. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Guardian Cap (Football) |url=https://shop.guardiansports.com/products/football-guardian-cap |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=Guardian Sports |language=en}}</ref> This cap is worn by most players in practice but very few use the cap in game because of the large diameter it adds to the helmet. Furthermore, the NCAA mandates that all teams put their respective helmets through recertification. This puts the helmets through testing, cleaning and calibration to ensure greater safety for all players.  <ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://nocsae.org/about-nocsae/history/ |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=NOCSAE |language=en-US}}</ref>

== College football outside the United States ==
{{see also|List of college football games played outside the United States|College football in Ireland}}

[[Canadian football]], which parallels American football, is played by university teams in Canada under the auspices of [[U Sports football|U Sports]]. (Unlike in the United States, no junior colleges play football in Canada, and the sanctioning body for junior college athletics in Canada, [[Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association|CCAA]], does not sanction the sport.) However, amateur football outside of colleges is played in Canada, such as in the [[Canadian Junior Football League]]. Organized competition in American football also exists at the collegiate level in Mexico ([[ONEFA]]), the UK ([[British Universities American Football League]]), Japan ([[Japan American Football Association]], [[Koshien Bowl]]), and South Korea ([[Korea American Football Association]]).

==See also==
{{portal|College football}}
* [[Concussions in American football]]
* [[College athletics in the United States]]
* [[College athletics]]
** [[College rugby]]
** [[College basketball]]
** [[College baseball]]
** [[College ice hockey]]
** [[College soccer in the United States|College soccer]]
** [[College lacrosse]]
* [[Helmet stickers]]
* [[Homosexuality in American football]]
* [[List of nicknamed college football games and plays]]
* [[List of sports attendance figures]]
* [[Sports injury]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Tom |title=The Pro Style |date=1976 |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=978-0-13-731604-5 }}
* {{cite book |last1=MacCambridge |first1=Michael |title=ESPN SportsCentury |date=1999 |publisher=Hyperion |isbn=978-0-7868-6471-3 |oclc=761166567 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Vancil |editor1-first=Mark |title=ABC Sports College Football: All Time All America Team |date=2000 |publisher=Hyperion |isbn=978-0-7868-6710-3 }}

==Further reading==
* "The Invention Of Football". ''Current Events'', 00113492, November 14, 2011, Vol. 111, Issue 8
* Anderson, Christian K., and Amber C. Fallucca, eds. ''The history of American college football: institutional policy, culture, and reform'' (Routledge, 2021) [https://books.google.com/books?id=y74lEAAAQBAJ&dq=football&pg=PT8 online].
* Chiles, Marvin T. "Gideon Edward Smith: The Player and Coach Who Gave Meaning to Black College Football, 1892–1942". ''Journal of African American Studies'' (2023): 1–19.
* De Oca, Jeffrey Montez. ''Discipline and indulgence: College football, media, and the American way of life during the cold war'' (Rutgers University Press, 2013) [https://books.google.com/books?id=CboKAQAAQBAJ&dq=football&pg=PR7 online].
* Harrison, Emily A. "The first concussion crisis: head injury and evidence in early American football". ''American journal of public health'' 104.5 (2014): 822–833. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987576/ online]
* Hobson, J. Hardin. "Football Culture at New South Universities: Lost Cause and Old South Memory, Modernity, and Martial Manhood". in ''The History of American College Football'' ed Christian K. Anderson, and Amber C. Fallucca, (Routledge, 2021) pp.&nbsp;37–63.
* Hunter, Bob. ''Saint Woody: The History and Fanaticism of Ohio State Football'' (U of Nebraska Press, 2022); on [[Woody Hayes]]
* Ingrassia, Brian M. ''The Rise of Gridiron University: Higher Education's Uneasy Alliance with Big-Time Football.'' Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2012.
* McGregor, Andrew. "The Anti-Intellectual Coach: The Cultural Politics of College Football Coaching from the New Left to the Present". ''Journal of Sport and Social Issues'' (2022): 01937235221098915.
* Nite, Calvin, and Marvin Washington. "Institutional adaptation to technological innovation: Lessons from the NCAA’s regulation of football television broadcasts (1938–1984)". ''Journal of Sport Management'' 31.6 (2017): 575–590.
* Rowley, Christopher. ''The Shared Origins of Football, Rugby, and Soccer'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) [Rowley, Christopher. The Shared Origins of Football, Rugby, and Soccer. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. online].
* Smith, Ronald A. "American football becomes the dominant intercollegiate national pastime". ''International Journal of the History of Sport'' 31.1–2 (2014): 109–119. [https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2013.861420 online]
* Tutka, Patrick, and Chad Seifried. "An Innovation Diffusion Ideal-type on the History of American College Football Stadia". ''Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics'' (2020). [http://csri-jiia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/RA_2020_15.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120151407/http://csri-jiia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/RA_2020_15.pdf |date=November 20, 2023 }}
* VanOverbeke, Marc A. " 'Out of the Quietness, a Clamor: "We Want Football!"’ The California State Colleges, Educational Opportunity, and Athletics". ''History of Education Quarterly'' 53.4 (2013): 430–454. [http://jvlone.com/sportsdocs/CalStateCollegesFootball2014.pdf online]
* Watterson, John Sayle. ''College football: History, spectacle, controversy'' (JHU Press, 2000) online in project MUSE.
* White, Derrick E. ''Blood, sweat, and tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the history of black college football'' (UNC Press Books, 2019).

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|College_football.ogg|date=May 29, 2006}}
* College football at [https://www.ncaa.com/sports/football/fbs NCAA], [https://www.naia.org/sports/fball/index NAIA], [https://www.cccaasports.org/sports/fball/index CCCAA], [https://thenccaa.org/sports/football NCCAA], [https://www.njcaa.org/sports/fball/index NJCAA], [https://www.theuscaa.com/sports/fball/index USCAA]

===Statistics===
* [https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/ College Football] at Sports-Reference.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401043509/https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/ |date=April 1, 2018 }}
* [http://football.stassen.com/ Stassen College Football], comprehensive college football database
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121108223720/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/index.php College Football Data Warehouse]

===Rules===
* [http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/FR12.pdf NCAA Football 2011 and 2012 Rules and Interpretations]

{{College football}}
{{National Collegiate Athletic Association}}
{{National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics}}
{{American football in the United States}}
{{Gridiron football concepts}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Football, College}}
[[Category:College football in the United States| ]]