Portal:College football

The History of American football, a spectator sport in the United States, can be traced to early versions of rugby football. Both games have their origin in varieties of football played in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century, in which a ball is kicked at a goal and/or run over a line.

American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, considered the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the line of scrimmage and of down-and-distance rules. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments by college coaches such as Eddie Cochems, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Knute Rockne, and Glenn "Pop" Warner helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass. The popularity of collegiate football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport in the United States for the first half of the twentieth century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for collegiate teams. Bolstered by fierce rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US.

The origin of professional football can be traced back to 1892, with William "Pudge" Heffelfinger's $500 contract to play in a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. In 1920 the American Professional Football Association was formed. This league changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) two years later, and eventually became the major league of American football. Primarily a sport of Midwestern industrial towns in the United States, professional football eventually became a national phenomenon. Football's increasing popularity is usually traced to the 1958 NFL Championship Game, a contest that has been dubbed the "Greatest Game Ever Played". A rival league to the NFL, the American Football League (AFL), began play in 1960; the pressure it put on the senior league led to a merger between the two leagues and the creation of the Super Bowl, which has become the most watched television event in the United States on an annual basis.

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• We need a playoff. — Bernie Machen, president of the University of Florida who supported creating a play-off for NCAA Division I-A
• I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault. — former Ohio State Buckeyes defensive back Jack Tatum, on the fierce quality of his play
• If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you. — University of Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, on his motivational techniques
• When people used to see Wake Forest on the schedule, they used a pen to mark down a `W.' We're at the point now where we at least make them use a pencil. — Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe

• ... that the Harvard Crimson football team (home stadium pictured) has won 12 national championships and is the eighth winningest team in NCAA Division I football history?
• ... that American football running back Keith Elias graduated from Princeton University with 21 Princeton Tigers records and 4 National Collegiate Athletic Association I-AA records?
• ... that Vanderbilt's "Blonde Bear" supervised the ransacking of black households in the 1946 Columbia Race Riot?
• ... that Native American football player Peter Hauser has been credited with throwing the first spiral pass?

• ... that the Yale Bulldogs football team (mascot pictured) has won 27 national championships and ranks second in wins in college football history?
• ... that Michigan's All-American 60-minute man Tom Johnson was the second African-American player for the Green Bay Packers?
• ... that Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough played for Hall of Fame football coach John Gagliardi at Saint John's University?
• ... that the Wittenberg Tigers from Springfield, Ohio, have won more games than any other Division III college football team?