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College football is American football played by teams of students fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States. College football remains extremely popular today among students, alumni, and other fans of the sport.

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

The first football game played between teams representing American colleges was an unfamiliar ancestor of today's college football, as it was played under rugby-style rules [1]. The game between teams from Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) took place on November 6, 1869 at College Field (now the site of the College Avenue Gymnasium at Rutgers University) in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rutgers won by a score of 6 "runs" to Princeton's 4.[2][3][4] The 1869 game between Rutgers and Princeton is important in that it is the beginning of intercollegiate competition in the sport of football and led to the developments that would create college American football as we see today. In 1870, Rutgers invited Columbia for a game, and the popularity of intercollegiate competition in football would spread throughout the country.

The American experience with the rugby-style game that led directly to present-day college football continued in 1874 at a meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts, between Harvard University and Montreal's McGill University. The McGill team played a rugby-style game, while Harvard played under a set of rules that allowed greater handling of the ball than soccer. The teams agreed to play under compromise rules. The Harvard students took to the rugby rules and adopted them as their own.[5]

The first game of intercollegiate football in America between two American colleges that most resembles the game of today was between Tufts University and Harvard on June 4, 1875 at Jarvis Field in Cambridge, Mass., won by Tufts 1-0 [6]. A report of the outcome of this game appeared in the Boston Daily Globe of June 5, 1875. Jarvis Field was at the time a patch of land at the northern point of the Harvard campus, bordered by Everett and Jarvis Sts. to the north and south, and Oxford St. and Massachusetts Avenue to the east and west. In the Tufts/Harvard game participants were allowed to pick up the ball and run with it, each side fielded eleven men, the ball carrier was stopped by knocking him down or 'tackling' him, and the inflated ball was egg-shaped - the combination of which marks this game as the first game of American Football. A photograph of the 1875 Tufts team hangs in the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana. Harvard and Yale also began play in 1875 though under rules that were slightly removed from the Tufts/Harvard contest. The longest running rivalry and most played game between two American colleges is between Lafayette College and Lehigh University.

Walter Camp, known as the "Father of American Football", is credited with changing the game from a variation of rugby into a unique sport. Camp is responsible for pioneering the play from scrimmage (earlier games featured a rugby scrum), most of the modern elements of scoring, the eleven-man team, and the traditional offensive setup of the seven-man line and the four-man backfield. Camp also had a hand in popularizing the game. He published numerous articles in publications such as Collier's Weekly and Harper's Weekly, and he chose the first College Football All-America Team.

College football increased in popularity through the remainder of the 19th century. It also became increasingly violent. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt threatened to ban the sport following a series of player deaths from injuries suffered during games. The response to this was the formation of what became the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which set rules governing the sport. One of the resulting rule changes was the introduction of the forward pass. Another was the banning of "mass momentum" plays (many of which, like the infamous "flying wedge", were sometimes literally deadly).

Prior to the founding of the National Football League and for many decades thereafter, college football was the predominant venue of American football. Innovations in strategy and style of play originated in college football and spread to the professional game gradually. During the 1950s and 60s, professional football began to be the predominant football medium.

Even with the emergence of the NFL, college football remains extremely popular throughout the U.S.[7] and has led to increased coverage on some networks. In March of 2007 ESPN announced a weekly show about college football with in depth analysis, much like a similar show on ESPN called "NFL Live." The show was created due to record ratings for ESPN, ESPN 2, and ABC as well as the largest ratings in the twenty year history of the show "College Football Gameday." The host will be Alabama alum Rece Davis and feature ESPN personalities Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, and others who will offer analysis. It will premiere in July 2007 and run through the bowl season.

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 (four [1] of which have seating capacity exceeding 100,000). In many cases, the college stadiums employ bench-style seating (as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests). This allows them to seat more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium, which tends to be a bit more luxurious. Overall college football draws more attendees than its professional counterpart. [8] [9]

A lack of a professional franchise is not necessarily an indicator of where the college game is most successful; for example, in California, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Florida—states which all have multiple NFL franchises—there are universities that also rank in the upper financial echelons of the college football. In many cases, though both collegiate and professional football teams exist in the same state, they reside in different cities.[citation needed]

College athletes, unlike professionals, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries. Many do receive scholarships and financial assistance from the university.

Unlike the early years of college football, the upper echelons of the college football are now dominated by public schools. First-tier conferences are mainly made up of flagship public schools from each state.

The college football season begins two to three weeks earlier than the NFL, toward the end of August. From 1982 until 2003, the regular season was officially ushered in by the Kickoff Classic (other pre-season games such as the Eddie Robinson Classic and the Pigskin Classic have also been played). Recent NCAA rules changes have eliminated these games. The regular season continues through early December, ending with the annual Army-Navy Game and several conference championship games on the same weekend.

The postseason consists of a series of bowl games that showcase top college teams. Bowl games generally match two teams of similar standing from different conferences, although some pit a high ranked team from a smaller conference against a lower ranked team from a more prestigious one. Division I Bowl Subdivision (still widely known by its former designation of Division I-A) football is the only NCAA sport which does not decide its champion with a playoff. In the past, the unofficial national champion was determined by various polls, such as the AP Poll, Coaches Poll, and the United Press International Poll. This system was problematic because two polls often named different champions.

Since 1998, the National Championship has been determined by the Bowl Championship Series. This formula, incorporating numerous computer rankings and human polls, is used to determine the top two teams in the country.[10] From 1998 to 2005, the two teams competed in one of the four BCS bowl games in a set rotation. Starting in the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game, was added. The game is played after completion of the BCS Bowls and the site rotates every year between the four BCS Bowls: the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. The first BCS Championship game was held on January 8, 2007 in the new University of Phoenix Stadium, the new home of the Fiesta Bowl. This system is not without controversy. Some critics argue that the system unfairly favors teams from large conferences and that the process used to select the teams can be just as ambiguous as the earlier poll system. Also, the Bowl Championship Series champion has not always been the undisputed national champion; for example, in 2003, the Associated Press and Bowl Championship Series chose different champions, which is what the system was designed to prevent. However, most years do have a consensus national champion.

The season concludes with series of all-star bowl games in January. These include the East-West Shrine Game, the Gridiron Classic, the Hula Bowl, the Senior Bowl, and the newly-established Texas vs. The Nation Game. However, the Gridiron Classic was recently declared canceled for 2006 because of lack of sponsorship.[11]

The length of the season has gradually increased over the course of the game's history. In spring 2005, the NCAA ruled that teams could schedule twelve regular-season games (up from eleven) beginning in the 2006 season.[12] This decision was met with some criticism from those who claimed that expanding the season would overwork the athletes.[13]