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{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2011}}
[[File:LafayettePennFootballOct23.1896.jpg|thumb|400px|Lafayette on defense in its 6–4 upset victory over Pennsylvania]]
{{Cleanup split|Early history of American football|Modern history of American football|date=October 2015}}
{{History of American football}}
{{see also|Early history of American football|Modern history of American football}}
[[File:Jim Thorpe Canton Bulldogs 1915-20.png|thumb|[[Jim Thorpe]] with the [[Canton Bulldogs]] sometime between 1915 and 1920]]
The '''history of American football''' can be traced to early versions of [[rugby football]] and [[association football]]. Both games have their origin in varieties of [[football]] played in Britain in the mid–19th century, in which a [[football (ball)|football]] is kicked at a [[Goal (sport)|goal]] or run over a line, which in turn were based on the varieties of [[English public school football games]].
The '''history of American football''' can be traced to early versions of [[rugby football]] and [[association football]]. Both games have their origin in varieties of [[football]] played in Britain in the mid–19th century, in which a [[football (ball)|football]] is kicked at a [[Goal (sport)|goal]] or run over a line, which in turn were based on the varieties of [[English public school football games]].


==[[Early history of American football]]==
[[American football]] resulted from several major divergences from association football and rugby football, most notably the rule changes instituted by [[Walter Camp]], a [[Yale University]] and Hopkins School graduate considered to be the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the [[line of scrimmage]], of [[Down (American football)|down-and-distance]] rules and of the legalization of [[Blocking (American football)|interference]].<ref name=PFRA2/><ref name=histfoot/><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 | accessdate =2007-05-15}}</ref> In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments by college coaches such as [[Eddie Cochems]], [[Amos Alonzo Stagg]], [[Parke H. Davis]], [[Knute Rockne]], and [[Glenn Scobey Warner|Glenn "Pop" Warner]] helped take advantage of the newly introduced [[forward pass]]. The popularity of [[college football]] grew as it became the dominant version of the sport in the United States for the first half of the 20th century. [[Bowl game]]s, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for college teams. Boosted by fierce [[List of NCAA college football rivalry games|rivalries]] and colorful traditions, college football still holds widespread appeal in the United States.
[[American football]] resulted from several major divergences from association football and rugby football, most notably the rule changes instituted by [[Walter Camp]], a [[Yale University]] and Hopkins School graduate considered to be the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the [[line of scrimmage]], of [[Down (American football)|down-and-distance]] rules and of the legalization of [[Blocking (American football)|interference]].<ref name=PFRA2/><ref name=histfoot/><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 | accessdate =2007-05-15}}</ref> In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments by college coaches such as [[Eddie Cochems]], [[Amos Alonzo Stagg]], [[Parke H. Davis]], [[Knute Rockne]], and [[Glenn Scobey Warner|Glenn "Pop" Warner]] helped take advantage of the newly introduced [[forward pass]]. The popularity of [[college football]] grew as it became the dominant version of the sport in the United States for the first half of the 20th century. [[Bowl game]]s, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for college teams. Boosted by fierce [[List of NCAA college football rivalry games|rivalries]] and colorful traditions, college football still holds widespread appeal in the United States.


The origin of [[Professional football (gridiron)|professional football]] can be traced back to 1892, with [[William Heffelfinger|William "Pudge" Heffelfinger's]] $500 contract to play in a game for the [[Allegheny Athletic Association]] against the [[Pittsburgh Athletic Club (football)|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 North American professional sports leagues|major league]] of American football. Primarily a sport of Midwestern industrial towns in the United States, professional football eventually became a national phenomenon. The modern era of American football can be considered to have begun after the [[1932 NFL Playoff game]], which was the first American football game to feature [[hash marks]], the legalization of the forward pass anywhere behind the line of scrimmage, the first indoor game [[World Series of Football (1902–03)|since 1902]], and the movement of the goal posts back to goal line. Other innovations to occur immediately after 1932, were the introduction of the [[AP Poll]] in 1934, the awarding of the first [[Heisman Trophy]] in 1935, the first [[1936 NFL draft|NFL draft in 1936]] and the [[1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game|first televised game in 1939]]. American football's increasing popularity during the second half of the 20th century is usually traced to the [[NFL Championship Game, 1958|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 [[AFL-NFL merger|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.<ref name=popular>{{cite web | url = http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Documents/NFL_all_about_SB_1-07.pdf | title = NFL:America's Choice | year = 2007 | publisher=National Football League | accessdate =2007-08-15 | format = PDF| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070808163024/http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Documents/NFL_all_about_SB_1-07.pdf| archivedate = August 8, 2007}}</ref>
The origin of [[Professional football (gridiron)|professional football]] can be traced back to 1892, with [[William Heffelfinger|William "Pudge" Heffelfinger's]] $500 contract to play in a game for the [[Allegheny Athletic Association]] against the [[Pittsburgh Athletic Club (football)|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 North American professional sports leagues|major league]] of American football. Primarily a sport of Midwestern industrial towns in the United States, professional football eventually became a national phenomenon.


==[[Modern history of American football]]==
== Early games ==
The modern era of American football can be considered to have begun after the [[1932 NFL Playoff game]], which was the first American football game to feature [[hash marks]], the legalization of the foward pass anywhere behind the line of scrimmage, the first indoor game [[World Series of Football (1902–03)|since 1902]], and the movement of the goal posts back to goal line. Other innovations to occur immediately after 1932, were the introduction of the [[AP Poll]] in 1934, the awarding of the first [[Heisman Trophy]] in 1935, the first [[1936 NFL draft|NFL draft in 1936]] and the [[1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game|first televised game in 1939]]. American football's increasing popularity during the second half of the 20th century is usually traced to the [[NFL Championship Game, 1958|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 [[AFL-NFL merger|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.<ref name=popular>{{cite web | url = http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Documents/NFL_all_about_SB_1-07.pdf | title = NFL:America's Choice | year = 2007 | publisher=National Football League | accessdate =2007-08-15 | format = PDF| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070808163024/http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Documents/NFL_all_about_SB_1-07.pdf| archivedate = August 8, 2007}}</ref>
In 1911, influential American football historian [[Parke H. Davis]] wrote an early history of the game of football, tracing the sport's origins to ancient times:<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/footballamerican00davirich#page/n9/mode/2up Davis, Parke H., ''Football – The American Intercollegiate Game'', page 3, 1911]</ref>


<blockquote>...abundant evidence may be marshalled to prove that this is the oldest outdoor game in existence. In the 22nd chapter of Isaiah is found the verse, "He will turn and toss thee like a ball." This allusion, slight as it may be, is sufficient unto the antiquary to indicate that some sort of game with a ball existed as early as 750 years before the Christian era, the epoch customarily assigned to the Book of Isaiah. A more specific allusion of the same period, however, is the passage in the Sixth Book of the Odyssey of Homer familar to all school boys: "Then having bathed and annointed well with oil they took their midday meal upon the river's banks and anon when satisfied with food they played a game of ball."</blockquote>


[[File:Harpastum romain.jpg|thumb|Harpastum, Ancient Roman fresco]]
Forms of traditional football have been played throughout Europe and beyond since antiquity. Many of these involved handling of the ball, and scrummaging formations. Several of the oldest examples of football-like games include the Greek game of [[Episkyros]] and the Roman game of [[Harpastum]]. Over time many countries across the world have also developed their own national football-like games. For example, New Zealand had [[Ki-o-rahi]], Australia [[marn grook]], Japan [[kemari]], China [[cuju]], Georgia [[lelo burti]], the Scottish Borders Jeddart Ba' and Cornwall [[Cornish hurling]], Central Italy [[Calcio Fiorentino]], South Wales [[cnapan]], East Anglia [[Camping (game)|Campball]] and Ireland had [[Caid (sport)|caid]], which an ancestor of [[Gaelic football]].

The first detailed description of what was almost certainly football in England was given by William FitzStephen in about 1174–1183. He described the activities of London youths during the annual festival of [[Shrove Tuesday]]:
:<blockquote>After lunch all the youth of the city go out into the fields to take part in a ball game. The students of each school have their own ball; the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy citizens come on horseback to watch their juniors competing, and to relive their own youth vicariously: you can see their inner passions aroused as they watch the action and get caught up in the fun being had by the carefree adolescents.<ref>{{cite web|first=Stephen |last=Alsford| url=http://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/florilegium/introduction/intro01.html#p25|title=Florilegium Urbanum|accessdate=5 April 2006}}</ref></blockquote>

Numerous attempts were made to ban football games, particularly the most rowdy and disruptive forms. This was especially the case in England, and in other parts of Europe, during the [[Middle Ages]] and [[early modern Europe|early modern period]]. Between 1324 and 1667, in England alone, football was banned by more than 30 royal and local laws. The need to repeatedly proclaim such laws demonstrated the difficulty in enforcing bans on popular games. King [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] was so troubled by the unruliness of football in London that, on 13 April 1314, he issued a proclamation banning it:

:<blockquote>Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils may arise which God forbid; we command and forbid, on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future.</blockquote>

In 1531, Sir [[Thomas Elyot]] wrote that: "English Footeballe is nothinge but beastlie furie and extreme violence."

{{See also|Medieval football|Attempts to ban football games}}

===Football in America===
[[File:Portrait of College Football Team, The "Pirates," in Partial Uniform, and with Man in Business Suit 1879.jpg|thumb|A Native American college football team|250x250px]]
In 1586, men from a ship commanded by an English explorer named [[John Davis (English explorer)|John Davis]], went ashore to play a form of football with [[Inuit]] (Eskimo) people in [[Greenland]].<ref>Richard Hakluyt, [http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/hakluyt/northwest/chapter8.html Voyages in Search of The North-West Passage], ''[[University of Adelaide]]'', December 29, 2003</ref> There are later accounts of an Inuit game played on ice, called ''Aqsaqtuk''. Each match began with two teams facing each other in parallel lines, before attempting to kick the ball through each other team's line and then at a goal. In 1610, [[William Strachey]], an English colonist at [[Jamestown, Virginia]] recorded a game played by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], called ''Pahsaheman''.<ref>{{cite book|title = Understanding American Sport: In culture and society | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kaHyGSmywdcC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=football+at+jamestown+colony&source=bl&ots=1K7teMuE8_&sig=j94eFlEuU3hm3S-pZnweAij5OU4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nc4eUOu0OoHk9ATS14CIBA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=football%20at%20jamestown%20colony&f=false | last = Pfister | first = Gertrud | year = 2009 | publisher = Taylor & Francis | page = 38}}</ref>

[[Image:Old division football at Dartmouth College.jpg|left|thumb|250x250px|Old division football being played on [[The Green (Dartmouth College)|the Green]] at Dartmouth College in 1874.]]
Although there are mentions of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] playing games, modern American football has its origins in the traditional football games played in the cities, villages and schools of Europe for many centuries before America was settled by Europeans. Early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional "[[mob football]]" played in England. 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. A [[Harvard University|Harvard]] tradition known as "Bloody Monday" began in 1827, 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. The 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 a 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, 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 |format=PDF| accessdate = 2007-05-16}}</ref> The violence of these mob-style games led to widespread protests and a decision to abandon them. [[Yale University|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/>

=== "Boston game" ===
[[File:Oneida fc game.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Artistic rendition of an Oneida FC game played at [[Boston Common]].]]
While the game was banned in colleges, it was becoming popular in numerous [[East Coast of the United States|east coast]] [[University-preparatory school|prep schools]]. In the 1860s, manufactured inflatable balls were introduced through the innovations of shoemaker [[Richard Lindon]]. These were much more regular in shape than the handmade balls of earlier times, making kicking and carrying easier. Two general types of football had evolved by this time: [[Soccer|"kicking" games]], which later served as the basis for the rules of the [[Football Association]] and [[Rugby football|"running" (or "carrying") games]], which later served as the basis for the rules of the [[Rugby Football Union]]. A hybrid of the two, known as the "[[Boston Game|Boston game]]", was played by a team called the [[Oneida Football Club]]. The club, considered by some historians as the first formal [[football club]] in the United States, was formed in 1862 by graduates of Boston's elite preparatory schools. They played mostly among themselves, though they organized a team of non-members to play a game in November 1863, which the Oneidas won easily. The game caught the attention of the press, and the "Boston game" continued to spread throughout the 1860s. Oneida, from 1862 to 1865, reportedly never lost a game or even gave up a single point.<ref name=PFRA1/><ref>{{cite web | last = Allaway | first = Roger | title = Were the Oneidas playing soccer or not? | work=The USA Soccer History Archives | publisher=Dave Litterer | year = 2001 | url = http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/oneidas.html | accessdate =2007-05-15}}</ref>

The game began to return to college campuses by the late 1860s. Yale, Princeton, [[Rutgers University]], and [[Brown University]] began playing the popular "kicking" game during this time. In 1867, Princeton used rules based on those of the London [[The Football Association|Football Association]].<ref name=PFRA1/> A "running game", resembling [[rugby football]], was taken up by the [[Montreal Football Club]] in Canada in 1868.<ref name=histfoot>{{cite web | title = The History of Football | work=The History of Sports | publisher=Saperecom | year = 2007 | url = http://www.historyoffootball.net/ | accessdate =2007-05-15}}</ref>

== Intercollegiate football ==
{{Main|College football}}

===Early codification and rules standardization (1869–1880)===
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>[http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/nd-m-fb-a-nattit.html Notre Dame Football website]</ref>

==== Rutgers - Princeton (1869) ====
{{main|1869 New Jersey vs. Rutgers football game}}
On November 6, 1869, [[Rutgers University]] faced [[Princeton University]] (then known as the College of New Jersey) in a game that was played with a round ball and, like all early games, used a set of rules suggested by Rutgers captain William J. Leggett, based on the [[Football Association]]'s first set of rules, which were an early attempt by the former pupils of England's public schools, to unify the rules of their public schools games and create a universal and standardized set of rules for the game of football and bore little resemblance to the American game which would be developed in the following decades. It is still usually regarded as the first game of [[College football|intercollegiate American football]].<ref name=histfoot/><ref name=NFL1869/><ref name=PFRA1/><ref>{{cite web | title = 1800s | work=Rutgers Through The Years | publisher=Rutgers University | url = http://ruweb.rutgers.edu/timeline/1800.htm | accessdate =2007-05-16}}</ref> The game was played at a Rutgers field. 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/>

====Early efforts to organize the game====
[[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 the 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:1874HarvardMcGill.gif|thumb|Harvard vs. McGill|400px]]
Old "Football Fightum" had been resurrected at Harvard in 1872, when Harvard resumed playing football. Harvard, however, had adopted a version of football which allowed carrying, albeit only when the player carrying the ball is being pursued. As a result of this, Harvard refused to attend the rules conference organized by the other schools 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 [[McGill University]], from [[Montreal]], in a two-game series. Inasmuch 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|tries]] (the act of grounding the football past the opposing team's goal line; it is important to note that there was no end zone during this time), as well as goals, in the scoring. In the Rugby rules of the time, a touchdown only provided the chance to kick a free goal from the field. If the kick was missed, the touchdown did not count.

The McGill team traveled to [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] to meet Harvard. On May 14, 1874, the first game, played under Harvard's rules, was won by Harvard with a score of 3–0.<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]]}}</ref> The next day, the two teams played under "McGill" rugby rules to a scoreless tie.<ref name=PFRA1>{{cite web | title = No Christian End! | work = The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889 | publisher = Professional Football Researchers Association | url = http://www.profootballresearchers.com/articles/No_Christian_End.pdf | accessdate = 2010-01-26}}</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=http://www.mcgill.ca/athletics/newsroom/spotlight/item/?item_id=106694 |title=Spotlight Athletics: |publisher=Mcgill.ca |date=2012-05-14 |accessdate=2012-10-22}}</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#v=onepage&q&f=false|via=[[Google books]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> In October 1874, the Harvard team once again traveled to Montreal to play McGill in rugby, where they won by three tries.

====Harvard - Tufts, Harvard - Yale (1875)====
Harvard quickly took a liking to the rugby game, and its use of the [[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 .<ref>Gardner (1996)</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.<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=http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2004/09/23/gridiron_gridlock/?page=full}}</ref> Further elated by the excitement of McGill's version of football, Harvard 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 [[The Game (Harvard-Yale)|The Game]]—the annual contest between Harvard and Yale, among the 2000 spectators attending the game that day, was the future "father of American football" [[Walter Camp]]. Walter, who would enroll at Yale the next year, 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 in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]] to standardize a new code of rules based on the rugby game first introduced to Harvard by McGill University in 1874. The rules were based largely on the [[Rugby Football Union]]'s code from England, though one important difference was the replacement of a kicked goal with a touchdown as the primary means of scoring (a change that would later occur in rugby itself, favoring the try as the main scoring event). Three of the schools—Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton—formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, as a result of the meeting. Yale did not join the group until 1879, because of an early disagreement about the number of players per team.<ref name=PFRA2>{{cite web | title = Camp and His Followers: American Football 1876–1889 | work=The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889 | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | url = http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Camp_And_Followers.pdf | accessdate =2010-01-26}}</ref>
[[File:Walter Camp - Project Gutenberg eText 18048.jpg|thumb|200px|upright|right|[[Walter Camp]], the "Father of American Football", pictured here in 1878 as the captain of the [[Yale University]] football team]]

==== Walter Camp: Father of American football ====
[[Walter Camp]] is widely considered to be the most important figure in the development of American football.<ref name=PFRA2/><ref name=histfoot/><ref name=NFL1869/> 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-syle 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 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 (American 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. 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 his playing career at Yale ended 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/ | accessdate =2008-01-16}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

The last, and arguably most important innovation, which would at last make American football uniquely "American", was the legalization of interference, or [[Blocking (American football)|blocking]], a tactic which was highly illegal under the rugby-style rules. Interference remains strictly illegal in both rugby codes to today. The prohibition of interference in the rugby game stems from the game's strict enforcement of its [[Offside (rugby)|offsides rule]], which prohibited any player on the team with possession of the ball the loiter between the ball and the goal. At first, American players would find creative ways of aiding the runner by pretending to accidentally knock into defenders trying to tackle the runner. When Walter Camp witnessed this tactic being employed against his Yale team, he was at first appalled, but the next year had adopted the blocking tactics for his own team. During the 1880s and 1890s, teams developed increasignly complex blocking tactics including the interlocking interference technique known as the [[Flying wedge]] or "V-trick formation", which was developed by [[Lorin F. Deland]] and first introduced by [[Harvard University|Harvard]] in a [[Harvard-Yale football games (The Game)|collegiate game]] against [[Yale University|Yale]] in 1892. Despite its effectiveness, it was outlawed two seasons later in 1894 through the efforts of the rule committee lead by [[Parke H. Davis]], because of its contribution to serious injury.<ref>[http://footballencyclopedia.com/cfeintro.htm Introduction: A Brief History of College Football]</ref> Non-interlocking interference remains a basic element of modern American football, with many complex schemes being developed and implemented over the years, including zone blocking and pass blocking.

===Scoring table===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;"
|+Historical college football scoring<ref>A compilation of six sources:<br />• "[http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/bay/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/09-ma-section05.pdf History.]" ''2009 Baylor Football Media Almanac''. Baylor Athletics (Baylor University). Retrieved 2009-10-11.<br />• The National Collegiate Athletic Association. "[http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/Stats_Manuals/Football/2008%20Football%20Stats%20Manual.pdf Section 11—Extra Points.]" ''2008 Football Statisticians' Manual''. August 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-11.<br />• Professional Football Researchers Association. "[http://www.ivyrugby.com/n.php?n=162 Yale's Walter Camp and 1870s Rugby.]" ''The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889''. Ivy League Rugby Conference (2009-01-31). Retrieved 2009-10-11.<br />• Johnson, Greg (2008-08-28). "[http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/4a9e53804e0d4e12911df11ad6fc8b25/2_PT_Story.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=4a9e53804e0d4e12911df11ad6fc8b25 Two-point conversion turns 50.]" ''The NCAA News''. Retrieved 2009-10-11.<br />• "[http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910 NFL History by Decade: 1869–1910.]" National Football League. Retrieved 2009-10-11. <br />• "[http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1911-1920 NFL History by Decade: 1911–1920.]" National Football League. Retrieved October 11, 2009.</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 || 5 || 4 || – || 1 || – || – <!-- source: Ivy League Rugby (PFRA book) and The Anatomy of a Game --><!-- format source: Baylor -->
|-
| 1883–1897 || 4 || 5 || 2 || – || 2|| – || – <!-- source: Ivy League Rugby (PFRA book); "Anatomy" doesn't show conversion change -->
|-
| 1898–1903 || 5 || 5 || 1 || – || 2 || – || – <!-- change: TD, conversion; source: NFL, 1869–1910, and "Anatomy";; change: conversion; source: "Anatomy" -->
|-
| 1904–1908 || 5 || 4 || 1 || – || 2 || – || – <!-- change: FG; source: NFL, 1869–1910 -->
|-
| 1909–1911 || 5 || 3 || 1 || – || 2 || – || – <!--change: FG; source: NFL, 1869–1910 -->
|-
| 1912–1957 || 6 || 3 || 1 || – || 2 || – || – <!-- change: TD; source: NFL, 1911–1920 -->
|-
| 1958–present || 6 || 3 || 1 || 2 || 2 || 1 || 2 <!-- change: defensive extra point; source: NCAA, 2008 Manual -->
|-
| 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 (1880–1904) ===
[[File:Unknown Early American Football Team.jpg|thumb|250px|An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century]]
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&ndash;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|accessdate=September 11, 2012}}</ref> On the 27th, [[Vanderbilt Commodores football|Vanderbilt]] played [[University of Nashville|Nashville]] (Peabody) at [[Sulphur Dell|Athletic Park]] and won 40&ndash;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
|accessdate=2006-11-29
|title=College Football
}}</ref> The 29th also saw the first instance of the [[Army–Navy Game]]. [[Navy Midshipmen football|Navy]] won 24&ndash;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=http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/rutgers/1872-schedule.html|publisher=Sports Reference.com|title=1872 Rutgers Scarlet Knights Schedule and Results|accessdate=April 12, 2011}}</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 used a set of rules based on [[association football]] 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=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:w7Tl626YAYgJ:www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/m-footbl/2014-15/files/TIMELINE_OF_YALE_FOOTBALL_after_2014_season.doc+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us|accessdate=March 24, 2015|title=Timeline of Yale Football}}</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}}</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}}</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]] enters the intercollegiate game in 1878.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3i4KOu7MiEC&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q&f=false|page=15|title=Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession|author=Mark F. Bernstein|via=[[Google books]]}} {{Open access}}</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]]|accessdate=April 4, 2011|first=David|last=DeLassus|title=Yale Yearly Results (1880-1884)}}</ref> The next week, Princeton outscored Lafayette by 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]]|accessdate=April 4, 2011|first=David|last=DeLassus|title=Princeton Yearly Results (1880-1884)}}</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=New York Times|date=November 7, 1886|page=3|title=College Football Games|accessdate=March 27, 2015|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref>

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>[http://www.joycetice.com/articles/1892foot.htm Mansfield, Pennsylvania – It happened one night – First Football under lights – Mansfield PA 1892]</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>

====Midwest====
[[File:Fielding Yost-1902.jpg|thumb|1902 football game between the [[Minnesota Golden Gophers football|University of Minnesota]] and the University of Michigan]]
[[File:Wisconsin1903FootballTeam.jpg|thumb|left|[[Wisconsin Badgers football|University of Wisconsin]] football team, 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=978-0873970556}}</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 | accessdate =2009-02-18}}</ref><ref>Nelson (1994), pp 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 | accessdate =2007-05-19}}</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.<ref>Vancil (2000), pp 16</ref>

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}}</ref> 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|right|thumb|300x300px|1895 football game between Auburn and Georgia.]]
Organized intercollegiate 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&ndash;2.<ref name="generalssports.com">{{Cite web|url = http://www.generalssports.com/information/athletics_history/index|title = A History of Washington and Lee Athletics|date = |accessdate = February 9, 2015|website = |publisher = |last = |first = }}</ref> Some industrious students of the two schools organized a game for October 23, 1869 &ndash; but it was rained out.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kxuEYG6WmOsC&pg=PA53#v=onepage&q&f=false|page=53|title=Evolvements of Early American Foot Ball: Through the 1890/91 Season|author=Melvin I. Smith}}</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 scantness 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]], [[Transylvania University]] (then called Kentucky University) beat [[Centre College]] by the score of 13¾&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 (North Carolina–Duke)|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 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}}</ref>
[[File:VMIVaTech1894.jpg|thumb|left|260x260px|1894 football game in [[Staunton, VA]] between [[VMI Keydets football|VMI]] and [[Virginia Tech Hokies football|Virginia Tech]].]]
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 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>[http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/336821/106 Furman 2014 FB Record Book]</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&ndash;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 Dr. [[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]], [[Louisiana State University|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, GA |accessdate={{date|2011-10-13}} |url=http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/exhibits/Athletics/SIAA_handbook1895.pdf |format=PDF}}</ref>

It is thought that the first [[forward pass]] in football occurred on October 26, 1895 in a game between Georgia and [[North Carolina Tar Heels|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 |accessdate=January 14, 2013}}</ref> On November 9, 1895 [[John Heisman]] executed a hidden ball trick utilizing 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&sjid=zU8DAAAAIBAJ&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|accessdate=March 13, 2015|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> He then used it in 1903 at Carlisle against Harvard and garnered national attention.
[[File:Sewanee 1899 Football Team.jpg|left|thumb|260x260px|[[Sewanee Tigers football|Sewanee]]'s 1899 "Iron Men."]]
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&ndash;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=http://espn.go.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 }}</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&sjid=4ZkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3862,5618014|title = Grantland Rice|last = |first = |date = November 27, 1941|work = Reading Eagle|accessdate = }}</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|title=History}}</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=http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1999-08-27/features/9908270221_1_stetson-rollins-university-of-florida|title=Florida Power:The Early Years|date=August 17, 1999}}</ref>
[[File:Vanderbilt football 1904.jpg|thumb|right|300x300px|1904 Vanderbilt team in action.]]
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?ei=oEKQVLjyFIueNsCjg7gD&id=4ck3AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22percy+given%22+georgetown&focus=searchwithinvolume&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 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&ndash;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&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=%22m+l+bridges%22+cumberland+football&source=bl&ots=aIn8nK2cXb&sig=gjJNi_F7Sf8wZqjdiDqtS9CP7MU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ItI5VNIe0ceDBLTBgMAB&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22m%20l%20bridges%22%20cumberland%20football&f=false|title=From Maverick to Mainstream: Cumberland School of Law, 1847-1997|author=Langum, David J|page=95}}</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 students and high schoolers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CfAsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT12#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Oklahoma Football Encyclopedia: 2nd Edition|author=Ray Dozier|page=12}}</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#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Echoes of Oklahoma Sooners Football: The Greatest Stories Ever Told|author=Triumph Books|page=179}}</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:1893 Stanford American football team.jpg|thumb|300px|The 1893 Stanford American football team]]
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|pp=11–13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOl08FmEDIMC&pg=PA11|publisher=Sports Publishing LLC|year=1997 |location= |isbn=1-57167-116-1|accessdate = 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=sfmg/><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|accessdate=May 6, 2014}}</ref><ref name=cfbdw>{{cite web|url = http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/stanford/yearly_results.php?year=1892| title = Stanford Game-by-Game Results; 1892&ndash;1895| publisher = College Football Data Warehouse| accessdate = 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 25 December 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]]|page=232|url=http://archive.org/stream/fottballsgreates00pope#page/232/mode/2up/search/intersectional}}</ref> Future president [[Herbert Hoover]] was Stanford's student financial manager.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OmwfnipKuogC&pg=PA70#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Anatomy of a Game|author=David M. Nelson|page=70}}</ref> Chicago won 24 to 4.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ntBDmB_fYo8C&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Stanford: Home of Champions|author=Gary Migdol|page=15}}</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>

USC 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], ''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 University|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 (Cal Tech)]], 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|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=November 22, 1893}}</ref>

[[File:Stanford Field.png|thumb|right|300px|The [[Big Game (American football)|Big Game]] between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914.]]

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>[http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4811831 A Ghastly Holocaust: Football Spectators Plunged into Molten Glass, ''The (Adelaide) Advertiser'', (Friday 11 January 1901), p.6.]</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 30 November 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>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SLMnAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ngQGAAAAIBAJ&pg=3394%2C5939585 Through a Roof to Death, ''The (Crawfordsville) Daily News-Review'', (Friday, 30 November 1900), p.2.]</ref><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=r9EUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RZsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6073%2C2351685 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>[http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19001130 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>[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'', 15 August 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>[http://sportshistory.uoregon.edu/timeline Oregon Sports History Timeline]</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, OR|isbn=0-9648244-7-7}}</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]</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]</ref><ref>[http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/pac10/oregon/yearly_results.php?year=1895 College Football Data Warehouse: Oregon Yearly Results 1895]</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|accessdate=30 May 2012}}</ref> Bloss's son William started the first team, on which he served as both coach and quarterback.<ref>{{cite web|last=Edmonston Jr.|first=George|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|accessdate=30 May 2012}}</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 1 January 1902, [[Fielding H. Yost|Yost]]'s dominating [[1901 Michigan Wolverines football team]] agreed to play a 3&ndash;1&ndash;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&ndash;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}}</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|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
|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 fllowed 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#v=onepage&q&f=false
|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
|accessdate=October 20, 2011
}}</ref>

Durung 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 [[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 1890.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Colorado's First Football Team in 1890.]]
[[File:Utah vs. Colorado 1916.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Kickoff during the 1916 Colorado – Utah game]]
[[File:1905 Utah football team.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The 1905 Utah football team]]
The [[University of Colorado Boulder]] began playing American football in 1890. Colorado found much success in its early years, winning eight Colorado Football Association Championships (1894&ndash;97, 1901&ndash;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:

{{Cquote|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.

[...]

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.

[...]

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.

|4=''Silver & Gold''|5=<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 | accessdate=2007-06-04 | date=1898-12-16|format=PDF}}</ref>}}

In 1909, the [[Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference]] was founded, featuring four members, [[University of Colorado Boulder|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 and controversy (1905) ===
{{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&pg=PA188&lpg=PA188&dq=%22no+sport+is+wholesome+in+which+ungenerous+or+mean+acts+which+easily+escape+detection+contribute+to+victory%22&source=bl&ots=xEGtRHP78C&sig=-syJZ8Z6kOXMVzUG4NPYXJ4KpdY&hl=en&ei=iwzbS9vQEoH-8AaTxuVG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22no%20sport%20is%20wholesome%20in%20which%20ungenerous%20or%20mean%20acts%20which%20easily%20escape%20detection%20contribute%20to%20victory%22&f=false "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%}}

From its earliest days as a mob game, football was a violent sport.<ref name=PFRA1/> 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.<ref>Vancil (2000), pp 16–18</ref> 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.<ref>Bennett (1976), pp 20</ref> 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 temporarily stop its football programs.

The situation came to a head in 1905 when there were 19 fatalities nationwide. [[President of the United States|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 |pages=717–724 |id= |url= |quote= }}</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 University|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 | publisher=LA 84 Foundation | volume= | issue= | year=2001 | pages=54&ndash;57 | url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/NASSH_Proceedings/NP2001/NP2001zn.pdf | authors=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>[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F60816FB3A5E12738DDDAF0A94DA415B858CF1D3 New York Times] "Ten Yard Rule a Failure" December 26, 1905</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>[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 Los Angeles Times] "New Football Rules Tested" December 26, 1905</ref> 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, later named the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA), was formed.<ref name=NCAA>{{cite web | title = The History of the NCAA | work=NCAA.org | publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association | url = http://www.ncaa.org/about/history.html | accessdate =2007-05-19 | archiveurl =https://web.archive.org/web/20070430205324/http://www.ncaa.org/about/history.html <!--Added by H3llBot--> | archivedate =April 30, 2007}}</ref> One rule change introduced in 1906, devised to open up the game and reduce injury, was the introduction of the legal [[forward pass]]. Though it was underutilized for years, this proved to be one of the most important rule changes in the establishment of the modern game.<ref>Vancil (2000), pp 18</ref>

=== Modernization and innovation (1906–1930) ===
[[File:RobinsonThrowing.jpg|thumb|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 [[St. Louis University]], threw the first legal pass in a September 5, 1906, game against [[Carroll College (Wisconsin)|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"], ''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.<ref>Vancil (2000), pp 17</ref> Other coaches, such as [[Glenn Scobey Warner|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 only allowing passes to certain areas of the field.<ref>Vancil (2000) pp 22</ref> 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 | publisher=NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1911-1920 | accessdate =2007-05-15}}</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 (football)|Four Horsemen]]" backfield and [[Fordham University|Fordham University's]] linemen, known as the "[[Seven Blocks of Granite]]".<ref>Vancil (2000) pp 24</ref>

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|accessdate=April 6, 2011|publisher=[[University of Illinois]]|title=Marching Band History}}</ref> Chicago won 42–6. On [[1911 Kansas vs. Missouri football game|November 25, 1911]] [[Kansas Jayhawks football|Kansas]] and [[Missouri Tigers football|Missouri]] played the first [[homecoming]] football game.<ref>http://www.active.com/football/Articles/The_History_of_Homecoming.htm</ref> The game was "broadcast" play-by-play over telegraph to at least 1,000 fans in [[Lawrence, Kansas]].<ref name="mech">{{cite web|url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/nov/27/100-years-ago-football-fans-enjoy-mechanized-repro/?print|publisher=[[Lawrence Journal-World]]|accessdate=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 Jr| editor1-first=Sam| title = 1991 Pitt Football: University of Pittsburgh Football Media Guide | publisher = University of Pittsburgh Sports Information Office | year = 1991 | location = Pittsburgh, PA | page = 116 | postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref> On October 28, 1922, Princeton and Chicago played the first game to be nationally broadcast on radio. Princeton won 21&ndash;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}}</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&lpg=PR2-IA#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=How to Scout Football|author=George Allen|page=3}}</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 unbeatens 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|url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/497709192/fulltextPDF/6BCF54A831924DF5PQ/271?accountid=14679|newspaper=Boston Daily Globe|title=Grantland Rice Tells Of Greatest Thrill In Years Of Watching Sport|date=April 27, 1924}}</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&lpg=RA1-PA75|pages=71–75|title=Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association Foot Ball|author=[[Dan McGugin]]|journal=The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide|publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association|date=1907}}</ref> [[Bob Blake (American football)|Bob Blake]] threw the final pass to center [[Stein Stone]], catching it near the goal amongst defenders. [[Honus Craig]] then ran in the winning touchdown.

=====Heisman shift=====
Utilizing the "[[jump shift]]" offense, [[John Heisman]]'s [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech Golden Tornado]] won 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.| publisher=''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution''| date=1916-10-15| pages=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 protege [[William Alexander (coach)|William Alexander]].

=====Notable intersectional games=====
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|accessdate=March 24, 2015|date=November 25, 1906|page=5|title=Vandy's Great Victory Will Live In History|author=Alex Lynn|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{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|accessdate=March 8, 2015|page=52|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</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=":1"/>
[[File:DaviesPittGT1918.jpg|thumb|right|300x300px|[[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]].]]
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 Praying Colonels football|Centre]] of [[Danville, Kentucky]]. In 1921 [[Bo McMillin]] led 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 on [[Dudley Field]], 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 protege 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=":0">cf. {{cite web|url=http://www.vucommodores.com/ot/history-corner-083006.html|title=CHC- Vandy Ties Michigan in 1922|author=Bill Traughber}}</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|accessdate=March 7, 2015}}</ref>

Vanderbilt's line coach then was [[Wallace Wade]], who in 1925 coached [[Alabama Crimson Tide football|Alabama]] to the south's first [[1926 Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] victory. 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| accessdate=2008-10-06}}</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]]" defeated [[Yale Bulldogs football|Yale]] for the first time. Georgia Tech, led by Heisman protege [[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=====
Glenn "Pop" Warner coached at several schools throughout his career, including the [[Georgia Bulldogs football|University of Georgia]], [[Cornell University]], [[Pittsburgh Panthers football|University of Pittsburgh]], [[Stanford Cardinal football|Stanford University]], and [[Temple Owls football|Temple University]].<ref name=coaches>Bennett (1976), pp 20–21</ref> 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 |publisher=ESPN | year = 2001 | url = http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/athletes.html | accessdate =2007-05-19}}</ref><ref>Vancil (2000), pp 20</ref> 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 | url = http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/1741453 | accessdate =2007-08-23}}</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 utilize the forward pass. Among his other innovations are modern blocking schemes, the [[three-point stance]], and the [[reverse (American football)|reverse]] play.<ref name=coaches/> The youth football league, [[Pop Warner Little Scholars]], was named in his honor.

===== 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|title=Knute Rockne|work=MSN Encarta|year=2007|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576926/Knute_Rockne.html#461516062 |accessdate=2008-04-06|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5kwqfK5YJ|archivedate=October 31, 2009|deadurl=yes}}</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 [[TWA Flight 599|plane crash]] in 1931. He was so famous at that point that his funeral was broadcast nationally on radio.<ref name=coaches/><ref>Vancil (2000), pp 19–22</ref>

=== From a regional to a national sport (1930–1958) ===
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.<ref>Vancil (2000), pp 24–29</ref>

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.<ref name=1930s>MacCambridge (1999), pp 124</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = A Look Back at the Southwest Conference | work=2006–2007 Texas Almanac | publisher=The Dallas Morning News | year = 2007 | url = http://www.texasalmanac.com/history/highlights/swc/ | accessdate =2007-05-31}}</ref> The [[Pacific Coast Conference]] (PCC), a precursor to the [[Pacific-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.<ref name=1930s/> The [[Southeastern Conference]] (SEC) formed in 1932 and consisted mostly of schools in the [[Deep South]].<ref>{{cite web | last = Ours | first = Robert M. | title = Southeastern Conference | work=College Football Encyclopedia | publisher=Augusta Computer Services | year = 2007 | url = http://www.footballencyclopedia.com/sechome.htm | accessdate =2007-05-31}}</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.<ref name=1930s/><ref name=1940s>MacCambridge (1999), pp 148</ref>
[[File:Hutson-Don-1940-grainfix.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Don Hutson in 1940.]]
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]] 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 determined who
was crowned the [[Mythical National Championship|National Champion]] of college football.<ref>Vancil (2000), pp 30</ref>

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]].<ref>Vancil (2000), pp 28–30</ref>

[[File:Cappelletti Heisman Trophy.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Heisman Trophy]]]]
In 1935, New York City's [[Downtown Athletic Club]] awarded the first [[Heisman Trophy]] to [[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 [[New York University]] player [[Ed Smith (football player)|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 | accessdate =2007-05-31}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], college football players enlisted in the [[Military of the United States|armed forces]], 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 (American football)|Glenn Davis]] (known as "Mr. Outside") both won the [[Heisman Trophy]], in 1945 and 1946 respectively. On the coaching staff of those 1944–1946 Army teams was future [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]] coach [[Vince Lombardi]].<ref name=1940s/><ref>Vancil (2000), pp 39</ref>

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 dominated the Big Ten conference, winning three [[Big Ten Conference football champions|Big Ten titles]]—more than any other school. 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.<ref>Vancil (2000), pp 41–45</ref><ref name=1950s>MacCambridge (1999) pp 172</ref>

=== Modern college football (1950–present) ===
Following the enormous success of the [[National Football League|National Football League's]] [[NFL Championship Game, 1958|1958 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.<ref name="MacCambridge 1999, pp 171">MacCambridge (1999), pp 171</ref><ref>Bennett (1976) pp 56</ref><ref name=greatest>{{cite web | last = Barnidge | first = Tom | title = 1958 Colts remember the 'Greatest Game' | publisher=nfl.com | year = 2000 | url = http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/6032205 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070624164703/http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/6032205 | archivedate=June 24, 2007 | accessdate =2007-03-21}} reprinted from Official [[Super Bowl XXXIII]] Game Program.</ref>

[[File:College Football CSU AF.jpg|thumb|left|A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy]]
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 Univ. 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.<ref>Vancil (2000) pp 46–48</ref>

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.<ref>Vancil (2000), pp 56</ref> 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.<ref name=formations>Bennett (1976), Appendix pp 209–217</ref> 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]], [[Texas Longhorn football|Texas]], and [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football|Notre Dame]] are ranked first, second, and third in total wins.

==== Growth of bowl games ====
{{See also|Bowl game}}
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right;"
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| '''Growth of bowl <br />games 1930–2010'''<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>
|-
! Year
! # of games
|-
| 1930
| 1
|-
| 1940
| 5
|-
| 1950
| 8
|-
| 1960
| 8
|-
| 1970
| 8
|-
| 1980
| 15
|-
| 1990
| 19
|-
| 2000
| 25
|-
| 2010
| 35
|}
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 | accessdate =2007-06-01}}</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/ | accessdate =2007-06-01}}</ref>

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. 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. 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]], [[Pacific-10 Conference|Pac-10]], or the [[Rose Bowl (game)|Rose Bowl]], and thus still lacked the legitimacy of a true national championship.<ref name=hickok1/><ref name=BCS>{{cite web | title = BCS Chronology | publisher=FOX Sports on MSN | year = 2006 | url = http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfb/history | accessdate =2007-06-01|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070915010233/http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfb/history |archivedate = September 15, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref>

==== Bowl Championship Series ====
{{Main|Bowl Championship Series}}
{{See also|NCAA Division I Football Championship}}
[[File:2007fiestafinal.jpg|thumb|250px|The final score of the [[2007 Fiesta Bowl]] game]]
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 all 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.<ref name=BCS/>

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 [[Division I (NCAA)|Division I]] conferences, though only one selection—[[2004 Utah Utes football team|Utah]] in 2005—came from a non-BCS affiliated 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]], the [[Mid-American Conference]], the [[Mountain West Conference]], the [[Sun Belt Conference]] and the [[Western Athletic Conference]]), 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 [[Automatic Qualifying conference|"BCS conferences"]] (also known as "AQ" conferences, for Automatic Qualifying).<ref name=BCS/> 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-BCS conferences played each other in a BCS bowl game. The most recent team from the non-AQ ranks to reach a BCS bowl game was [[2012 Northern Illinois Huskies football team|Northern Illinois in 2012]], which played in (and lost) the [[2013 Orange Bowl]].

====College Football Playoff====
{{Main|College Football Playoff}}
Due to the intesification of the [[College football playoff debate]] after nearly a decade of the sometimes disputable results of the BCS, the conference commissioners and Notre Dame's president voted to implement a [[Plus-One system]] which was to be called the 'College Football Playoff'. The College Football Playoff is the annual postseason tournament for the [[NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision]] (FBS) and just as its predecessors, has failed to receive sanctioning from the NCAA. The playoff began with the [[2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season]].<ref name=McMurphy>{{cite web |url=http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9204021/football-playoff-name-site|title=Football playoff has name and site|last=McMurphy|first=Brett|date=April 24, 2013|publisher=[[ESPN]]|accessdate=April 24, 2013}}</ref> Four teams play in two semifinal games, and the winners advance to the [[College Football Playoff National Championship|College Football Playoff National Championship game]].<ref name="usat">{{cite news |url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/04/24/college-football-playoff-questions-and-answers/2111419/|title=Questions and answers for the College Football Playoff|last=Wolken |first=Dan |date=April 25, 2013 |publisher=[[USA Today]] |accessdate=April 25, 2013}}</ref> The first season of the new system was not without controversy, however, after TCU and Baylor (both with only one loss) both failed to receive the support of the College Football Playoff selection committee.

== Professional football ==
{{See also|Professional football (gridiron)|National Football League|American Football League}}

=== Early players, teams, and leagues (1892–1919) ===
[[File:1897 Latrobe.jpg|right|thumb|250px|1897 [[Latrobe Athletic Association]] football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season]]
[[File:Massillon-canton game 2.jpg|250px|right|thumb|[[Canton Bulldogs]] vs. [[Massillon Tigers]] playing on grid field on November 24, 1906, during the [[Canton Bulldogs–Massillon Tigers betting scandal|betting scandal]]]]
In the early 20th century, football began to catch on in the general population of the United States and was the subject of intense competition and rivalry, albeit of a localized nature. Although payments to players were considered unsporting and dishonorable at the time, a [[Pittsburgh]] area club, the [[Allegheny Athletic Association]], of the [[Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit|unofficial western Pennsylvania football circuit]], surreptitiously hired former Yale All-American guard [[William Heffelfinger|William "Pudge" Heffelfinger]]. On November 12, 1892, Heffelfinger became the first known professional football player. He was paid $500 to play in a game against the [[Pittsburgh Athletic Club (football)|Pittsburgh Athletic Club]]. Heffelfinger picked up a Pittsburgh fumble and ran 35 yards for a touchdown, winning the game 4–0 for Allegheny. Although observers held suspicions, the payment remained a secret for years.<ref name=histfoot/><ref name=NFL1869/><ref name=birth>{{cite web | title = History: The Birth of Pro Football | publisher=Pro Football Hall of Fame | url = http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/birth.jsp | accessdate =2007-06-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Heffelfinger, "Pudge" (William W.) | work=Sports Biographies | publisher=HickokSports.com | year = 2004 |url = http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/heffelfingerpudge.shtml | accessdate =2007-06-05}}</ref>

On September 3, 1895 the first wholly professional game was played, in [[Latrobe, Pennsylvania|Latrobe]], Pennsylvania, between the [[Latrobe Athletic Association]] and the [[Jeannette Athletic Club]]. Latrobe won the contest 12–0.<ref name=histfoot/><ref name=NFL1869/> During this game, Latrobe's quarterback, [[John Brallier]] became the first player to openly admit to being paid to play football. He was paid $10 plus expenses to play.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Ten Dollars and Cakes: The "Not Quite" First Pro: 1895| journal=Coffin Corner | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | pages=1–5 | url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Ten_Dollars_And_Cakes.pdf| author=PFRA Research}}</ref> In 1897, the Latrobe Athletic Association paid all of its players for the whole season, becoming the first fully professional football team. In 1898, [[William Chase Temple]] took over the team payments for the [[Duquesne Country and Athletic Club]], a professional football team based in Pittsburgh from 1895 until 1900, becoming the first known individual football club owner.<ref>{{cite journal | title=The Worst Season Ever, Pittsburgh Pro Teams Find Hard Times: 1900 | journal=Coffin Corner | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | issue=Annual | pages=1–2 | url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Worst_Season_Ever.pdf | author=PFRA Research}}</ref> Later that year, the Morgan Athletic Club, on the [[South Side (Chicago)|South Side of Chicago]], was founded. This team later became the [[Arizona Cardinals|Chicago Cardinals]], then the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] and now is known as the [[Arizona Cardinals]], making them the oldest continuously operating professional football team.<ref name=NFL1869/>

The first known professional football league, known as the [[National Football League (1902)|National Football League]] (not the same as the modern league) began play in 1902 when several baseball clubs formed football teams to play in the league, including the [[Oakland Athletics|Philadelphia Athletics]], [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] and the [[Philadelphia Phillies]]. The Pirates' team the [[Pittsburgh Stars]] were awarded the league championship. However, the [[Philadelphia Athletics (NFL)|Philadelphia Football Athletics]] and [[Philadelphia Phillies (NFL)|Philadelphia Football Phillies]] also claimed the title.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Dave Berry and the Philadelphia Story | journal=Coffin Corner | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | volume=2 | issue=Annual | year=1980 | pages=1–9 | url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/02-An-053.pdf | first=Bob | last=Carroll}}</ref> A five-team tournament, known as the [[World Series of Football (1902–1903)|World Series of Football]] was organized by Tom O'Rouke, the manager of [[Madison Square Garden (1890)|Madison Square Garden]]. The event featured the first-ever indoor pro football games. The first professional indoor game came on December 29, 1902, when the [[Syracuse Pros|Syracuse Athletic Club]] defeated the "[[New York (World Series of Football)|New York team]]" 5–0. Syracuse would go onto win the 1902 Series, while the [[Franklin Athletic Club]] won the Series in 1903. The World Series only lasted two seasons.<ref name=NFL1869/><ref>{{cite journal | title=The First Football World Series| journal=Coffin Corner | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | volume=2 | issue=Annual | year=1980 | pages=1–8 | url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/02-An-054.pdf | author=Carroll, Bob}}</ref>

[[Charles Follis]] is believed to be the first black professional football player, having played for the [[Shelby Steamfitters]] from 1902 to 1906. Follis, a two sport athlete, was paid for his work beginning in 1904.

The game moved west into [[Ohio]], which became the center of professional football during the early decades of the 20th century. Small towns such as [[Massillon, Ohio|Massillon]], [[Akron, Ohio|Akron]], [[Portsmouth, Ohio|Portsmouth]], and [[Canton, Ohio|Canton]] all supported professional teams in a loose coalition known as the "[[Ohio League]]," the direct predecessor to today's [[National Football League]]. In 1906 the [[Canton Bulldogs–Massillon Tigers betting scandal]] became the first major scandal in professional football in the United States. It was the first known case of professional gamblers attempting to fix a professional sport. Although the [[Massillon Tigers]] could not prove that the [[Canton Bulldogs]] had thrown the second game, the scandal tarnished the Bulldogs' name and helped ruin professional football in Ohio until the mid-1910s.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Blondy Wallace and the Biggest Football Scandal Ever | journal=PFRA Annual | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | volume=5 | year=1984 | pages=1–16 | url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/06-An-209.pdf}}</ref>

In 1915, the reformed Canton Bulldogs signed former Olympian and [[Carlisle Indian School]] standout [[Jim Thorpe]] to a contract. Thorpe became the face of professional football for the next several years and was present at the founding of the National Football League five years later.<ref name=NFL1869/><ref>Bennett (1976), pp 22</ref> A disruption in play in 1918 (due to World War I and flu pandemic) allowed the [[New York Pro Football League]] to pick up some of the Ohio League's talent; the NYPFL had coalesced around 1916, but efforts to challenge the Ohio teams were largely unsuccessful until after the suspension. By 1919, the Ohio League and the New York league were on relatively equal footing with both each other and with teams clustered around major cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit.

=== Early years of the NFL (1920–1936) ===

==== Formation ====

The 1919 expansion of top-level professional football threatened to drastically increase the cost of the game by sparking bidding wars. The various regional circuits determined that forming a league, with enforceable rules, would mitigate these problems.

In 1920, the [[National Football League|American Professional Football Association]], was founded, in a meeting at a [[Hupmobile]] car dealership in Canton, Ohio. [[Jim Thorpe]] was elected the league's first president. After several more meetings, the league's membership was formalized. The original teams were:<ref name=NFL1911/><ref name=hicknfl>{{cite web | last = Hickok | first = Ralph | title = NFL Franchise Chronology | publisher=HickokSports.com | year = 2004 | url = http://www.hickoksports.com/history/nflfranchises.shtml | accessdate =2007-06-05}}</ref>
[[File:Jim Thorpe at desk.jpg|thumb|[[Jim Thorpe]] was the first president of the NFL.]]
{|-
| style="vertical-align: top;" |
* [[Akron Pros]]
* [[Buffalo All-Americans]]
* [[Canton Bulldogs]]
* [[Chicago Tigers]]
* [[Cleveland Tigers (NFL)|Cleveland Indians]]
* [[Columbus Panhandles]]
* [[Dayton Triangles]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" |
* [[Chicago Bears|Decatur Staleys]]
* [[Detroit (NFL)|Detroit Heralds]]
* [[Hammond Pros]]
* [[Muncie Flyers]]
* [[Arizona Cardinals|Racine Cardinals]]
* [[Rochester Jeffersons]]
* [[Rock Island Independents]]
|}

In its early years the league was little more than a formal agreement between teams to play each other and to declare a champion at season's end. Teams were still permitted to play non-league members. The 1920 season saw several teams drop out and fail to play through their schedule. Only four teams: Akron, Buffalo, Canton, and Decatur, finished the schedule. Akron claimed the first league champion, with the only undefeated record among the remaining teams.<ref name=NFL1911/><ref>Bennett (1976), pp 22–23</ref>

From its inception in {{nfly|1920}} as a loose coalition of various regional teams, the [[American Professional Football Association]] had comparatively few [[African-American]] players; a total of nine black people suited up for NFL teams between 1920 and 1926, including future attorney, black activist, and internationally acclaimed artist [[Paul Robeson]]. [[Fritz Pollard]] and [[Bobby Marshall]] were the first black players in what is now the NFL in 1920. Pollard became the first black coach in 1921.

==== Expansion ====
In 1921, several more teams joined the league, increasing the membership to 22 teams. Among the new additions were the [[Green Bay Packers]], which now has the record for longest use of an unchanged team name. Also in 1921, [[A. E. Staley]], the owner of the Decatur Staleys, sold the team to player-coach [[George Halas]], who went on to become one of the most important figures in the first half century of the NFL. In 1921, Halas moved the team to Chicago, but retained the Staleys nickname. In 1922 the team was renamed the [[Chicago Bears]].<ref name=NFL1921>{{cite web | title = NFL History 1921–1930 | work=NFL.com | publisher=NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1921-1930 | accessdate =2007-06-05}}</ref><ref>Bennett (1976), pp 23–24</ref> The Staleys won the 1921 AFPA Championship, over the [[Buffalo All-Americans]] in an event later referred to as the "[[Staley Swindle]]".<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.billsbackers.com/article1921.htm
|accessdate=2007-10-02
|title=Who really won the championship in 1921? (p/o "History of Professional Football in Western New York")
|quote=Since there were no championship games in 1921, the championship was once again decided by a vote of the Association's executive committee in January 1922. The executive committee ruled that the Chicago Staleys were the champions, based on the generally accepted rule that if two teams play each other more than once in a season, the second game counts more than the first. Buffalo and Chicago [[NFL on Thanksgiving Day|played on Thanksgiving Day]], with Buffalo winning 7–6. The second game was held December 4. This time, Chicago won 10–7. Buffalo claimed that the second game was just a post-season "exhibition" game, and it should not count in the final standings. Chicago claimed that the Association did not have a set date for the end of the season, therefore the second game could not have been held in the "post-season."
}}</ref>

By the mid-1920s, NFL membership had grown to 25 teams, and a rival league known as the [[American Football League (1926)|American Football League]] was formed. The rival AFL folded after a single season, but it symbolized a growing interest in the professional game. Several college stars joined the NFL, most notably [[Red Grange]] from the [[Illinois Fighting Illini football|University of Illinois]], who was taken on a famous barnstorming tour in 1925 by the Chicago Bears.<ref name=NFL1921/><ref>Bennett (1976), pp 25–26</ref> [[1925 Chicago Cardinals – Milwaukee Badgers scandal|Another scandal that season]] centered on a 1925 game between the [[Chicago Cardinals]] and the [[Milwaukee Badgers]]. The scandal involved a Chicago player, [[Art Folz]], hiring a group of high school football players to play for the Milwaukee Badgers, against the Cardinals. This would ensure an inferior opponent for Chicago. The game was used to help prop up their win-loss percentage and as a chance of wrestling away the 1925 Championship away from the first place [[Pottsville Maroons]]. All parties were severely punished initially; however, a few months later the punishments were rescinded.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Joe Carr VisionU| journal=Coffin Corner | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | volume= 25| issue= 5| year=2003 | pages=1–3 | url=http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/25-05-999.pdf| author=Chris Willis}}</ref> Also that year a [[1925 NFL Championship controversy|controversial dispute]] stripped the NFL title from the Maroons and awarded it to the Cardinals.<ref>{{cite book | title=Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship | first=David | last=Fleming | year=2007 | publisher=[[ESPN]] | isbn=1-933060-35-2}}</ref>

==== 1932 NFL playoff game ====
{{Main|NFL Playoff Game, 1932}}
At the end of the [[1932 NFL season|1932 season]], the [[Chicago Bears]] and the [[Detroit Lions|Portsmouth Spartans]] were tied with the best regular-season records. To determine the champion, the league voted to hold its first [[NFL Playoff Game, 1932|playoff game]]. Because of cold weather, the game was held indoors at [[Chicago Stadium]], which forced some temporary rule changes. Chicago won, 9–0. The playoff proved so popular that the league reorganized into two divisions for the [[1933 NFL season|1933 season]], with the winners advancing to a scheduled championship game. A number of new rule changes were also instituted: the goal posts were moved forward to the goal line, every play started from between the [[hash marks]], and forward passes could originate from anywhere behind the [[line of scrimmage]] (instead of the previous five yards behind).<ref>{{cite web | title =History 1931–1940 | work=NFL.com | publisher=NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/timelline.aspx?csid1=46 | accessdate =2007-10-12}}</ref><ref name=hick32>{{cite web | last = Hickok | first = Ralph | title = The 1932 NFL Championship Game | publisher=HickokSports.com | year = 2004 | url = http://www.hickoksports.com/history/histbit1.shtml | accessdate =2007-06-05}}</ref><ref>Bennett (1976), pp 32–33</ref> In 1936, the NFL instituted the first [[NFL Draft|draft]] of college players. With the first ever draft selection, the Philadelphia Eagles picked Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger, but he declined to play professionally.<ref>Bennett (1976), pp 35</ref> Also in that year, another AFL formed, but it also lasted only two seasons.<ref name=NFL1931>{{cite web | title = NFL History 1931–1940 | work=NFL.com | publisher=NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1931-1940 | accessdate =2007-06-05}}</ref>

=== Stability and growth of the NFL (1936–1957) ===

The 1930s represented an important time of transition for the NFL. League membership was fluid prior to the mid-1930s. 1936 was the first year where there were no franchise moves,<ref>McDonough(1994), pp 54</ref> prior to that year 51 teams had gone defunct.<ref name=hicknfl/> In 1941, the NFL named its first Commissioner, [[Elmer Layden]]. The new office replaced that of President. Layden held the job for five years, before being replaced by [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] co-owner [[Bert Bell]] in 1946.<ref name=NFL1941>{{cite web | title = NFL History 1941–1950 | work=NFL.com | publisher=NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1941-1950 | accessdate =2007-06-06}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], a player shortage led to a shrinking of the league as several teams folded and others merged. Among the short-lived merged teams were the [[Steagles]] (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia) in 1943, the [[Card-Pitt]]s (Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh) in 1944, and a team formed from the merger of the [[Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)|Brooklyn Dodgers]] and the [[Boston Yanks]] in 1945.<ref name=hicknfl/><ref name=NFL1941/>

1946 was an important year in the history of professional football, as that was the year when the league [[desegregation|integrated]]. The [[St. Louis Rams|Los Angeles Rams]] signed two African American players, [[Kenny Washington (American football)|Kenny Washington]] and [[Woody Strode]]. Also that year, a competing league, the [[All-America Football Conference]] (AAFC), began operation.<ref name=NFL1941/>

During the 1950s, additional teams entered the league. In 1950, the AAFC folded, and three teams from that league were absorbed into the NFL: the [[Cleveland Browns]] (who had won the AAFC Championship every year of the league's existence), the [[San Francisco 49ers]], and the Baltimore Colts (not the same as the modern franchise, this version folded after one year). The remaining players were chosen by the now 13 NFL teams in a [[dispersal draft]]. Also in 1950, the Los Angeles Rams became the first team to televise its entire schedule, marking the beginning of an important relationship between television and professional football.<ref name=NFL1941/> In 1952, the [[Dallas Texans (NFL)|Dallas Texans]] went defunct, becoming the last NFL franchise to do so.<ref name=hicknfl/> The following year a new [[Indianapolis Colts|Baltimore Colts]] franchise formed to take over the assets of the Texans. The players' union, known as the [[NFL Players Association]], formed in 1956.<ref name=NFL1951>{{cite web | title = NFL History 1951–1960 | work=NFL.com | publisher=NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1951-1960 | accessdate =2007-06-06}}</ref>

=== NFL supremacy (1958–present) ===

==== The Greatest Game Ever Played ====
{{Main|1958 NFL Championship Game}}
At the conclusion of the [[1958 NFL season]], the [[History of the Indianapolis Colts|Baltimore Colts]] and the [[New York Giants]] met at [[Yankee Stadium]] to determine the league champion. Tied after 60 minutes of play, it became the first NFL game to go into [[sudden death (sport)|sudden death]] [[Overtime (sports)|overtime]]. The final score was [[Indianapolis Colts|Baltimore Colts]] 23, [[New York Giants]] 17. The game has since become widely known as "the Greatest Game Ever Played". It was carried live on the [[NBC]] television network, and the national exposure it provided the league has been cited as a watershed moment in professional football history, helping propel the NFL to become one of the most popular sports leagues in the United States.<ref name=NFL1951/><ref>{{cite web | last = Barnidge | first = Tom | url =http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/6032205 | archiveurl =https://web.archive.org/web/20070624164703/http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/6032205 | archivedate=June 24, 2007 | title = 1958 Colts remember the 'Greatest Game'| publisher=nfl.com, reprinted from Official [[Super Bowl XXXIII]] Game Program | accessdate=2007-06-26}}</ref><ref>Peretz (1999), pp 58–59</ref> Journalist Tex Maule said of the contest, "This, for the first time, was a truly epic game which inflamed the imagination of a national audience."<ref name="MacCambridge 1999, pp 171"/>

==== American Football League and merger ====
In 1959, longtime NFL commissioner Bert Bell died of a heart attack while attending an Eagles/Steelers game at [[Franklin Field]]. That same year, [[Dallas]], Texas businessman [[Lamar Hunt]] led the formation of the rival [[American Football League]], the fourth such league to bear that name, with war hero and former South Dakota Governor [[Joe Foss]] as its Commissioner. Unlike the earlier rival leagues, and bolstered by television exposure, the AFL posed a significant threat to NFL dominance of the professional football world. With the exception of Los Angeles and New York, the AFL avoided placing teams in markets where they directly competed with established NFL franchises. In 1960, the AFL began play with eight teams and a double round-robin schedule of fourteen games. New NFL commissioner [[Pete Rozelle]] took office the same year.<ref name=NFL1951/>

[[File:AmericanFootballLeague.png|thumb|left|The [[American Football League]], 1960–1970]]
The AFL became a viable alternative to the NFL as it made a concerted effort to attract established talent away from the NFL, signing half of the NFL's first-round draft choices in 1960. The AFL worked hard to secure top college players, many from sources virtually untapped by the established league: small colleges and predominantly black colleges. Two of the eight coaches of the [[Foolish Club|Original Eight]] AFL franchises, [[Hank Stram]] ([[Kansas City Chiefs|Texans/Chiefs]]) and [[Sid Gillman]] ([[San Diego Chargers|Chargers]]) eventually were inducted to the Hall of Fame. Led by [[Oakland Raiders]] owner and AFL commissioner [[Al Davis]], the AFL established a "war chest" to entice top talent with higher pay than they got from the NFL. Former Green Bay Packers quarterback [[Babe Parilli]] became a star for the [[New England Patriots|Boston Patriots]] during the early years of the AFL, and University of Alabama passer [[Joe Namath]] rejected the NFL to play for the [[New York Jets]]. Namath became the face of the league as it reached its height of popularity in the mid-1960s. Davis's methods worked, and in 1966, the junior league forced a partial merger with the NFL. The two leagues agreed to have a common [[NFL Draft|draft]] and play in a common season-ending championship game, known as the AFL-NFL World Championship. Two years later, the game's name was changed to the [[Super Bowl]].<ref name=NFL1961>{{cite web | title = NFL History 1961–1970 | work=NFL.com | publisher=NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1961-1970 | accessdate =2007-06-26}}</ref><ref name=AFL>{{cite web | title = Remember the AFL | publisher=American Football League Hall of Fame | year = 2003 | url =http://www.remembertheafl.com/AFL.htm | accessdate =2007-06-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title = History of the Super Bowl | publisher=SuperNFL.com | url = http://www.supernfl.com/SuperBowl/SuperBowlHistory.html | accessdate =2007-06-26| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070608100947/http://www.supernfl.com/SuperBowl/SuperBowlHistory.html| archivedate = June 8, 2007}}</ref>
AFL teams won the next two Super Bowls, and in 1970, the two leagues [[AFL-NFL merger|merged]] to form a new 26-team league. The resulting newly expanded NFL eventually incorporated some of the innovations that led to the AFL's success, such as including names on player's jerseys, official scoreboard clocks, national television contracts (the addition of ''[[Monday Night Football]]'' gave the NFL broadcast rights on all of the [[Big Three television networks]]), and sharing of gate and broadcasting revenues between home and visiting teams.<ref name=NFL1961/>

==== Modern NFL ====
The NFL continued to grow, eventually adopting some innovations of the AFL, including the two-point conversion. It has expanded several times to its current 32-team membership, and the Super Bowl has become a cultural phenomena across the United States. One of the most popular televised events annually in the United States,<ref name=popular/> it has become a major source of advertising revenue for the television networks that have carried it and it serves as a means for advertisers to debut [[Super Bowl advertising|elaborate and expensive commercials]] for their products.<ref>{{cite news |last = La Monica | first = Paul R. | title = Super prices for Super Bowl ads | work=CNN Money | publisher=Cable News Network LP, LLLP | url = http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/03/news/funny/superbowl_ads/index.htm |accessdate =2007-06-26 | date=January 3, 2007}}</ref> The NFL has grown to become the most popular spectator sports league in the United States.<ref>{{cite web | title = NFL Sets Paid Attendance Record | work=NFL.com | publisher=NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9908132 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070111213216/http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9908132 | archivedate=January 11, 2007 | accessdate =2007-06-26}}</ref>

One of the things that have marked the modern NFL as different from other [[Major North American professional sports leagues|major professional sports leagues]] is the apparent parity between its 32 teams. While from time to time, [[Dynasty (sports)|dominant teams]] have arisen, the league has been cited as one of the few where every team has a realistic chance of winning the championship from year to year.<ref name=parity>{{cite web | last=Roddenberry | first = Sam | title = The Joys of parity | work=The Harvard Independent | year = 2001 | url = http://www.harvardindependent.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=7657 | accessdate =2007-09-06|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070806081030/http://www.harvardindependent.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=7657 |archivedate = August 6, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref> The league's complex labor agreement with its [[National Football League Players Association|players' union]], which mandates a hard [[salary cap]] and revenue sharing between its clubs, prevents the richest teams from stockpiling the best players and gives even teams in smaller cities such as [[Green Bay, Wisconsin|Green Bay]] and New Orleans the opportunity to compete for the Super Bowl.<ref>{{cite web | last = Landsburg | first = Steven E. | title = The NFL's Parity Perplex | work=Slate.com | publisher=Washington Post. Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC | date = June 23, 2000 | url = http://www.slate.com/id/84859 | accessdate =2007-09-06}}</ref> One of the chief architects of this labor agreement was former NFL commissioner [[Paul Tagliabue]], who presided over the league from 1989 to 2006.<ref>{{cite web | title = Paul Tagliabue 1989–2006 | work=NFL Commissioners | publisher=Tank Productions | year = 2007 | url = http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nfl/comish/tagliabue.html | accessdate =2007-09-06}}</ref> In addition to providing parity between the clubs, the current labor contract, established in 1993 and renewed in 1998 and 2006, has kept player salaries low—the lowest among the four major league sports in the United States—<ref>{{cite web | last = Paciella | first = Joe | title = NFL Player Salaries for 2007 | work=Doc's Sports Service | date = August 22, 2007 | url = http://www.docsports.com/current/nfl-player-salaries.html | accessdate =2007-09-06}}</ref> and has helped make the NFL the only major American professional sports league since 1993 not to suffer any player strike or work stoppage.<ref name=CBA>{{cite web|url=http://www.nflpa.org/CBA/CBA_Complete.aspx|title=Collective Bargaining Agreement Between The NFL Management Council And The NFL Players Association, As amended March 8, 2006|publisher=nflpa.org | accessdate=2007-04-20}}</ref>

Since taking over as commissioner before the [[2006 NFL season|2006 season]], [[Roger Goodell]] has made [[National Football League player conduct controversy|player conduct]] a priority of his office. Since taking office, several high-profile players have experienced trouble with the law, from [[Pacman Jones|Adam "Pacman" Jones]] to [[Michael Vick]]. In these and other cases, Commissioner Goodell has mandated lengthy suspensions for players who fall outside of acceptable conduct limits.<ref>{{cite web | last = Pasquarelli | first = Len | title = Expect Goodell to crack down on poor behavior | publisher=ESPN Internet Ventures | date = March 22, 2007 | url = http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2812799 | accessdate =2007-09-06}}</ref> Goodell, however, has remained a largely unpopular figure to many of the league's fans, who perceive him attempting to change the NFL's identity and haphazardly damage the sport.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Sports/2012/0502/Saints-bountygate-suspensions-Is-Roger-Goodell-fighting-football-itself |title=Saints 'bountygate' suspensions: Is Roger Goodell fighting football itself? |publisher=CSMonitor.com |date= |accessdate=2012-10-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the700level.com/football-philadelphia-eagles/news/Has-Roger-Goodell-Lost-His-Grip-on-Reali?blockID=678004 |title=Has Roger Goodell Lost His Grip on Reality? |publisher=The700level.com |date=2012-03-27 |accessdate=2012-10-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Le Batard|first=Dan|title=NFL's Roger Goodell cares more for cash than safety|work=The Miami Herald|date=April 8, 2012}}</ref>

==== Other professional leagues ====
Minor professional leagues such as the [[United Football League (1961)|original United Football League]], [[Atlantic Coast Football League]], [[Seaboard Football League]] and [[Continental Football League]] existed in abundance in the 1960s and early 1970s, to varying degrees of success.

Several other professional football leagues have been formed since the AFL-NFL merger, though none have had the success of the AFL. In 1974, the [[World Football League]] formed and was able to attract such stars as [[Larry Csonka]] away from the NFL with lucrative contracts. However, most of the WFL franchises were insolvent and the league folded in 1975; the [[Memphis Southmen]], the team that had signed Csonka and the most financially stable of the teams, unsuccessfully sued to join the NFL. The [[American Football Association (1979&ndash;1982)|American Football Association]] formed as a continuation of the WFL's legacy in 1978, albeit on a much lower pay scale. That league lasted until 1982.

In 1982, the [[United States Football League]] formed as a spring league, and enjoyed moderate success during its first two seasons behind such stars as [[Jim Kelly]] and [[Herschel Walker]]. It moved its schedule to the fall in 1985, and tried to compete with the NFL directly, but it was unable to do so and folded, despite winning an anti-trust suit against the older league.

The NFL founded a developmental league known as the [[World League of American Football]] with teams based in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The WLAF ran for two years, from 1991 to 1992. The league went on a two-year hiatus before reorganizing as [[NFL Europa|NFL Europe]] in 1995, with teams only in European cities. The name of the league was changed to NFL Europa in 2006. After the 2007 season, the NFL announced that it was closing down the league to focus its international marketing efforts in other ways, such as playing NFL regular season games in cities outside of the U.S.<ref>{{cite web | title = NFL Europe homepage | url = http://www.nfleurope.com/ | year = 2007 | publisher=World League Licensing LLC | accessdate =2007-07-02}}</ref>

Short-lived leagues such as the [[Regional Football League]] and [[Spring Football League]] formed in the wake of the [[dot-com boom]] but evaporated in short order after the boom ended.

In 2001, the [[XFL]] was formed as a joint venture between the [[WWE|World Wrestling Federation]] and the NBC television network. It folded after one season in the face of rapidly declining fan interest and a poor reputation. However, XFL stars such as [[Tommy Maddox]] and [[Rod Smart|Rod "He Hate Me" Smart]] later saw success in the NFL.<ref name=NFL1971>{{cite web | title = NFL History 1971–1980 | work=NFL.com | publisher=NFL Enterprises LLC | year = 2007 | url = http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1971-1980 | accessdate =2007-06-26 | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070402171348/http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1971-1980 | archivedate = April 2, 2007 | deadurl = yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = History of the USFL | publisher=Our Sports Central | url = http://www.oursportscentral.com/usfl/history.htm | accessdate =2007-06-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last = Boehlert | first = Eric | title = XFL makes history! | work=Salon Arts and Entertainment | publisher=Salon.com | year = 2001 | url = http://archive.salon.com/ent/tv/feature/2001/03/19/xfl_history/index.html | accessdate =2007-06-26}}</ref>

The [[United Football League (2009)|United Football League]] was a four-team fully professional league which played its [[2009 UFL season|first season]] in October–November 2009. Involved in this league were [[Mark Cuban]], media mogul and owner of the [[National Basketball Association|National Basketball Association's]] [[Dallas Mavericks]] and [[William Hambrecht]], a prominent [[Wall Street]] investor.<ref>{{cite news | title = First and Long – Very Long | last = Nocera | first = Joe | work=Play: The New York Times Sports Magazine | date = June 3, 2007 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/sports/playmagazine/0603play-business.html | accessdate =2008-01-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Report: Veteran dealmaker starts pro football league | work=CNNMoney.com | publisher=Cable News Network LP, LLLP | url = http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/02/news/newsmakers/hambrecht_football/index.htm | accessdate =2007-08-20 | date=June 3, 2007}}</ref><ref name=UFL>{{cite web | title=About the UFL | url = http://www.ufl2008.com/about_the_ufl.html | publisher=United Football League | year = 2008 | accessdate =2008-02-04| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080118055803/http://www.ufl2008.com/about_the_ufl.html| archivedate = January 18, 2008}}</ref> The UFL was beset with numerous financial problems, some of which stemmed from the inability to sell television rights, insufficient ticket revenue and insurmountable expenses. Midway through its fourth season, the league abruptly shut down, after which several dozen former players and coaches sued to recover unpaid salaries; all remaining teams had folded and shut down their offices by March, 2013.

The [[Stars Football League]] played three seasons as a marginally professional league from 2011 to 2013, with its last two seasons restricted entirely to the state of Florida. The [[Fall Experimental Football League]], an explicitly minor league, launched in fall 2014 with four teams.

== Youth and high school football ==
[[File:Bishop Stadium (MHS).JPG|thumb|left||High school football stadium in [[Manhattan, Kansas]]]]

Football is a popular participatory sport among youth. One of the earliest youth football organizations was founded in Philadelphia, in 1929, as the Junior Football Conference. Organizer Joe Tomlin started the league to provide activities and guidance for teenage boys who were vandalizing the factory he owned. The original four-team league expanded to sixteen teams in 1933 when Pop Warner, who had just been hired as the new coach of the Temple University football team, agreed to give a lecture to the boys in the league. In his honor, the league was renamed the [[Pop Warner Little Scholars|Pop Warner Conference]].<ref name=amatimeline>{{cite web | title = Amateur Football History Timeline | work=History of the Sport | publisher=USA Football Inc. | year = 2007 | url = http://www.usafootball.com/about-us/history-of-the-sport/amateur/index.php | accessdate =2007-09-17|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070818020621/http://www.usafootball.com/about-us/history-of-the-sport/amateur/index.php |archivedate = August 18, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref><ref name=popwarnerhist>{{cite web | title = Pop Warner History | publisher=popwarner.com | year = 2007 | url = http://www.popwarner.com/history/pop.asp | accessdate =2007-09-17|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20071002123535/http://www.popwarner.com/history/pop.asp |archivedate = October 2, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref>

Today, Pop Warner Little Scholars—as the program is now known—enrolls over 300,000 young boys and girls ages 5–16 in over 5000 football and [[cheerleading]] squads, and has affiliate programs in Mexico and Japan.<ref name=popwarnerhist/> Other organizations, such as the [[Police Athletic League]],<ref>{{cite web | title = National PAL's Partners | publisher=National Association of Police Athletic/Activities Leagues, Inc. | year = 2006 | url = http://www.nationalpal.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=26 | accessdate =2007-09-17}}</ref> [[Upward (American football)|Upward]],<ref>{{cite web | title = Upward Programs, General Information, and Resources | publisher=Upward Unlimited | date = 2007 | url = http://www.upward.org/programs.aspx?id0=2416&id=2030 | accessdate =2007-09-17|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070911140709/http://www.upward.org/programs.aspx?id0=2416&id=2030 |archivedate = September 11, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref> and the National Football League's NFL Youth Football Program<ref>{{cite web | title = NFL Youth Football | publisher=NFL Enterprises LP | year = 2004 | url = http://www.nflyouthfootball.com/ | accessdate =2007-09-17}}</ref> also manage various youth football leagues.

Football is a popular sport for high schools in the United States. The [[National Federation of State High School Associations]] (NFHS) was founded in 1920 as an umbrella organization for state-level organizations that manage high school sports, including [[high school football]]. The NFHS publishes the rules followed by most local high school football associations.<ref name=amatimeline/><ref>{{cite web | title = About Us | work=National Federation of State High School Associations | publisher=National Federation of State High School Associations | year = 2004 | url = http://www.nfhs.org/web/2006/08/about_us.aspx | accessdate =2007-08-19|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070830150716/http://www.nfhs.org/web/2006/08/about_us.aspx |archivedate = August 30, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref> More than 13,000 high schools participate in football, and in some places high school teams play in stadiums that rival college-level facilities. In [[Denton, Texas]], for example, a 12,000 seat, $21,000,000 stadium hosts two local high school football teams.<ref>{{cite news | last = Wieberg | first = Steve | title = Millions of dollars pour into high school football | work=USA Today | date = October 6, 2004 | publisher=Gannett Co. Inc. | url = http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/football/2004-10-05-spending-cover_x.htm | accessdate =2007-09-18}}</ref> The growth of high school football and its impact on small town communities has been documented by landmark non-fiction works such as the 1990 book ''[[Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream|Friday Night Lights]]'' and the subsequent fictionalized [[Friday Night Lights (film)|film]] and [[Friday Night Lights (TV series)|television series]].<ref>{{cite web | last = Subramanian | first = Ram | title = book review of ''Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream'' | publisher=curledup.com | year =2004 | url = http://www.curledup.com/fridaynl.htm | accessdate =2007-09-18}}</ref>

== American football outside the United States ==
{{Further|List of leagues of American football}}
American football has been played outside the US since the 1920s and accelerated in popularity after [[World War II]], especially in countries with large numbers of U.S. military personnel, who often formed a substantial proportion of the players and spectators.
In 1998, the [[International Federation of American Football]], was formed to coordinate international amateur competition. At present, 45 associations from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania are organized within the IFAF, which claims to represent 23 million amateur athletes.<ref>[http://www.ifaf.info/ International Federation of American Football, 2004, "IFAF"] Access date: October 12, 2007.</ref> The IFAF, which is based in Paris, France, organizes the quadrennial [[American Football World Cup]].

Until 2007, Japan dominated amateur football outside of the USA.<ref>(2007). "[http://www.american-football-japan.com/index.htm American Football in Japan]". ''american-football-japan.com''. Retrieved on October 12, 2007.</ref> The Japanese national team won the first two world cups—hosted by Italy in [[1999 IFAF World Cup|1999]] and Germany in [[2003 IFAF World Cup|2003]]—defeating Mexico in the play-off on both occasions. Japan had never lost a game until it went down at home, 23–20, to the [[United States national American football team|US Amateur Team]] in the final of the [[2007 IFAF World Cup|2007 World Cup]].

A long-term goal of the IFAF is for American football to be accepted by the [[International Olympic Committee]] as an [[Olympic sports|Olympic sport]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Football not truly global until it's in Olympics | url=http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/35563184/ns/sports-nfl/ | author=Mike Florio |publisher=MSNBC | date=February 24, 2010 | accessdate=2010-02-27}}</ref> The only time that the sport was played was [[American football at the 1932 Summer Olympics|at the 1932 Summer Olympics]] in Los Angeles, but as a [[demonstration sport]]. Among the various problems the IFAF has to solve in order to be accepted by the IOC are building a competitive women's division, expanding the sport into Africa, and overcoming the current worldwide competitive imbalance that is in favor of American teams.<ref>{{cite news | title=Olympic organizers huddle over football's future at Games| url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/2010/03/02/2010-03-02_footballs_olympic_drive.html |work=New York Daily News | date=March 2, 2010 | accessdate=2010-03-13 | first=Ralph | last=Vacchiano}}</ref>

=== Mexico ===
American football has been played in Mexico since the early 1920s, and is a strong minority sport at Mexican colleges and universities, mainly in [[Mexico City]]. Over successive decades, more universities and colleges joined the championship, and four categories, called ''fuerzas'', were created. The First ''Fuerza'' became the [[Mexican College Football|National League]] in 1970. In 1978, this was reorganized under the name ''Organización Nacional Estudiantil de Fútbol Americano'' (ONEFA).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.onefa.org/ |title = La Pagina Oficial de la ONEFA ''(in spanish)'' | publisher=Organización Nacional Estudiantil de Fútbol Americano | year = 2008 | accessdate =2008-01-18}}</ref>

=== Japan ===
The [[Japan American Football Association]] was founded by educator and [[Anglican Church in Japan]] lay missionary [[Paul Rusch]] in 1934 with three collegiate teams: [[Rikkyo University|Rikkyo]], [[Meiji University|Meiji]] and [[Waseda University|Waseda]].<ref>[http://www.american-football-japan.com/footballjapan-history-eng.htm american-football-japan.com, 2006, "History". Access date: October 12, 2007.]</ref> In 1937, an allstar game involving teams representing eastern and western Japan attracted over 25,000 spectators. Recently, the [[Rice Bowl]] has drawn crowds of over 60,000.

=== Europe ===
[[File:Brent Grimes-Hamburg Sea Devils.jpg|thumb|right|[[Brent Grimes]] of [[NFL Europe|NFL Europe's]] [[Hamburg Sea Devils]] intercepts a pass]]
American football in Europe first began with the [[1897 École des Beaux-Arts vs. Académie Julian football game]]. After [[World War II]] a four-team tournament between [[NATO]] allies on the west coast of Italy was played. The game began to take hold in Italy, with the first game between two European teams occurring between teams from [[Piacenza]] and [[Legnano]]. The [[German Football League]] was formed in 1979. By 1981, the first international games between European nations occurred, as a two-game series between German and Italian teams.<ref name=Europe>{{cite web | title = Football History in Europe | url = http://athleticenterprises.com/footballhistory.html | publisher=Athletic Enterprises | accessdate =2008-01-18|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20071008124137/http://athleticenterprises.com/footballhistory.html |archivedate = October 8, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref>

The first European governing body, the American European Football Federation (AEFF) was formed in 1982 by representatives from Finland, Italy, Germany, Austria, and France. The league expanded in 1985 to include Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Great Britain and changed its name to the European Football League. Now known as the [[European Federation of American Football]], it now is made up of 14 member nations. Today, there are approximately 800 American football clubs throughout Europe, with the [[American football Association of Germany]] (AFVD) overseeing more than 230 clubs.<ref name=Europe/>

=== Brazil ===
{{main|American football in Brazil}}

American football has been played in Brazil since the 1990s. The official organization governing American football in Brazil is the [[American Football Association of Brazil]], in Portuguese Associação de Futebol Americano de Brasil (AFAB).<ref>[http://www.afabonline.com.br/v3/ AFAB official website]</ref>

== Similar codes of football ==
Other codes of football share a common history with American football. [[Canadian football]] is a form of the game that evolved parallel to American football. While both games share a common history, there are some [[Comparison of Canadian and American football|important differences between the two]].<ref>{{cite web | title = A Brief History of Football Canada | url = http://www.footballcanada.com/history.asp | year = 2007 | publisher=Football Canada | accessdate =2007-07-02|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070825052458/http://www.footballcanada.com/history.asp |archivedate = August 25, 2007|deadurl=yes}}</ref> A more modern sport that derives from American football is [[Arena football]], designed to be played indoors inside of [[hockey]] or basketball arenas. The game was invented in 1981 by [[Jim Foster (football)|Jim Foster]] and the [[Arena Football League (1987–2008)|Arena Football League]] was founded in 1987 as the first major professional league to play the sport. Several other indoor football leagues have since been founded and continue to play today.<ref>{{cite web | title = History of Arena Football | publisher=HickokSports.com | year = 2006 | url = http://www.hickoksports.com/history/arenafootball.shtml | accessdate =2007-07-02}}</ref>

American football's parent sport of rugby continued to evolve. Today, two distinct codes known as [[rugby union]] and [[rugby league]] are played throughout the world. Since the [[Comparison of rugby league and rugby union|two codes split]] following a schism on how the sport should be managed in 1895, the [[history of rugby league]] and the [[history of rugby union]] have evolved separately.<ref>{{cite web | last = Fagan | first = Sean | title = The Rugby Divide of 1895 | publisher=RL1895.com | url = http://www.rl1895.com/rugby-divide.htm | year = 2004 | accessdate =2007-07-02}}</ref> Both codes have adopted innovations parallel to the American game; the rugby union scoring system is almost identical to the American game, while rugby league uses a gridiron-style field and a six-tackle rule similar to the system of downs in American Football.


== See also ==
== See also ==

Revision as of 23:48, 3 November 2015

Lafayette on defense in its 6–4 upset victory over Pennsylvania

The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football. Both games have their origin in varieties of football played in Britain in the mid–19th century, in which a football is kicked at a goal or run over a line, which in turn were based on the varieties of English public school football games.

Early history of American football

American football resulted from several major divergences from association football and rugby football, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, a Yale University and Hopkins School graduate considered to be the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the line of scrimmage, of down-and-distance rules and of the legalization of interference.[1][2][3] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments by college coaches such as Eddie Cochems, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Parke H. Davis, Knute Rockne, and Glenn "Pop" Warner helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass. The popularity of college football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport in the United States for the first half of the 20th century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for college teams. Boosted by fierce rivalries and colorful traditions, college football still holds widespread appeal in the United States.

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.

Modern history of American football

The modern era of American football can be considered to have begun after the 1932 NFL Playoff game, which was the first American football game to feature hash marks, the legalization of the foward pass anywhere behind the line of scrimmage, the first indoor game since 1902, and the movement of the goal posts back to goal line. Other innovations to occur immediately after 1932, were the introduction of the AP Poll in 1934, the awarding of the first Heisman Trophy in 1935, the first NFL draft in 1936 and the first televised game in 1939. American football's increasing popularity during the second half of the 20th century 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.[4]


See also

Notes

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference PFRA2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference histfoot was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "NFL History3039–1910". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises LLC. 2007. Retrieved May 15, 2007.

References

  • Bennett, Tom (1976). The Pro Style: The Complete Guide to Understanding National Football League Strategy. Los Angeles: National Football League Properties, Inc., Creative Services Division.
  • Gardner, Paul (1996). The Simplest Game: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to the World of Soccer. Macmillan General Reference. ISBN 0-02-043225-9.
  • MacCambridge, Michael (Ed.) (1999). ESPN SportsCentury. New York: Hyperion Books. ISBN 0-7868-6471-0.
  • McDonough, Will (1994). 75 Seasons: The Complete Story of the National Football League. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, Inc. ISBN 1-57036-056-1.
  • Nelson, David M. (1994). The Anatomy of A Game. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press. ISBN 0-87413-455-2.
  • Peretz, Howard (1999). It Ain't Over 'Til The Fat Lady Sings: The 100 Greatest Sports Finishes of All Time. New York: Barnes and Noble Books. ISBN 0-7607-1707-9.
  • Vancil, Mark (Ed.) (2000). ABC Sports College Football All-Time All-America Team. New York: Hyperion Books. ISBN 0-7868-6710-8.

Further reading

  • Balthaser, Joel D. (2004). Images of America: Pop Warner Little Scholars. Arcadia Publishing SC. ISBN 0-7385-3505-2.
  • Bissinger, H. G. (2004). Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81374-2.
  • Davis, Parke H. (2010). Football, the American intercollegiate game. Nabu Press. ISBN 978-1171912125.
  • Fox, Stephen (1998). Big Leagues: Professional Baseball, Football, and Basketball in National Memory. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-688-09300-0.
  • MacCambridge, Michael (Ed.) (2005). ESPN College Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Game. New York: Hyperion Books. ISBN 1-4013-3703-1.
  • Perrin, Tom (1987). Football: A College History. McFarland & Co Inc. ISBN 0-89950-294-6.
  • Smith, Ronald A. (1988). Sports and Freedom: The Rise of Big-Time College Athletics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506582-4.
  • Watterson, John Sayle (2000). College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-6428-3.
  • Whittingham, Richard (2003). Sunday's Heroes. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-517-8.

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