Portal:American football

The American Football Portal

American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or throwing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance the ball at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense. If they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. In the case of a tie after four quarters, the game enters overtime.

American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football game was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time; by 1875, the sport had adopted rules similar to rugby union. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established concepts that would define the sport, among them the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone, and specified the size and shape of the football. The modern sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game; the two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.

American football is the most popular sport in the United States; the most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. Over a million Americans played college or high school football in 2022, and the National Football League (NFL) has one of the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events globally. Other professional and amateur leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball; the sport maintains a growing following in the rest of North America, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. Flag football, a variant of the sport, will be played at the 2028 Summer Olympics. (Full article...)

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The 2012 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game held on Christmas Eve 2012, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. The eleventh edition of the Hawaii Bowl, sponsored by Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, began at 3:00 p.m. HST and aired on ESPN. It featured the SMU Mustangs from Conference USA against the Mountain West Conference co-champion Fresno State Bulldogs, and was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams. The Mustangs accepted their invitation after compiling a 6–6 record in the regular season, while the Bulldogs accepted their invitation with a 9–3 regular season record.

The pre-game buildup focused primarily on the strong rushing attacks of both teams as well as the overall sound offense of Fresno State. Most analysts predicted a resounding victory by Fresno State. Fresno State was a 12-point favorite over the Mustangs. Contrary to predictions, SMU won the game by a score of 43–10, largely thanks to the play of defensive end Margus Hunt, who forced two fumbles and totaled three sacks (including one safety) as well as two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. Consequently, Hunt and Fresno State's Davante Adams, who totaled 13 receptions for 144 yards and a touchdown, were named the game's co-Most Valuable Player (MVP). (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various American football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Washington Valor vs. Philadelphia Soul (2017) (from Arena football)
Image 2Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", pictured here in 1878 as the captain of the Yale University football team (from History of American football)
Image 3Inside the original structure in 2008 (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 4Footballs and a helmet at a Calgary Stampeders (CFL) team practice (from Canadian football)
Image 5Don Hutson in 1940. (from History of American football)
Image 61906 St. Louis Post-Dispatch photograph of Brad Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass and was the sport's first triple threat (from History of American football)
Image 7The Hall is made up of several sections with display of the inductees at its heart (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 8Colorado's first football team in 1890 (from History of American football)
Image 9Morgan Athletic Club (pictured c. 1900), predecessor of the Arizona Cardinals (from History of American football)
Image 10Tom Davies of Pittsburgh runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in the 1918 game at Forbes Field (from History of American football)
Image 11Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (gold jerseys with black accents) vs. Triangle Torch (black jerseys with red and yellow accents) play an American Indoor Football game at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 25, 2016 (from Arena football)
Image 12One of the two Harvard vs. McGill games played in 1874 (from History of American football)
Image 13Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place (November 2005) (from Canadian football)
Image 14Original entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 15A Native American college football team (from History of American football)
Image 16Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario (from Canadian football)
Image 17A modern down indicator box is mounted on a pole and is used to mark the current line of scrimmage. The number on the marker is changed using a dial. (from Canadian football)
Image 18A football signed by the 1974 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement class (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 19A moment of the second game between Tufts and Harvard at College Hill, October 1875 (from History of American football)
Image 20The Big Game between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914 (from History of American football)
Image 21Indoor Football League (from Arena football)
Image 22Jim Thorpe was the first president of the NFL. (from History of American football)
Image 231902 football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan (from History of American football)
Image 24Hanged U-shaped Continental Indoor Football League goalpost (from Arena football)
Image 25A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy (from History of American football)
Image 26A game between the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Atoms and First Canadian Army Red and Blue Bombers, in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1945 (from Canadian football)
Image 27High school football stadium in Manhattan, Kansas (from History of American football)
Image 28A game between the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders, 1910 (from Canadian football)
Image 29Sewanee's 1899 "Iron Men" (from History of American football)
Image 30An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century (from History of American football)
Image 31An arena football goalpost structure featuring the rebound nets on either side of the uprights. (from Arena football)
Image 32Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium with the Hall of Fame in lower right (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 33Diagram of a Canadian football field (from Canadian football)
Image 34Sign at the old entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 35Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, originally built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, pictured in 2005. (from Canadian football)
Image 361897 Latrobe Athletic Association football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season. (from History of American football)

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Mercedes-Benz Superdome

Credit: J. Glover

The Mercedes-Benz Superdome (originally Louisiana Superdome and commonly The Superdome) is a multi-purpose dome-covered stadium and arena comprising, as regards American football, a FieldTurf playing field, situated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

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Graham in 1959

Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. Graham is regarded by critics as one of the most dominant players of his era and one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, having taken the Browns to league championship games every year between 1946 and 1955, making ten championship appearances, and winning seven of them. With Graham at quarterback, the Browns posted a record of 105 wins, 17 losses, and 4 ties, including a 9–3 win–loss record in the AAFC and NFL playoffs. He was named Most Valuable Player seven times in his career. He holds the NFL record for career average yards gained per pass attempt, with 8.63. He also holds the record for the highest career winning percentage for an NFL starting quarterback, at 81.0%. Long-time New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a friend of Graham's, once called him "as great of a quarterback as there ever was."

Graham grew up in Waukegan, Illinois, the son of music teachers. He entered Northwestern University in 1940 on a basketball scholarship, but football soon became his main sport. After a brief stint in the military at the end of World War II, Graham played for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League (NBL), winning the 1945–46 championship. Paul Brown, Cleveland's coach, signed Graham to play for the Browns, where he thrived. Graham's 1946 NBL and AAFC titles made him the first of only two people to have won championships in two of the four major North American sports (the second was Gene Conley). (Full article...)

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Calendar

2023 season: NFL • NCAA FBS (Bowl games)
Jan 8	College Football National Championship: #1 Michigan vs #2 Washington
Jan 13-15	NFL: Wild Cards
Jan 20-21	NFL: Divisional games
Jan 28	NFL: Conference games
Feb 4	NFL: Pro Bowl Games
Feb 11	NFL: Super Bowl LVIII