First College Football Game
The first intercollegiate football game took place on November 6, 1869, between Rutgers University and Princeton University, marking the beginning of organized college football in the United States. This early match laid the foundation for the sport, as other institutions, including Columbia and Cornell, followed suit by forming their own teams. Initially dominated by elite schools, the sport faced resistance from Harvard, which preferred to maintain its unique set of rules before eventually participating.
By 1875, a significant development occurred when representatives from Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale convened to create a standardized set of rules, leading to the establishment of the Intercollegiate Football Association. This organization was dissolved in 1894 and succeeded by a rules committee. The game's evolution continued with the formation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1905, spearheaded by efforts to reduce violence in play, supported by President Theodore Roosevelt.
As college football grew in popularity, the rise of professional football began in the 1950s, driven by television's influence on sports viewership. Despite this shift, college football has maintained a significant following, particularly through prestigious postseason bowl games that showcase the top teams of the season.
First College Football Game
First College Football Game
The first intercollegiate football game was held on November 6, 1869, between Rutgers University and Princeton University. Columbia, Cornell, and other eastern schools also began to form teams for intercollegiate football competitions, which for a time became primarily the domain of the elite schools. Harvard was reluctant to join the competitions at first, since it wished to retain its own game rules, but beginning in 1874 began to waive its objections. In 1875 representatives from Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale met at Springfield, Massachusetts, to draft a set of common football rules and to form the Intercollegiate Football Association, which was dissolved in 1894 and succeeded by a rules committee.
In 1905 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was formed to help curb some of the more violent plays and tactics then common in the game. President Theodore Roosevelt sponsored two White House conferences of college athletic officials to encourage such reforms. In December 1905 Chancellor Henry M. MacCracken of New York University held a conference of 13 schools to further discuss modifying the rules of intercollegiate football, and on December 28 the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) was founded in New York, New York, with 62 initial members. The IAAUS was renamed the NCAA in 1910 and is still the principle authority governing college football in addition to a number of other intercollegiate athletic activities.
Professional football teams began to spring up as well, subject to the rules of various for-profit leagues rather than the NCAA, but for many decades college football was decidedly more popular. This began to change in the 1950s, however, with the spread of television. As a fast moving action-oriented sport, football was ideal for television, and the professional teams could take their pick of the most talented college players when they graduated. Eventually, professional football began to eclipse college football.
One exception to this rule, however, is the series of post -season intercollegiate football contests known as bowl games. Essentially, the best college football teams of the season as determined by national polls of sportswriters and coaches get invited to widely televised bowl games, such as the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, or Cotton Bowl. There are many lesser bowl games as well.