College football refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Douglas Richard Flutie is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL).
Vito "Babe" Parilli was an American football quarterback and coach who played professionally for 18 seasons. Parilli spent five seasons in the National Football League (NFL), three in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and 10 in the American Football League (AFL). He played college football at Kentucky, where he twice received consensus All-American honors and won two consecutive bowl games.
Elisha Archibald Manning III is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New Orleans Saints. He played for the Saints from 1971 to 1982 and also had brief stints with the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings. In college, he played for the Ole Miss Rebels football team at the University of Mississippi and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. Manning is the patriarch of the Manning football dynasty, having preceded sons Peyton and Eli as a successful college and NFL quarterback.
Jesse James Palmer is a Canadian television personality, sports commentator, and former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons in the early 2000s. Palmer played college football for the University of Florida under Steve Spurrier, and thereafter, he played professionally for the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers in the NFL before spending half of the 2006 season with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Palmer was cast in 2004 as the bachelor on the fifth season of the reality television series The Bachelor. He went on to become a college football analyst for ESPN/ABC in the United States, and has been a contributor to The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada. He was also a contributor to ABC's Good Morning America. In 2018, he hosted the kickoff season of The Proposal on ABC. Since 2017 he has hosted the Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network. Jesse was host of DailyMailTV from 2017 to 2020. Palmer married model Emely Fardo on June 5, 2020, at a close friend's house in Connecticut. In 2021, Palmer was named as the permanent host of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.
Kirk Edward Herbstreit is an American sportscaster and former college football player. He serves as an analyst for ESPN's College GameDay, a television program covering college football, and provides color commentary on college football games on ESPN and ABC and Thursday night NFL games on Prime Video. For his TV work, Herbstreit has won five Sports Emmy Awards in various categories. He appeared annually as a commentator in EA Sports' NCAA Football video game until the series was put on hiatus following NCAA Football 14.
Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. is an American football coach and former player who is the current head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nicknamed "Prime Time", he played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and Baltimore Ravens. Sanders was also a baseball outfielder for nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants. He won two Super Bowl titles and made a World Series appearance in 1992, making him the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series.
Robert Calvin Hubbard was an American professional football player and Major League Baseball (MLB) umpire. After playing college football at Centenary College and Geneva College, Hubbard played in the National Football League (NFL) between 1927 and 1936 for the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Pirates, playing the bulk of his career with the Packers. Hubbard is credited as being one of the inventors of the football position of linebacker.
Ed Marinaro is an American actor and former National Football League (NFL) player. In 1971, he was a unanimous All-American and finished as a runner-up to Pat Sullivan for the Heisman Trophy, and from 2010 to 2011 starred in the football comedy series, Blue Mountain State. He is also known as a regular cast member on Hill Street Blues, playing Officer Joe Coffey for five seasons (1981–1986).
Brent Woody Musburger is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN).
Bobby Lee Bell Sr. is an American former professional football player who played as an outside linebacker and defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and was a member of the Chiefs' team that won Super Bowl IV against the Minnesota Vikings.
Ahmad Rashad is an American sportscaster and former professional football player. He was the fourth overall selection of the 1972 NFL Draft, taken by the St. Louis Cardinals. He was known as Bobby Moore before changing his name in 1973.
Bradley Ray Nessler is an American sportscaster, who currently calls college football and college basketball games for CBS Sports.
The Michigan State Spartans football program represents Michigan State University (MSU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Spartans are members of the Big Ten Conference. Michigan State claims a total of six national championships, including two from major wire-service: AP Poll and/or Coaches' Poll. The Spartans have also won eleven conference championships, with two in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and nine in the Big Ten.
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represents Rutgers University in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Rutgers competes as a member of the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. Prior to joining the Big Ten, the Scarlet Knights were a member of the American Athletic Conference from 1991 to 2013. Rutgers plays its home games at SHI Stadium, in Piscataway, New Jersey. The team is currently led by head coach Greg Schiano. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team is notable for playing in the first ever intercollegiate football game in 1869, in which the Rutgers Scarlet Knights defeated the Princeton Tigers by a score of 6–4.
Timothy Richard Tebow is an American football player who is a free agent. He previously played three seasons in the National Football League (NFL) as a quarterback, most notably with the Denver Broncos. Tebow played college football at Florida, where he became the first underclassman to win the Heisman Trophy and was a part of two BCS National Championship victories in 2007 and 2009, winning the BCS National Championship Game MVP in 2009. At the conclusion of his collegiate career, he held the Southeastern Conference's records for career passing efficiency and rushing touchdowns.
American football, also known as gridiron, 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 passing 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 at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but 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 a game wins.
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly called football include association football ; gridiron football ; Australian rules football; rugby union and rugby league; and Gaelic football. These various forms of football share to varying extents common origins and are known as "football codes".
The 1869 Princeton vs. Rutgers football game was played between Princeton and Rutgers on November 6, 1869. The rules governing play were based on the London Football Association's 1863 rules that disallowed carrying or throwing the ball. Therefore, the game more closely resembled soccer than gridiron football. Moreover, the match was played with a soccer ball. As a result, it is considered the first collegiate soccer match and the birth of soccer in the United States.
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level of college football competition in the United States. Four teams play in two semifinal games, and the winner of each semifinal advances to the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
