Knute Rockne Bowl (defunct) | |
---|---|
NCAA College Division II East Region Championship (1969–1972) NCAA Division II Semifinal (1976–1977) | |
Stadium | Atlantic City Convention Hall (1970–1972), campus sites (1969, 1976–1977) |
Location | Atlantic City, New Jersey (1970–1972), campus sites (1969, 1976–1977) |
Operated | 1969–1972, 1976–1977 |
The Knute Rockne Bowl (named after football coach Knute Rockne) was an American college football bowl game founded by the NCAA in October 1969. [1] Along with its counterpart, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, it was "created by the NCAA ... for its College Division II schools, those 100-plus smallest schools in the NCAA." [2] Eligible schools were divided into an East Region (the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states) and West Region (the rest of the country), with the Knute Rockne Bowl serving as the championship of the East Region.
The NCAA thus provided postseason opportunities for schools too small to compete for spots in the four College Division regional bowls it had established in 1964 (as of 1969, these were the Camellia Bowl for the West, the Pecan Bowl for the Midwest, the Grantland Rice Bowl for the Mideast, and the Boardwalk Bowl for the East). At least for the sport of football, this accommodation in 1969 foreshadowed the decision to subdivide the College Division four years later.
When the College Division was subdivided into the current Division II and Division III in 1973, the NCAA made the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl the Division III football championship game, and the Knute Rockne Bowl was discontinued. After an absence of three seasons, it was revived as a Division II national semifinal game for 1976 and 1977, alongside the Grantland Rice Bowl. [3] The Knute Rockne Bowl was no longer contested after 1977, when the NCAA stopped attaching "bowl" designations to the Division II semifinals.
The second, third, and fourth Knute Rockne Bowls (1970 through 1972) were held indoors at Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which was also home to the Boardwalk Bowl (1961-1973). In the three seasons that they shared the venue, the games were played two weeks apart. The remaining three Knute Rockne Bowls (1969, 1976, and 1977) were played at the home stadium of one of the participating teams.
Date | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score | Location | notes | NCAA playoff |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
November 29, 1969 | Randolph–Macon | 47 | Bridgeport | 28 | Bridgeport, Connecticut | [4] | College Division II East Region Championship |
November 28, 1970 | Montclair State | 7 | Hampden–Sydney | 6 | Atlantic City, New Jersey | [5] [6] | |
November 26, 1971 | Bridgeport | 17 | Hampden–Sydney | 12 | Atlantic City, New Jersey | [7] | |
November 24, 1972 | Bridgeport | 27 | Slippery Rock | 12 | Atlantic City, New Jersey | [8] | |
December 4, 1976 | Akron | 29 | Northern Michigan | 26 | Akron, Ohio | [9] | Division II Semifinal |
December 3, 1977 | Lehigh | 39 | UC Davis | 30 | Davis, California | [10] |
Knute Rockne, All American is a 1940 American biographical film that tells the story of Knute Rockne, Notre Dame's legendary football coach. It stars Pat O'Brien as Rockne and Ronald Reagan as player George Gipp, as well as Gale Page, Donald Crisp, Albert Bassermann, Owen Davis Jr., Nick Lukats, Kane Richmond, William Marshall and William Byrne. The film also includes cameos by legendary football coaches "Pop" Warner, Amos Alonzo Stagg, William H. Spaulding and Howard Jones, playing themselves.
Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (1890–1891), the University of Chicago (1892–1932), and the College of the Pacific (1933–1946), compiling a career college football record of 314–199–35 (.605). His undefeated Chicago Maroons teams of 1905 and 1913 were recognized as national champions. He was also the head basketball coach for one season at Chicago (1920–1921), and the Maroons' head baseball coach for twenty seasons.
The Camellia Bowl was an annual college football postseason game in Sacramento, California, which is nicknamed the Camellia City. It was held sixteen times at Hughes Stadium, from 1961 through 1975, and once more in 1980.
The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination playoff with eight teams. The tournament field has subsequently been expanded three times: to 16 teams in 1988, 24 teams in 2004, and 28 teams in 2016.
The NCAA Division III Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division III level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination playoff with eight teams. Over the past 50 seasons, the number of participants has grown to 32, with the current bracket size dating from 2005. In 2023, 28 playoff bids went to conference champions via automatic qualification, leaving just four places for at-large selections.
The Boardwalk Bowl was a postseason college football game held at the former Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from 1961 to 1973.
The Grantland Rice Bowl was an annual college football bowl game from 1964 through 1977, in the NCAA's College Division, for smaller universities and colleges, and later Division II. The game was named for Grantland Rice, an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose, and was originally played in his hometown of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "maintain the highest possible standards in football and the profession of coaching football," and to "provide a forum for the discussion and study of all matters pertaining to football and coaching." The AFCA, along with USA Today, is responsible for the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Coaches Poll. The AFCA is also responsible for the Top 25 poll for Division II and Division III football.
The Pecan Bowl was the name of some December college football bowl games played in two different eras. In 1946 and 1947, the game was contested between historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). From 1964 through 1970, the game was a regional final within the NCAA's College Division.
The Wisconsin–Whitewater Warhawks are the athletic teams of the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. Twenty Warhawk athletic teams compete in NCAA Division III. The Warhawks often rank among the top of NCAA Division III schools in the NACDA Director's Cup standings.
The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Yale's football program, founded in 1872, is one of the oldest in the world. Since their founding, the Bulldogs have won 27 national championships, two of the first three Heisman Trophy winners, 100 consensus All-Americans, 28 College Football Hall of Fame inductees, including the "Father of American Football" Walter Camp, the first professional football player Pudge Heffelfinger, and coaching giants Amos Alonzo Stagg, Howard Jones, Tad Jones and Carmen Cozza. With over 900 wins, Yale ranks in the top ten for most wins in college football history.
The Wisconsin–Whitewater Warhawks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The team competes in the NCAA Division III and are members of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). Wisconsin–Whitewater's first football team was fielded in 1889. The team plays its home games at the 13,500 seat Perkins Stadium in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Jace Rindahl has served as the head coach for Warhawks since 2023, taking over for eight-year head coach Kevin Bullis.
The 1969 Pecan Bowl was a college football bowl game played between Drake Bulldogs and Arkansas State Indians at Memorial Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was one of four regional finals in the NCAA College Division, which became Division II in 1973. The other three regional finals in 1969 were the Boardwalk, Grantland Rice, and Camellia bowls.
The Randolph–Macon Yellow Jackets are the athletic teams that represent Randolph–Macon College, located in Ashland, Virginia, in NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports. The Yellow Jackets compete as members of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Altogether, Randolph–Macon sponsors 18 sports, with 9 teams for each gender. The school's newest sport of men's volleyball, introduced for the 2019 season, is the only team that does not compete in the ODAC, instead competing in the Continental Volleyball Conference.
The Randolph–Macon Yellow Jackets football team represents Randolph–Macon College in the sport of American football. In 1969 Randolph–Macon defeated the University of Bridgeport (Connecticut) 47–28 in the inaugural Knute Rockne Bowl laying claim to a shared College Division III National Championship with Wittenberg University which had defeated William Jewell College in the first Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. The 4 teams had been chosen by the NCAA to compete in the first ever playoffs established for Division II schools. No complete playoff was set up until 1973. The 1969 football team was inducted into the college's Hall of Fame in 2004. The Yellow Jacket football team is currently coached by Pedro Arruza and won the ODAC championship in 2008. As of Nov 2013 the football team had posted a record 7 seasons with a winning record under Coach Arruza. The football team plays its home games at Day Field.
The 1964 Tangerine Bowl was an American college football bowl game between the East Carolina Pirates and the UMass Redmen, played in Orlando, Florida.
The LA Bowl is an annual NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, first played in December 2021. The bowl has tie-ins with the Mountain West and Pac-12 conferences.
The 1969 Wittenberg Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Wittenberg University in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) during the 1969 NCAA College Division football season. In their first year under head coach Dave Maurer, the Tigers compiled a perfect 10–0 record, won the OAC championship, and defeated William Jewell, 27–21, in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
NCAA Division II bowl games are American college football bowl games played annually among some of the highest-ranking NCAA Division II football teams not invited to participate in the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs. The games are officially recognized by the NCAA. They are held in December, and are most commonly scheduled on the first Saturday of the month, three weeks after the final games of the Division II football regular season.