History UsefulNotes / CollegiateAmericanFootball

Obviously, as stated above, it's far from perfect, but it's also difficult for fans to agree on what exactly would constitute a fair playoff system. (Not to mention the difficulty in untangling the tens of millions of dollars in contracts made between the power conferences and the bowls themselves.) Oh, and the discussion is SeriousBuisness. There are pro-BCS and anti-BCS parties, and while the sheer fatigue from injuries would make an elaborate playoff difficult, most feel something has to happen.

* ''Big Twelve'' [Baylor, [[strike: Colorado]], Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, [[strike:Nebraska]], Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech]: The name's [[RuleOfThree about to become an]] ArtifactTitle - Nebraska and Colorado are departing in 2011. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State. Formerly known as the ''Big Eight'', until the fallout from the SMU "Death Penalty" led to the fragmentation of the former Southwest Conference (where the four Texas schools came from).

* ''Western Athletic Conference ([=WAC=])'' [Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada-Reno, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State]: Another solid conference. You may remember Boise State from their upset win over Oklahoma [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome that featured a gratuitous amount of trick plays]]. With the eventual loss of Boise St., Nevada, and Fresno St., the strongest teams in the conference the last several years, it's solidity may in fact be in doubt.

* Texas vs. Oklahoma ("The Red River Shootout")

* ''Big Twelve'' [Baylor, [[strike: Colorado]], Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, [[strike:Nebraska]], Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech]: The name's [[RuleOfThree about to become an]] ArtifactTitle - Nebraska and Colorado are departing in 2011. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State.

* Wisconsin vs. Minnestoa ("PaulBunyan's Axe")

* California-Berkeley vs. Stanford

Obviously, as stated above, it's far from perfect, but it's also difficult for fans to agree on what exactly would constitute a fair playoff system. (Not to mention the difficulty in untangling the tens of millions of dollars in contracts made between the power conferences and the bowls themselves.) Oh and the discussion is SeriousBuisness. There are pro BCS and anti-BCS parties, and the shear fatigue from injuries make an elaborate playoff difficult, while most feel something has to happen.

While all sports have bitter rivalries, college football tends to have the most pronounced ones in American sports. Some of the more notable have been mentioned above.

The lower tier of bowl games exists solely as cash grabs and {{Padding}} for {{ESPN}} during the traditionally quiet holiday week in sports and the stadiums they play in, the cities they're played in. If there was a playoff in college football, the teams in these bowls would be blown out of the first round of the playoffs by the top teams or not even make it, as they usually have records which are only one game above .500. These games are usually sponsored by NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast, such as the [[OverlyLongName San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl]], Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Meineke Car Care Bowl, or the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl. These games are solely of interest to the universities playing only (or will be a future OldShame if your team is invited to the not-very-prestigious-at-all GoDaddy.com Bowl), and about the only accomplishment to be earned by the players outside of a free unwanted trip to Detroit or Birmingham, Alabama is a CosmeticTrophy which [[TrailersAlwaysLie means nothing]].

The lower tier of bowl games exists solely as cash grabs and timeslot {{Filler}} for {{ESPN}} during the traditionally quiet holiday week in sports and the stadiums they play in, the cities they're played in, and are usually among teams in other sports which would be blown out of the first round of the playoffs or not even make it, as they usually have records which are only one game above .500. These games are usually sponsored by NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast, such as the [[OverlyLongName San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl]], Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Meineke Car Care Bowl, or the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl. These games are solely of interest to the universities playing only (or will be a future OldShame if your team is invited to the not-very-prestigious-at-all GoDaddy.com Bowl).

As stated above, the current college football system lacks a true playoff or a true national champion. However, at the end of the season, there are several ''bowl games'' that are played between schools. The four largest bowl games are the Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. A fifth national championship game will be played after these, with the #1 and #2-ranked teams in the nation playing each other. Obviously, as stated above, it's far from perfect, but it's also difficult for fans to agree on what exactly would constitute a fair playoff system. (Not to mention the difficulty in untangling the tens of millions of dollars in contracts made between the power conferences and the bowls themselves.) Oh and the discussion is SeriousBuisness. There are pro BCS and anti-BCS parties, and the shear fatigue from injuries make an elaborate playoff difficult, while most feel something has to happen.

* ''Big East'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, West Virginia]: Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Cincinnati was a top-5 team last year, and West Virginia has been historically strong.

* ''Big Twelve'' [Baylor, [[strike: Colorado]], Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, [[strike:Nebraska]], Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech]: The name's about to become an ArtifactTitle - Nebraska and Colorado are departing in 2011. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State.

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, [[strike: Brigham Young]], Colorado State, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Texas Christian, [[strike: Utah]], Wyoming]: They've been fairly solid as of late - [=TCU=] has been very solid lately and went to a prestigious bowl game last year, and the other teams did fairly well. Starting in 2011 they'll gain Boise State and Nevada and Fresno State in 2012, all from the WAC, which will help offset the loss of Utah (Pac-10/12) and BYU (Independent). The Mountain West has also been pushing to be included among the automatic-qualifying BCS conferences, an argument strengthened by how well their teams have played in bowl games (particularly [=BCS=] bowls) and the before-mentioned addition of three strong teams.

As stated above, the current college football system lacks a true playoff or a true national champion. However, at the end of the season, there are several ''bowl games'' that are played between schools. The four largest bowl games are the Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. A fifth national championship game will be played after these, with the #1 and #2-ranked teams in the nation playing each other. Obviously, as stated above, it's far from perfect, but it's also difficult for fans to agree on what exactly would constitute a fair playoff system. (Not to mention the difficulty in untangling the tens of millions of dollars in contracts made between the power conferences and the bowls themselves.)

As stated above, the current college football system lacks a true playoff or a true national champion. However, at the end of the season, there are several ''bowl games'' that are played between schools. The four largest bowl games are the Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. The hypothetical national championship game will be played at one of these, with the #1 and #2-ranked teams in the nation playing each other. Obviously, as stated above, it's far from perfect, but it's also difficult for fans to agree on what exactly would constitute a fair playoff system. (Not to mention the difficulty in untangling the tens of millions of dollars in contracts made between the power conferences and the bowls themselves.)

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Texas Christian, Utah, Wyoming]: They've been fairly solid as of late - [=TCU=] has been very solid lately and went to a prestigious bowl game last year, and the other teams did fairly well. Starting in 2011 they'll gain Boise State and Nevada and Fresno State in 2012, all from the WAC, which will help offset the loss of Utah (Pac-10/12) and BYU (Independent). The Mountain West has also been pushing to be included among the automatic-qualifying BCS conferences, an argument strengthened by how well their teams have played in bowl games (particularly [=BCS=] bowls) and the before-mentioned addition of three strong teams.

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Texas Christian, Utah, Wyoming]: They've been fairly solid as of late - [=TCU=] has been very solid lately and went to a prestigious bowl game last year, and the other teams did fairly well. Starting in 2011 they'll gain Boise State and Nevada and Fresno State in 2012, all from the WAC, which will help offset the loss of Utah (Pac-10/12) and BYU (Independent).

* ''Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)'' [Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest]: One of the six "power conferences", meaning they get an automatic bid to one of the major bowls, specifically the Orange Bowl (more on those below). Miami is one of the more traditional football powerhouses, producing quite a few [=NFL=] superstars.

* ''Big Twelve'' [Baylor, [[strike: Colorado]], Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, [[strike:Nebraska]], Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech]: The name's about to become an ArtifactTitle - Nebraska and Colorado are departing in 2011. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State, [[strike: and Kansas has been fairly solid as of late]].

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Texas Christian, Utah, Wyoming]: They've been fairly solid as of late - [=TCU=] has been very solid lately and went to a prestigious bowl game last year, and the other teams did fairly well. Starting in 2011 they'll gain Boise State and possibly Nevada and Fresno State, all from the WAC, which will help offset the loss of Utah (Pac-10/12) and BYU (Independent).

* ''Southeastern Conference ([=SEC=])'': [Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt]: Yet another "power conference" (the last of the six), this one tied to the Sugar Bowl (no, not [[SugarBowl that one]]). A lot of these teams are historical powerhouses - Florida has been one of the most dominant teams of late with superathlete Tim Tebow under center, and Alabama is the defending national champion. [=LSU=] has also been quite dominant as of late.
* ''Sun Belt'' [Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Troy, Western Kentucky]: The ButtMonkey among the current conferences. Most of these teams don't get winning records - and very few of their players go on to the pros. The exception is Troy, which has gotten some decent players to the next level ([=DeMarcus=] Ware and Leodis [=McKelvin=] both played there).
* ''Western Athletic Conference ([=WAC=])'' [Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada-Reno, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State]: Another solid conference. You may remember Boise State from their upset win over Oklahoma [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome that featured a gratuitous amount of trick plays]].

The only major independents are Notre Dame, which has had a vaunted place in the history of college football (They're the only team who has a national television contract for all home games), and Army and Navy, the pre-eminent service academy teams. The Army-Navy game serves as the traditional last game of the season, and it is still televised despite both service academies having been out of top 25 contention for decades; the service academies have very strict academic and physical requirements (specifically weight limits) that preclude the ability to compete with more forgiving civilian schools. (That hasn't stopped the Air Force from being in contention every now and then, but they're the Air Force.)

* ''Big Twelve'' [Baylor, [[strike: Colorado]], Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, [[strike:Nebraska]], Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech]: The name's about to become an ArtifactTitle - Nebraska's departing in 2011, with Colorado heading off to the Pac-10 in 2012. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State, [[strike: and Kansas has been fairly solid as of late]].

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Texas Christian, Utah, Wyoming]: They've been fairly solid as of late - [=TCU=] has been very solid lately and went to a prestigious bowl game last year, and the other teams did fairly well.
* ''Pacific-10 (Pac-10)'': [Arizona, Arizona State, Cal-Berkeley, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Southern California, [=UCLA=], Utah, Washington, Washington State]: Another "power conference", this one also tied to the Rose Bowl. Several of these teams have incredibly storied histories, though the one most likely to be known by the casual fan right now is [=USC=], which is well-known for both currently being one of the more dominant teams and for landing in hot water for allegedly paying players. Will change its name to the Pac-12 when Utah and Colorado join in a couple years.

* ''Big Twelve'' [Baylor, [[strike: Colorado]], Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, [[strike:Nebraska]], Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech]: The name's about to become an ArtifactTitle - Nebraska's departing in 2011, with Colorado heading off to the Pac-10 in 2012. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State, [[strike: and Kansas has been fairly solid as of late]].

College football is played mostly on Saturdays, but there is at least one game every week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. As with high school football, the playing season is basically the same as the fall semester, but some schools will play a game in the spring to make sure the players are keeping themselves in shape. Virtually all college football games are sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA is divided into four divisions: Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A), Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA), Division II, and Division III. Each division, in turn, is divided into conferences of about a dozen teams who play most games amongst themselves. A handful of teams (most notably Notre Dame) are independent of any conference.

* ''Southeastern Conference ([=SEC=])'': [Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt]: Yet another "power conference" (the last of the six), this one tied to the Sugar Bowl (no, not [[SugarBowl that one]]). A lot of these teams are historical powerhouses - Florida has been one of the most dominant teams of late with superathlete Tim Tebow under center, and Alabama is the defending national champion. [=LSU=] has also been quite dominant as of late.

* ''Western Athletic Conference ([=WAC=])'' [Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada-Reno, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State]: Another solid conference. You may remember Boise State from their upset win over Oklahoma that featured a gratuitous amount of trick plays.

* ''Big Twelve'' [Baylor, [[strike: Colorado]], Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, [[strike:Nebraska]], Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech]: The name's about to become an ArtifactTitle - Nebraska's departing in 2011, with Colorado heading off to the Pac-10 in 2012. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State, and Kansas has been fairly solid as of late.

While professional football players can ostensibly play as long as they like (10-15 year runs are not uncommon and 20 years is not unheard of), a college football player's eligibility is more or less limited to four years. We say "more or less" because there is the option of ''redshirting'', where a coach is allowed to stretch a player's eligibility to five years instead of four, with the stipulation that one of those years (most commonly the first) will be spent sitting on the bench, and that the player not participate in any games. Finally, a college player has the option at any time, if he so decides, to forgo the rest of his collegiate eligibility and enter the [=NFL=] Draft early.

* ''Big Ten'' [Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin]: The name "Big Ten" is an ArtifactTitle - there have been 11 schools in the conference for awhile (and they'll get a 12th when Nebraska joins in 2011). Yet another "power conference", this one tied to the Rose Bowl. There are plenty of historical powerhouses in the Big Ten: Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State all have incredibly storied histories and have produced tons of [=NFL=] greats. The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is probably one of the ten largest in the country.
* ''Big Twelve'' [Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech]: The name's about to become an ArtifactTitle - Nebraska's departing in 2011, with Colorado heading off to the Pac-10 in 2012. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State, and Kansas has been fairly solid as of late.

* ''Pacific-10 (Pac-10)'': [Arizona, Arizona State, Cal-Berkeley, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Southern California, [=UCLA=], Washington, Washington State]: Another "power conference", this one also tied to the Rose Bowl. Several of these teams have incredibly storied histories, though the one most likely to be known by the casual fan right now is [=USC=], which is well-known for both currently being one of the more dominant teams and for landing in hot water for allegedly paying players. Will change its name to the Pac-12 when Utah and Colorado join in a couple years.

The only major independents are Notre Dame, which has had a vaunted place in the history of college football (They're the only team who has a national television contract for all home games), and Army and Navy, the pre-eminent service academy teams. The Army-Navy game serves as the traditional last game of the season, and it is still televised despite both service academies having been out of top 25 contention for decades; the service academies have very strict academic and physical requirements that preclude the ability to compete with more forgiving civilian schools. (That hasn't stopped the Air Force from being in contention every now and then, but they're the Air Force.)

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Texas Christian, Utah, Wyoming]: They've been fairly solid as of late - [=TCU=] has been very solid lately and went to a prestigious bowl game last year, and the other teams did fairly well.

The only major independents are Notre Dame, which has had a vaunted place in the history of college football (They're the only team who has a national television contract for all home games), and Army and Navy, the pre-eminent service academy teams. The Army-Navy game serves as the traditional last game of the season, and it is still televised despite both service academies having been out of top 25 contention for decades. (The service academies have very strict academic and physical requirements that preclude the ability to compete with more forgiving civilian schools.)

As stated above, the current college football system lacks a true playoff or a true national champion. However, at the end of the season, there are several ''bowl games'' that are played between schools. The four largest bowl games are the Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. The hypothetical national championship game will be played at one of these, with the #1 and #2-ranked teams in the nation playing each other. Obviously, as stated above, it's far from perfect, but it's also difficult for fans to agree on what exactly would constitute a fair playoff system.

*''Pacific-10 (Pac-10)'': [Arizona, Arizona State, Cal-Berkeley, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Southern California, [=UCLA=], Washington, Washington State]: Another "power conference", this one also tied to the Rose Bowl. Several of these teams have incredibly storied histories, though the one most likely to be known by the casual fan right now is [=USC=], which is well-known for both currently being one of the more dominant teams and for landing in hot water for allegedly paying players.