Portal:College football

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The College football Portal

College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football first gained popularity in the United States.

Like gridiron football generally, college football is most popular in the United States and Canada. While no single governing body exists for college football in the United States, most schools, especially those at the highest levels of play, are members of the NCAA. In Canada, collegiate football competition is governed by U Sports for universities. The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (for colleges) governs soccer and other sports but not gridiron football. Other countries, such as Mexico, Japan and South Korea, also host college football leagues with modest levels of support.

Unlike most other major sports in North America, no official minor league farm organizations exist for American football or Canadian football. Therefore, college football is generally considered to be the second tier of American and Canadian football; ahead of high school competition, but below professional competition. In some parts of the United States, especially the South and Midwest, college football is more popular than professional football. For much of the 20th century, college football was generally considered to be more prestigious than professional football.

As the second highest tier of gridiron football competition in the United States, many college football players later play professionally in the NFL or other leagues. The NFL draft each spring sees 224 players selected and offered a contract to play in the league, with the vast majority coming from the NCAA. Other professional leagues, such as the CFL and UFL, additionally hold their own drafts each year which see many college players selected. Players who are not selected can still attempt to obtain a professional roster spot as an undrafted free agent. Despite these opportunities, only around 1.6% of NCAA college football players end up playing professionally in the NFL. (Full article...)

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A building with four towers that raise high above the building and each have three sets of suspension cabling connected to the roof of the building.
The 2006 Alamo Bowl was a bowl game that faced the Texas Longhorns against the Iowa Hawkeyes as part of the 2006–2007 bowl season. The game was played in the 65,000-seat Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on December 30. The game was televised on ESPN and ESPN-HD and was the most-watched bowl game in ESPN history to that point.

Iowa received the ball first, and came out strong, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter. Hampered by an effective Iowa defense, Texas only managed a single field goal. In the second quarter, an interception thrown by Iowa quarterback Drew Tate, coupled with an 80-yard drive by Texas's offense, cut the Hawkeyes' lead to 14-10 heading into halftime. After receiving the opening kickoff of the second half, Texas marched down the field for a 43-yard field goal by Ryan Bailey, cutting Iowa's lead to a single point. After forcing Iowa's offense to punt, Texas ran a wheel route to running back Jamaal Charles, who ran for 72 yards, a touchdown, and Texas's first lead of the game. Iowa answered with a touchdown of their own, however, regaining the lead at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Texas scored a touchdown with 11 minutes remaining to take the lead, 26-20. A failed two-point conversion left Iowa only needing a touchdown and extra point to win.

The Hawkeyes' offense, however, stalled in the red zone, and settled for a field goal, hoping that their defense could force Texas to punt, thus giving another offensive chance to Iowa. Iowa's defense did force a punt, but their offense again failed to get the ball moving forward, as Texas's defense defeated an Iowa end-around for a loss of 11 yards. Iowa was forced to punt yet again, and the Texas offense proceeded to run out the clock and earn the win, 26-24.

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Aerial view of Harvard Stadium in Boston, in the form of a letter U with a capital H in the center of the field and the words Harvard and Crimson at either end

Yale's original mascot, Handsome Dan

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