Portal:American football

The American Football Portal

American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, 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 throwing 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 the ball 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 the game wins.

American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football game was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone, and specified the size and shape of the football. The sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game, although its rules were developed independently from those of Camp. Most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are also present in Canadian football. The two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.

American football is the most popular sport in the United States in terms of broadcast viewership audience. The most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2022^[update], nearly 1.04 million high-school athletes play the sport in the U.S., with another 81,000 college athletes in the NCAA and the NAIA. The National Football League (NFL) has one of the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events globally. In 2022, the league had an annual revenue of around $18.6 billion, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. Other professional and amateur leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball; the sport maintains a growing following in the rest of North America, Europe, Brazil, and Japan.

Unlike most other ball sports, like basketball, baseball, and soccer, players of American football are not expected to play both offense and defense- usually, each player is assigned to either offense or defense, not both. As such, each individual player usually only plays for, at most, about half of the game. In modern professional American football, it is very rare, although not unheard of, for players to play both offense and defense. Players who play on both sides of the ball are more common in high school and college football. (Full article...)

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

The 2002 Gator Bowl (also known as the 2002 Toyota Gator Bowl for sponsorship reasons) was a post-season American college football bowl game between the Florida State Seminoles and the Virginia Tech Hokies, The 57th edition of the Gator Bowl, it was played at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 1, 2002. The game was the final contest of the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season for both teams, and ended in a 30–17 victory for Florida State.

Virginia Tech was selected to play in the 2002 Gator Bowl with an 8–3 regular-season record despite having just played in Jacksonville at the end of the previous year. The selection of Virginia Tech over the Syracuse Orangemen (now just the "Orange") despite losing head-to-head and Syracuse having better conference and overall records was controversial. Florida State, who had failed to win at least a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference title for the first time since joining the league in 1992, and who had played in all three BCS National Championship games held to that point, was selected as the opponent. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various American football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium with the Hall of Fame in lower right (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 2Sewanee's 1899 "Iron Men" (from History of American football)
Image 3A Native American college football team (from History of American football)
Image 4Hanged U-shaped Continental Indoor Football League goalpost (from Arena football)
Image 5The Hall is made up of several sections with display of the inductees at its heart (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 6Morgan Athletic Club (pictured c. 1900), predecessor of the Arizona Cardinals (from History of American football)
Image 7Tom Davies of Pittsburgh runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in the 1918 game at Forbes Field (from History of American football)
Image 8An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century (from History of American football)
Image 9A football signed by the 1974 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement class (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 10An arena football goalpost structure featuring the rebound nets on either side of the uprights. (from Arena football)
Image 11Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, originally built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, pictured in 2005. (from Canadian football)
Image 12A modern down indicator box is mounted on a pole and is used to mark the current line of scrimmage. The number on the marker is changed using a dial. (from Canadian football)
Image 13Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place (November 2005) (from Canadian football)
Image 14The Big Game between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914 (from History of American football)
Image 15Inside the original structure in 2008 (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 161906 St. Louis Post-Dispatch photograph of Brad Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass and was the sport's first triple threat (from History of American football)
Image 17Don Hutson in 1940. (from History of American football)
Image 18Original entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 191897 Latrobe Athletic Association football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season. (from History of American football)
Image 20A game between the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Atoms and First Canadian Army Red and Blue Bombers, in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1945 (from Canadian football)
Image 21A game between the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders, 1910 (from Canadian football)
Image 22A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy (from History of American football)
Image 23Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario (from Canadian football)
Image 24Sign at the old entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 25A moment of the second game between Tufts and Harvard at College Hill, October 1875 (from History of American football)
Image 26Footballs and a helmet at a Calgary Stampeders (CFL) team practice (from Canadian football)
Image 271902 football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan (from History of American football)
Image 28Diagram of a Canadian football field (from Canadian football)
Image 29High school football stadium in Manhattan, Kansas (from History of American football)
Image 30Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (gold jerseys with black accents) vs. Triangle Torch (black jerseys with red and yellow accents) play an American Indoor Football game at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 25, 2016 (from Arena football)
Image 31Jim Thorpe was the first president of the NFL. (from History of American football)
Image 32One of the two Harvard vs. McGill games played in 1874 (from History of American football)
Image 33Indoor Football League (from Arena football)
Image 34Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", pictured here in 1878 as the captain of the Yale University football team (from History of American football)
Image 35Colorado's first football team in 1890 (from History of American football)

Selected image

Quarterback

Credit: Mike Kaplan, USAF

In gridiron football, the quarterback is the leader of the offensive team. At most levels, but especially at the college and professional level, the quarterback is one of the most visible and important roles on the team, being responsible both for calling plays and making decisions during the play. Shown here is Shea Smith of the Air Force Falcons during the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl.

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Shaughnessy as Maryland coach in 1942

Clark Daniel Shaughnessy (born Clark Daniel O'Shaughnessy; March 6, 1892 – May 15, 1970) was an American football coach and innovator. He is sometimes called the "father of the T formation" and the original founder of the forward pass, although that system had previously been used as early as the 1880s. Shaughnessy did, however, modernize the obsolescent T formation to make it once again relevant in the sport, particularly for the quarterback and the receiver positions. He employed his innovations most famously on offense, but on the defensive side of the ball as well, and he earned a reputation as a ceaseless experimenter.

Shaughnessy held head coaching positions at Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans, the University of Chicago, Stanford University, the University of Maryland, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Hawaii, and in the National Football League with the Los Angeles Rams. Shaughnessy also served in advisory capacities with the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins. (Full article...)

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Calendar

2023 season: NFL • NCAA FBS (Bowl games)
Jan 8	College Football National Championship: #1 Michigan vs #2 Washington
Jan 13-15	NFL: Wild Cards
Jan 20-21	NFL: Divisional games
Jan 28	NFL: Conference games
Feb 4	NFL: Pro Bowl Games
Feb 11	NFL: Super Bowl LVIII