Factoid 26 - Three Centuries of College Football

College football started in the 19th century and continues today in the 21st century.

The first college football game was on November 6, 1869. It was between Rutgers and Princeton, in a form probably not familiar to us now: different rules, much small players (the average linemen was around 200 lbs then – contrast it with over 300 lbs today), limited equipment, and maybe 100 spectators. Contrast that with stadiums that fit over 100,000 people, specially designed combat gear, and the advent of instant replay. It boggles the mind.

There have been 144 years of college football spanning three centuries. The winds of the Civil War were not even over when the first pigskin was dropped, but it caught on quickly. By New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1899, there would already be 90 football teams – Division 1 top tier programs - throughout America’s collegiate landscape, undoubtedly moved along by such technologies as the transcontinental railroad, telegraph, and electricity.

In the 19th century 41 universities or colleges would add football to their sports program, but the net gain would not be as much since the Ivy League schools would leave Division 1 in 1978. Interestingly, the 20th century has seen six schools added to Division 1 or the FBS, as it is called now.