College Football Arizona

From Los Angeles, California, to Portland, Maine, the excited cheers and frustrated jeers of college football fans can be heard during the NCAA football season. Every Saturday, millions of people listen, watch, or attend college football games in the hopes that their team will win and that their favorite player will distinguish himself as a potential NFL player. College football is an incredibly popular sport in America, ranging from college students who attend their school’s weekly games to alumni who continue to support their old school. No matter who the fan is, there are few that are as fanatic as college football fans.

There are big name schools that are at the top of the college football rankings every year. The last five years have seen the dominance of the University of Southern California Trojans on the college football scene, including Heisman Trophy winners Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart. The Ohio State University Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines represent one of the finest rivalries in the sport, igniting the passions of fans throughout the American Midwest. The Florida State University Seminoles have been an annual favorite for the last two decades under prolific college football coach Bobby Bowden. These teams represent the elite of the college football world.

However, the great thing about college football from a variety of perspectives is the constant chance for upsets on any given Saturday. Teams from smaller conferences like the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and the Big West can come into Ohio State or Florida State and give them a run for their money. Almost every Saturday, there is a major upset in the Top 25 polls and there are even more near-upsets that shake the confidence of elite teams. For those who put money on college football, college students, and fans of the game, there is nothing better than college football Saturday.

College football is divided into a series of conferences and divisions to ensure the best possible competition among schools. The top division in NCAA Football is Division I, which features some of the best teams in the nation and some of the biggest universities and colleges around. Division I has several subdivisions, including Division I-A, I-AA, I-AAA, which is meant to put smaller schools with limited football budgets at a great competitive advantage. With the lesser Division I schools, the conferences are often schools within a small region or instate to save on transportation costs. Even further down the list are Division 2 and Division 3 schools, which are typically the smallest colleges and universities in the country.

At the Division I-A level, there are a number of major conferences that feature the elite schools mentioned before. The Big Ten Conference encompasses eleven schools in the Upper Midwest, including the Universities of Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, and Indiana. The Big Ten is considered one of the more competitive conferences in Division I-A football. The southeastern part of the United States is organized into the Southeastern Conference, which is divided into an Eastern and Western Division. Schools like Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee compete in one of the most storied conferences in college football.

There are a number of other major conferences, including the Big East, the Pacific Athletic Conference (PAC), the Big Twelve, and the ACC. However, minor conferences like the Mountain West and Conference USA have begun to challenge the major conferences for college football supremacy. While many people think of the SEC or Big Ten when they think of competitive football, schools from these minor conferences are often in bowl games and are competitive with even the best major conference schools week in and week out.

While college and pro football may share a number of similarities, there are some significant rule differences between the two. One major difference is in the length of season for both college and pro football. While pro football features a four game preseason, 16 game regular season, and four playoff rounds, the college football season only consists of about twelve games with a bowl game for those teams that qualify. This difference is often cited by NFL rookies who hit a proverbial wall near the middle of their first pro season.

As well, during college football games, there is a different way in which tie games are dealt with than in the NFL. In the NFL, a tied game in regulation time goes into 15-minute overtime. The first person to score in this overtime scenario is the winner. However, once this 15-minute overtime is complete and no one has scored, the game is called a tie. In college football, they have developed a unique way of dealing with overtime. A tied regulation game goes into an overtime period, which consists of both teams receiving the ball at the opposing 25-yard line. There is no clock, so time is not a consideration, but getting a touchdown is important, because after a possession, the opposing team gets the ball. If they score more points than their opponent in the second possession, they win the game. If neither team scores or if they match points, it goes into a second period. By the third overtime period, teams have to go for two point conversions, instead of extra points, in order to prevent the game from going on for an indefinite amount of time. However, every college football game is decided without the option for a tie.

A third way in which the college football rules are different from the NFL is the two-minute warning. At the end of each half in the NFL, the clock automatically stops at the two-minute mark as a free timeout for both sides. However, the college football rules do not include a two-minute warning and are geared towards keeping the game moving except for injuries, time outs, and other extenuating circumstances. New rules in the 2006 college football season have made good clock management even more important, with the clock starting at the beginning of each possession and stricter rules on when the clock stops on plays that go out of bounds.

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