College football has a long history in America. Did you know some of these facts?

As the college football season kicks off, we thought it would be fun to share some interesting and lesser-known facts about the sport we all love. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or just enjoy checking the scores the next day, these tidbits make good conversation starters at your next tailgate party.

1. The First Game: The first intercollegiate football game was played between Rutgers and Princeton on November 6, 1869. However, if you could go back in time and watch it, it probably wouldn’t resemble what we know as football. The game was more of a mix between rugby and soccer.
2. The Longest Winning Streak: The University of Oklahoma holds the record for the longest win streak in college football. They won 47 consecutive games between 1953 and 1957!
3. Most Pass Attempts: Connor Halliday of Washington State threw an incredible 89 passes against Oregon on October 19, 2013 - the most ever in a Division I FBS game. But Eastern New Mexico’s J.J. Harp threw 94 passes in a Division II game against Southeastern Oklahoma in 2009.
4. The First Bowl Game: On New Year’s Day, Michigan and Stanford played the 1902 Tournament East-West football game sponsored by the Tournament of Roses Association. The tradition would later come to be known as the Rose Bowl and start the tradition of post-season bowl games that are commonplace today. Michigan won 49-0.
5. First Woman to Score in a College Football Game: Liz Heaston was the first woman ever to score in a college football game. She accomplished this feat on October 18, 1997, as a placekicker for the Bearcats football team of Willamette University. Primarily a soccer athlete, Heaston had joined the team as a backup placekicker.
6. Oldest Football Stadium: Franklin Field, home of the Penn Quakers, is America's oldest continuously operating college football stadium. It was also the first stadium to have a scoreboard and hosted the first televised football game broadcast. From 1958 through 1970, it was also the home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
7. The Perfect Season: In the earliest decades of football, many schools competed in only a handful of games, so there are countless undefeated seasons in the annals of sports history. But the 1939 Tennessee Volunteers set the bar for regular season perfection. They were undefeated, untied and unscored for an entire regular season of ten games!
8. The Longest Field Goal: Ove Johansson of Abilene Christian University kicked a 69-yard field goal against East Texas State University at Shotwell Stadium in Abilene, Texas, in 1976. Did Ove get an assist from favorable winds blowing the right way? Only Mother Nature knows for sure!
9. The First Game with Instant Replay: The first college football game to feature a televised instant replay of a highlight was the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia on December 7, 1963. A fourth-quarter touchdown was replayed from a tape during the broadcast. Since no game had ever replayed footage during a broadcast, the game announcers had to explain to the viewing audience that they were not watching Army score again but were watching a taped replay of the previous touchdown.
10. The First Double-Heisman: Archie Griffin, playing for The Ohio State University, is the first, and so far, only player to win the prestigious Heisman Trophy twice. The talented running back won it consecutively in 1974 and 1975.

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Sources:

https://www.statista.com/topics/1436/college-sports-ncaa/#statisticChapter

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29213984/college-football-strange-true-historical-facts-top-25-team

https://facts.net/lifestyle/sports/15-college-football-facts/

https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2015-12-12/college-football-instant-replay-made-its-debut-dec-7-1963

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