Portal:American football

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The American Football Portal

American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), 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 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. A game is won by the team with the higher number of points, which 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.

American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football match 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. , 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 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. (Full article...)

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The ACC Championship Game is an annual American college football game held in early December by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) each year to determine its football champion. From its inception in 2005 to 2019, and from 2021-2022, the game pit the champion of the Coastal Division against the champion of the Atlantic Division in a game that follows the conclusion of the regular season. The current champions are the Florida State Seminoles.

The Atlantic Division was represented by either Clemson or Florida State in twelve of fifteen years through 2019, including eleven straight from 2009 to 2019, and five straight by Clemson from 2015 to 2019. The Coastal Division was represented by either Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech for the first eight games from 2005 to 2012, but from 2013 to 2019 all seven Coastal teams each represented the division after Virginia won in 2019. North Carolina State and Syracuse have yet to make an appearance. Clemson in 2018 became the first team to win four consecutive ACC Championship Games, on the heels of FSU winning three straight. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place. (from Canadian football)
Image 2Original entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 31906 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 4Morgan Athletic Club (pictured c. 1900), predecessor of the Arizona Cardinals (from History of American football)
Image 5Colorado's first football team in 1890 (from History of American football)
Image 6Sewanee's 1899 "Iron Men" (from History of American football)
Image 7An arena football goalpost structure featuring the rebound nets on either side of the uprights. (from Arena football)
Image 8Tom Davies of Pittsburgh runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in the 1918 game at Forbes Field (from History of American football)
Image 9Diagram of a Canadian football field (from Canadian football)
Image 10A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy (from History of American football)
Image 11One of the two Harvard vs. McGill games played in 1874 (from History of American football)
Image 12Sign at the old entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 13A football signed by the 1974 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement class (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 14Walter 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 15Jim Thorpe was the first president of the NFL. (from History of American football)
Image 16High school football stadium in Manhattan, Kansas (from History of American football)
Image 17A 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 18A 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 19Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario (from Canadian football)
Image 20Don Hutson in 1940. (from History of American football)
Image 21An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century (from History of American football)
Image 22Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (gold jerseys with black accents) vs. Triangle Torch (black jerseys with red and yellow accents) play an Indoor Football League at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 25, 2016 (from Arena football)
Image 23A game between the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders, 1910 (from Canadian football)
Image 24Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium with the Hall of Fame in lower right (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 251897 Latrobe Athletic Association football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season. (from History of American football)
Image 26An AFL goalpost (from Arena football)
Image 27The Hall is made up of several sections with display of the inductees at its heart (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 28Footballs and a helmet at a Calgary Stampeders (CFL) team practice (from Canadian football)
Image 29A Native American college football team (from History of American football)
Image 30A moment of the second game between Tufts and Harvard at College Hill, October 1875 (from History of American football)
Image 31Inside the original structure in 2008 (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 32The Big Game between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914 (from History of American football)
Image 331902 football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan (from History of American football)
Image 34Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, originally built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, pictured in 2005. (from Canadian football)

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Mercedes-Benz Superdome

Credit: J. Glover

The Mercedes-Benz Superdome (originally Louisiana Superdome and commonly The Superdome) is a multi-purpose dome-covered stadium and arena comprising, as regards American football, a FieldTurf playing field, situated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

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Anthony Royell Akins (born May 10, 1977) is a former Canadian football wide receiver and slotback who played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL) from 1999 to 2003. He played in 61 regular season games, catching 121 receptions for 2,138 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also returned punts and kickoffs. Akins is a Grey Cup champion.

Akins played high school football at Starkville High School before playing at East Mississippi Community College. He later transferred to Eastern Louisiana University and played for the Warhawks. After going unselected in the 1999 NFL Draft, Akins was signed by the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League but was cut before the beginning of the regular season. He was signed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats shortly after and spent his first two seasons moving between the practice squad and the active roster, playing in 9 games each season and contributing heavily on special teams. Akins transitioned to a more offensive role in 2001, but his career was interrupted in later seasons by repeated injuries. (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