"Too Big to Fail?"

[tk21769]

Here’s an interesting Wiki article on the origins of American football at colleges in the US and Canada:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_football

It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States…
Modern North American football has its origins in various games, all known as “football”, played at public schools in England in the mid-19th century. …
The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there and was soon being played at Canadian colleges…
The first intercollegiate football game played under the rules that would eventually become modern American football rules occurred between Princeton University and Rutgers University (which was called Rutgers College at the time) on November 6, 1869…
Less than six years after that first game, a game that more closely resembled modern American football occurred between Harvard University and Tufts University on June 4, 1875. Though Harvard vs. Tufts is regarded as the first intercollegiate American football game between US teams, a game played by roughly the same rules (the so-called “Boston Rules”) occurred between Harvard and McGill University of Montreal in 1874.

Note the colleges that were winning early (1869-1900) “national” championships:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_football_national_championships_in_NCAA_Division_I_FBS
According to some claims, Princeton and Yale have the most championships historically (more than ND), but almost all of them were from that early period.