Introduction
American football originated from rugby in the mid-nineteenth century in the United Kingdom. The game soon travelled to the United States and became extremely popular here. As the popularity of the sport increased, more professional players started taking the game seriously. The National Football League, or the NFL, was created to make official rules for the game and make it into an organized sport. Football was telecasted on the TV for the first time after World War II. This increased the popularity of the game by leaps and bounds. The teams got sponsorships, their training techniques improved immensely and so did the infrastructure of the game.
History
Increasing popularity meant that more and more young boys now wanted to make a career out of football. Soon, high school and college football teams were formed. Today, college football is almost as popular as the professional version of the game. In fact, some states do not even have a professional NFL team. All their loyalties lie with their college teams.
The BYU Cougars represent the Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The BYU footballteam was first started in 1896 but was then discontinued in 1903. It got it first official endorsement from Brigham Young University in 1922. Although the first few seasons of the BYU footballteam were unsuccessful, they soon got into winning ways after hiring Ott Romney as their new coach. The team and its training program evolved over the years until the team registered back to back wins in the 1957 and1958 seasons.
Features
These wins motivated the University to make a full-fledged commitment towards the game and the Cougars stadium was built in 1964. The BYU footballwon its first National Championship in 1984, although several experts argued that the team had not played a legitimate schedule. It was ranked as the number one team by the Associated Press and the Sports Illustrated during that time. The team has, however, not won any major award or championship since then. However, the BYU football team has won 23 championship conferences since then and played in 30 bowl matches. Several players and coaches of the BYU footballteam have also received many individual awards for their exceptional performance on the field. This includes the Heisman Trophy to quarterback Ty Detmer in 1990, the Sammy Baugh trophy awarded to the nation’s best passer Steve Sarkisian in 1996 and the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award to coach LaVell Edwards in 2003. The team also became the fourth Football Bowl Subdivision in July 2011.
Tips and comments
The BYU footballuniform has also changed over the years. From 1970s to 1999, the team wore a royal blue jersey and white pants at home, and a white jersey and royal blue pants abroad. But they switched to blue, white and tan after that. The team then moved to striped jerseys after 2004.
The BYU footballteam’s official website gives you extensive information about the team’s achievements as well as their current players and coaches. You can also learn about their matches for this year and their progress so far on the site.
