91 articles
New Year's Six
New Year's Six (NY6): the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose, and Sugar bowl games, which host College Football Playoff quarterfinals and semifinals on an annual rotation and revert to traditional tie-in games otherwise.
Nittany Lion
Nittany Lion, Penn State's mountain lion mascot named for Mount Nittany. Created by Harrison "Joe" Mason April 20, 1904 against Princeton's tiger; official nickname 1907; one student at a time portrays it; shrine by Warneke, 1942.
North Dakota Fighting Sioux controversy
North Dakota Fighting Sioux controversy: UND's 1930-2012 athletic nickname, retired after an NCAA 'hostile and abusive' policy, a 2007 NCAA settlement, 2011 state legislation, a 2012 referendum, and the 2015 Fighting Hawks vote.
Northeast Conference
Northeast Conference (NEC), founded 1981 as the ECAC-Metro Conference and renamed 1988, is an NCAA Division I athletic conference in the northeastern US with 25 championship sports; its members include Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Saint Francis, Wagner, and Chicago State.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, whose football program claims 11 national championships.
Ohio Valley Conference
The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is an NCAA Division I athletics conference founded in 1948 in Louisville, the nation's eighth-oldest D-I league, headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, with nine members for 2026-27 and 19 sponsored sports including FCS football.
Pac-12 Conference
Pac-12 Conference, formerly Pacific Coast Conference (founded 1915, Portland), a rebuilt NCAA Division I athletic conference. Ten of twelve members left in 2023-24; nine-member relaunch July 1, 2026 under Teresa Gould.
Patriot League
Patriot League: NCAA Division I conference founded 1986 as the Colonial League, renamed 1990. Ten full members including Army and Navy; football expands to 10 teams in 2026 with Villanova, William & Mary, and Richmond.
Peach Bowl
The Peach Bowl, currently the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, is an annual college football bowl game in Atlanta first played in 1968, and one of six bowls hosting College Football Playoff games.
Redshirt (college sports)
Redshirt (college sports): an NCAA athlete held out of varsity competition for a year to extend eligibility under the Five-Year Rule (four seasons in five years); football allowed four games per redshirt year, and the June 2026 age-based eligibility model eliminated redshirt rules.
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl Game, "The Granddaddy of Them All," is college football's oldest bowl game, first played January 1, 1902 in Pasadena (Michigan 49, Stanford 0), tied to the Big Ten and Pac-12 since 1947 and now a College Football Playoff quarterfinal site.
Scott Woodward (athletic director)
Scott Woodward is an American college athletics director, LSU alumnus (1985), who led Washington (2008-2015), Texas A&M (2016-2019), and LSU (2019-2025) athletics before departing amid Governor Jeff Landry's criticism after the Brian Kelly firing.
Shawn Eichorst
Shawn Eichorst, American college athletics administrator and attorney; athletic director at UW-Whitewater, Miami, Nebraska (2012-17), and Wisconsin from July 2026; former Texas deputy AD.
South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina Gamecocks: University of South Carolina athletic teams (also Fighting Gamecocks), NCAA Division I, SEC since 1990; nickname adopted 1902 after a Clemson banner dispute; garnet and black; mascot Cocky since 1980; nine national titles.
Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference (SEC), American college athletic conference founded 1932 in Knoxville, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Sixteen members after Oklahoma and Texas joined July 1, 2024; $3.4B member athletics revenue and $1.03B distributed for 2024-25.
Southern Conference
Southern Conference (SoCon), NCAA Division I athletic conference founded February 25, 1921 in Atlanta; fifth-oldest DI league, headquartered in Spartanburg, S.C., with ten members and FCS football; predecessor of the SEC (1932) and ACC (1953).
Southland Conference
The Southland Conference is a 12-member NCAA Division I athletic conference founded in 1963 in Dallas, based in Frisco, Texas, competing in FCS football and hosting the FCS championship game.
Southwest Conference
Southwest Conference (SWC), a Division I college athletic conference founded in 1914 and dominated by Texas schools plus Arkansas, disbanded June 30, 1996; members formed the Big 12, WAC, and Conference USA.
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), NCAA Division I HBCU athletic conference founded 1920 in Houston, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Twelve member schools; FCS football champion plays the MEAC champion in the Celebration Bowl instead of the FCS playoffs.
Sun Belt Conference
Sun Belt Conference (SBC), NCAA Division I FBS athletic conference founded 1976 in New Orleans; 14 members in East and West divisions; began FBS football in 2001; ESPN deal through 2030-31; Louisiana Tech joined 2026, James Madison departing.
Sun Bowl
Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas): annual college football bowl game, first held January 1, 1935, tied for second-oldest bowl after the Rose Bowl; ACC vs Pac-12 legacy tie-ins, played at UTEP's Sun Bowl Stadium, operated by the Sun Bowl Association.
Third Saturday in October
Third Saturday in October: the Alabama-Tennessee college football rivalry, played since 1901; Alabama leads 61-39-8 in 108 meetings, with Bryant's 11-game streak (1971-81) and Tennessee's 52-49 upset in 2022 as landmarks.
UAAP Cheerdance Competition
UAAP Cheerdance Competition (CDC): annual cheerdance contest of Philippine UAAP universities, dance worth 50% of the score; NU Pep Squad holds a record nine titles after Season 88 in 2025.
UAAP Season 88
UAAP Season 88 is the 2025–26 University Athletic Association of the Philippines season hosted by the University of Santo Tomas under the theme "Strength in Motion, Hope in Action". It opened September 19, 2025 before 36,600-plus at UST, closed May 15, 2026, and featured a new volleyball green-card fair-play system and a La Salle basketball title over UP.
UC San Diego Tritons
UC San Diego Tritons: athletics teams and campus identity of UC San Diego, NCAA Division I, Big West Conference since 2020; first March Madness berths in 2025, 23 varsity sports, Triton Gaming and Triton Esports Center.
University Athletic Association of the Philippines
University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), collegiate athletic league founded 1938 by UP, UST, NU, and FEU; now eight member universities competing in basketball, volleyball, and other amateur sports.
University of Montevallo
University of Montevallo: Alabama's only public liberal arts university, founded October 12, 1896 as the Alabama Girls' Industrial School; coeducational since 1956, renamed 1969; about 2,600 students, 14-to-1 ratio, NCAA Division II athletics.
Varsity team
Varsity team: the principal representative athletic squad of a school or university, from "varsity" (1825 shortening of university). Covers junior varsity, club sports, NCAA scholarships, roster limits, and eligibility rules.
Walk-on (sports)
Walk-on (sports): a college athlete who joins a team without an athletic scholarship, via tryout or invitation; includes preferred walk-ons, and covers how House settlement roster limits changed walk-on opportunities.
West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference, also known as the West Coast Athletic Conference, is an NCAA Division I athletic conference founded in 1952 in the San Francisco Bay Area.