''College Football on NFL Network'' is the branding used for college football broadcasts of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

games that are broadcast by

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...

. NFL Network first began airing college football in 2006, when it acquired the rights to three postseason games: the

Texas Bowl The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replace ...

, the

Insight Bowl The Rate Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played in the state of Arizona since 1989, under several different names. Played as the Copper Bowl from inception through 1996, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl from 1997 ...

, and the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

. Currently, NFL Network airs the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic, the

East–West Shrine Bowl The East–West Shrine Bowl is a postseason college football all-star game that has been played annually since 1925; through January 2019, it was known as the East–West Shrine Game. The game is sponsored by the fraternal group Shriners Inter ...

, the

, and the HBCU Legacy Bowl.

History

In 2006, NFL Network began a foray into televising

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

s, acquiring rights to the newly established

in Houston (whose management rights were held by the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

at the time), the

, as well as two all-star events—the

(which features prospects that had completed their college eligibility) and the Las Vegas All-American Classic (which, however, was canceled at the last minute due to financial and sponsorship issues). These games were intended to help make NFL Network more attractive to television providers. The

2006 Insight Bowl The 2006 Insight Bowl was a college football bowl game, the 18th edition of the Insight Bowl. It was played on December 29 at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, pitting the Texas Tech Red Raiders agai ...

, played between

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

, would also achieve notoriety for featuring the largest comeback victory in

Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

bowl game history, with Texas Tech coming back from a 38–7 third-quarter deficit to win 44–41 in overtime. Due to concerns that many cable carriers did not carry NFL Network, its bowl games were also simulcast on local over-the-air networks and cable providers. On April 14, 2007, the network televised the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

' spring football game. The network again aired the Insight, Texas and Senior bowls in late 2007 and early 2008. Prior to the start of the season, NFL Network debuted '' College Football Now.'' A daily studio show covering college football. In addition, it carried two games between

historically black colleges and universities Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...

during the 2007 season, including the

Circle City Classic The Circle City Classic is an annual American football game featuring two historically black colleges/universities (HBCUs) and played in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event was established in 1984 by Indiana Black Expo and has been played every ye ...

at the

RCA Dome The RCA Dome (originally Hoosier Dome) was a domed stadium in Indianapolis. It was the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons (1984–2007). It was completed at a cost of $77.5 million, as part of the Indiana Convention ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, the first regular season game to air on the network. The Circle City Classic also aired on NFL Network in 2008. In 2009, the Texas Bowl moved to ESPN. In 2010, the Insight Bowl did the same. In 2011, NFL Network began airing the

. Since 2019, NFL Network has annually carried the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic, a college football kickoff game that features a matchup of two

(HBCUs) on the Sunday before

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

. The HBCU Legacy Bowl, a postseason all-star game involving draft-eligible HBCU players, also has broadcast rights held by NFL Network. In May 2019, NFL Network announced a four-year deal with

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

to air a weekly regular-season game on Saturday afternoons beginning in the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

. NFL Network opted out of the agreement after one season. In the 2022 season, NFL Network returned to carrying regular college football games through a weekly sub-license agreement with

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Games feature host teams from the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

, and

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

. In

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, NFL Network began airing the Brick City HBCU Kickoff Classic, and began simulcasting all games on

NFL+ NFL+ is an over-the-top subscription service operated by the National Football League (NFL) in the United States. The service offers live-streaming of the radio broadcasts of all NFL games, streaming of the television broadcasts of in-market gam ...

. NFL Network lost the ESPN sublicense prior to the 2024 season, leaving the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic as NFL Network's only regular season game.

Rights

Current Rights

(2007–present) *

(2011–present) * Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic (2019–present) * HBCU Legacy Bowl (2022–present) *Ten

MAC Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

C-USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern United States, Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Associ ...

, and

AAC AAC may refer to: Aviation * Advanced Aircraft, a company from Carlsbad, California * Airborne aircraft carrier, a type of aircraft * Alaskan Air Command, a radar network * American Aeronautical Corporation, a company from Port Washington, New ...

games via

sub-license (2022–2023) *Brick City HBCU Kickoff Classic (2023–present)

Past Rights

(2006–2008) *

(2006–2009) * Nebraska Cornhuskers' spring football game (2007) *

(2007–2008) *

(2019)

References

{{College football on television 2000s American sports television series 2010s American sports television series 2020s American sports television series

American English-language television shows Sports telecast series