American football American football American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, which is the team controlling the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the defense, which is the team without control of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and aims to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four
John Field (American football) football team compiled an overall record of 23–3–3, and has been recognized as national champions in 1909. After graduating from Yale in 1911, Field was hired to stay on at Yale as the head football coach. Field coached the 1911 Yale football team to a 7–2–1 record, outscoring opponents 191 to 16. Field continued to serve the Yale football team as an assistant coach in several subsequent seasons. During the period from 1899 to 1912, Yale had 14 different head football coaches in 14 years – despite compiling a combined record of 127–11–10 in those years. During that 14-year span,