The USA Today College Football Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Modern Reference to America's Most Colorful Sport, 1953-Present [Paperback]

Bob Boyles (Author), Paul Guido (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 2008

The definitive statistical and factual reference for everything related to college football in the past 50+ years.

The result of fifteen years of exhaustive research, The USA TODAY Encyclopedia of College Football is without question the most comprehensive resource on college football ever set to type. Authors Bob Boyles and Paul Guido love college football with a passion, and undertook to pore through more than 4,000 media guides, watch thousands of hours of game films, and read through just about every book ever published on the game to bring this massive reference to fruition.

In these pages you will find information unavailable in any other single publication:

     • Recaps of more than 7,000 games.
     • Detailed reviews of fifty-five college football seasons.
     • Complete season-by-season lineups and records of seventy major programs.
     • Personality profiles of some of the game’s biggest stars and coaches.
     • Season-by-season award winners, All-American teams, and NFL drafts.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

An expansion of the 2007 second edition, Boyles and Guido's (coauthors, 50 Years of College Football) sizable guide extends their retrospective study to include over 7000 games and 55 seasons of the top 70 college team lineups. The text is organized first by year, then team. Because it is a data index (with occasional injections of humorous commentary), it is crammed with information and printed in an eye-crossingly tiny font. An excellent complement to the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, which opens with the 1936 season. Recommended for sports collections.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In two sections, this encyclopedia offers a comprehensive overview of each collegiate football season since 1953 for 70 of the most prominent college football programs. First is a year-by-year summary of every college football season from 1953 through 2007, beginning with an essay covering the major events, highlights, low points, oddities, and surprises, followed by a week-by-week abbreviated summary of the key 10 to 15 games of the week and poll rankings. After year-end conference standings, bowl games are individually treated in greater detail than the weekly contests, followed by short entries on the prominent personalities of the season, a listing of All-American and major award winners, and a team-by-team NFL draft summary. The second section is organized alphabetically and provides detailed statistical and season-by-season results for all 70 teams. Important inclusions are career statistical leaders, a list of the authors’ picks for the school’s greatest players since 1953, and a one-page table showing every season’s won-loss record and bowl results. A much longer subsection follows, with the score for every game in every season and the statistical leaders, starting lineups, and key reserves. Though the casual fan will probably be a bit overwhelmed, the encyclopedia will certainly be useful to very serious fans as well as sports information officers and journalists. For the years and teams covered, the depth of statistics surpasses what is available in the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia (2005). However, the ESPN Encyclopedia is much easier to read, covers more schools over many more years, has authoritative essays from major figures in sports history and journalism, offers complete bowl histories, and has a very attractive and approachable format. For libraries that already have the ESPN Encyclopedia and still want more detail on the years since 1953, the present volume is recommended. --Jeff Kosokoff

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1400 pages
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing (August 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602393311
• ISBN-13: 978-1602393318
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 3.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,105,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Resource, August 29, 2008

By 

Mickey (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The USA Today College Football Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Modern Reference to America's Most Colorful Sport, 1953-Present (Paperback)

This book simply has a stunning amount of information on college football -- 1400 pages of facts and figures that you won't find anywhere else. If you're interested in the history of the college game, this book is a must have.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good supplement, but not complete., April 18, 2009

By 

G. Caprio (Chciago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The USA Today College Football Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Modern Reference to America's Most Colorful Sport, 1953-Present (Paperback)

This book basically stops at around 1953. It doesn't go back further, which is surprising since there's another 60 years of CFB that's not covered. This book goes into greater detail for each covered season than the ESPN encyclopedia, but the ESPN one has more raw data.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for serious fans of college football, November 19, 2008

By 

Richard Salinas "richstex" (Austin, Tx.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The USA Today College Football Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Modern Reference to America's Most Colorful Sport, 1953-Present (Paperback)

I'll never read this entire book but that's not the point. It is a definitive reference for the last 50+ years of college football. Although only the major (70 or so) programs are covered, I have discovered facts I never knew. It's also a great book if you just have 10-15 minutes to read as you can browse a season or a few key games & then just leave it. Additionally, it makes a wonderful gift for the younger fans who can find a storehouse of information on why some of the greatest rivalries exist. Thorough, yet concise; reverent, yet with nuggets of humor. I recommend it without reservation.