 In the early years of intercollegiate athletics, the schools that participated in these athletic events were located solely in the American Northeast.However, by the turn of the 20th century, colleges and universities across the United States began to participate.Rutgers University is referred to as "the birthplace of college football" as the first intercollegiate football game was held on College Field between Rutgers and Princeton on November 6, 1869, in New Brunswick, New Jersey on a plot of ground behind where the present-day College Avenue Gymnasium now stands.