 Its history parallels the development of college football as a major sport in the United States and demonstrates the status of the Buckeyes as one of its major programs.In the mid-1880s the growing fever of the -style of football, formulated between 1880 and 1883 among colleges of the future Ivy League, reached Columbus, Ohio.Abortive early attempts at forming a team occurred in 1886 and 1987.