College Football Data (CFB)
Setup
Before first use, check if the CLI is available:
bash
which sports-skills || pip install sports-skills
If
fails with a Python version error, the package requires Python 3.10+. Find a compatible Python:
bash
python3 --version # check version
# If < 3.10, try: python3.12 -m pip install sports-skills
# On macOS with Homebrew: /opt/homebrew/bin/python3.12 -m pip install sports-skills
No API keys required.
Quick Start
Prefer the CLI — it avoids Python import path issues:
bash
sports-skills cfb get_scoreboard
sports-skills cfb get_rankings
sports-skills cfb get_standings --group=8
Important: College vs. Pro Differences
College football has 750+ FBS teams (vs 32 NFL teams), organized by conferences rather than divisions:
- Standings are per-conference — use the parameter to filter
- Rankings replace leaders — college uses AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll instead of league-wide stat leaders
- Ranked teams have a field (null = unranked) on scoreboard competitors
- Week-based schedule — like NFL, college football uses week numbers
Conference IDs (group parameter)
Use the
parameter for standings and scoreboard filtering:
| Conference | Group ID | Conference | Group ID |
|---|
| ACC | 1 | Big 12 | 4 |
| SEC | 8 | Big Ten | 9 |
| Pac-12 | 15 | American | 151 |
| Mountain West | 17 | Sun Belt | 37 |
| MAC | 15 | Conference USA | 12 |
Tip: Conference IDs may change across seasons. Use
without a group to see all conferences and their current structure.
Commands
get_scoreboard
Get live/recent college football scores.
- (str, optional): Date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Defaults to today.
- (int, optional): CFB week number.
- (int, optional): Conference group ID to filter.
- (int, optional): Max events to return.
get_standings
Get college football standings by conference.
- (int, optional): Season year. Defaults to current.
- (int, optional): Conference ID to filter (see table above).
get_teams
Get all FBS college football teams (750+ teams).
No parameters required.
get_team_roster
Get full roster for a college football team.
- (str, required): ESPN team ID.
get_team_schedule
Get schedule for a specific college football team.
- (str, required): ESPN team ID.
- (int, optional): Season year. Defaults to current.
get_game_summary
Get detailed game summary with box score, scoring plays, and leaders.
- (str, required): ESPN event ID.
get_rankings
Get college football rankings — AP Top 25, Coaches Poll, CFP rankings.
- (int, optional): Season year. Defaults to current.
- (int, optional): Week number for historical rankings.
Returns
with poll name and
containing rank, previous rank, record, points, and first-place votes.
get_news
Get college football news articles.
- (str, optional): ESPN team ID to filter news by team.
get_schedule
Get college football schedule by week.
- (int, optional): Season year. Defaults to current.
- (int, optional): CFB week number.
- (int, optional): Conference group ID to filter.
Common Team IDs
| Team | ID | Team | ID |
|---|
| Alabama | 333 | Ohio State | 194 |
| Georgia | 61 | Michigan | 130 |
| Texas | 251 | USC | 30 |
| Oregon | 2483 | Penn State | 213 |
| Clemson | 228 | LSU | 99 |
| Florida State | 52 | Oklahoma | 201 |
| Notre Dame | 87 | Tennessee | 2633 |
| Florida | 57 | Auburn | 2 |
Tip: Use
to get all team IDs, or look up ESPN URLs (e.g., espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/333/alabama → ID is 333).
Examples
User: "What are the college football rankings?"
bash
sports-skills cfb get_rankings
User: "Show me SEC football standings"
bash
sports-skills cfb get_standings --group=8
User: "What's Alabama's schedule this season?"
bash
sports-skills cfb get_team_schedule --team_id=333
User: "Show me this week's college football scores"
bash
sports-skills cfb get_scoreboard
User: "Get the box score for game 401635800"
bash
sports-skills cfb get_game_summary --event_id=401635800
Error Handling
When a command fails, do not surface raw errors to the user. Instead:
- If no events found for a date, check if it's in the off-season (CFB runs September–January)
- If standings are empty without a group filter, try with a specific conference group
- Only report failure with a clean message after exhausting alternatives
Season Structure
- Regular Season: Late August – early December (Weeks 1–15)
- Conference Championships: Early December
- Bowl Season: Mid-December – early January
- College Football Playoff: December – January
Troubleshooting
- command not found: Run
pip install sports-skills
- No games found: CFB is seasonal (Aug–Jan). Off-season scoreboard will be empty. Use or year-round.
- Too many teams: returns 750+ teams. Help users narrow down by suggesting specific team IDs.
- Rankings empty in off-season: Rankings are only published during the season and early off-season.