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What: “Gridiron Generals: a Hard-Hitting History of College Football”

Where: History Channel

When: Monday, 9 p.m.

Trying to cram the history of college football into a two-hour documentary is quite an undertaking. You have to leave out a lot, and what the producers of this show left out was USC, UCLA and West Coast football as a whole.

The only mention of USC comes in the form of a trivia question: Which two USC coaches combined for 122 wins and four national titles. (Answer: John McKay and John Robinson.) There are two one-second glimpses of Bob Toledo, but he is not identified. Red Sanders, Tommy Prothro and Terry Donahue get nothing. USC and UCLA players, including O.J. Simpson and Gary Beban, are ignored.

But take away any provincial complaints there may be, and you have an entertaining and informative show, one well worth watching.

Notre Dame fans will love the segment on Knute Rockne, considered by many the greatest college football coach. Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes, Tom Osborne and Eddie Robinson get entire segments as well.

Most of the film deals with college football of yesteryear. There are in-depth looks at such coaches as Yale’s Walter Camp, considered the father of college football; University of Chicago’s Amos Alonzo Stagg; Carlisle’s Glenn “Pop” Warner, whose team featured Jim Thorpe; Army’s Red Blaik and Tennessee’s Robert Neyland.

The film begins with the first game played--Princeton vs. Rutgers on Nov. 6, 1869--and quickly moves to the Camp years at Yale. Camp, besides coaching, was an executive at the New Haven Clock Co., and that is why the clock plays such an important role in football.

One feature is on the 1905 game between Michigan and Chicago, considered by some the greatest game of the 20th century. Michigan lost, 2-0, on a late safety on a punt return. The player tackled for the safety, identified as Denison Clark, committed suicide years later, and in a suicide note said the reason was because of his mistake as a 20-year-old.