The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As of the 2023 season, there are 10 conferences and 133 schools in FBS.
College football is one of the most popular spectator sports throughout much of the United States. The top schools generate tens of millions of dollars in yearly revenue.[1][2] Top FBS teams draw tens of thousands of fans to games, and the fifteen largest American stadiums by capacity all host FBS teams or games. Since July 1, 2021, college athletes have been able to get paid for the use of their name, image, and likeness. Prior to this date colleges were only allowed to provide players with non-monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition, housing, and books.
Unlike other NCAA divisions and subdivisions, the NCAA does not officially award an FBS football national championship, nor does it sanction a playoff tournament to determine such a champion on the field. As the College Football Playoff did not exist until 2014, organizations such as the Associated Press and AFCA have historically sought to rank the teams and crown a national champion, by taking a vote of sports writers and coaches, respectively. Various cities across the United States have created their own postseason contests, called bowl games, in which they traditionally invite teams to participate. Historically, these bowl games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating teams. However, in the modern era, some of the bowls serve as semifinal games of the Playoff and the remainder constitute the de facto postseason for teams that fail to qualify for the Playoff. The decades preceding the advent of the Playoff also included attempts by the premier FBS conferences and bowl games attempt to organize matchups so that the FBS national championship was decided on the field, such as the Bowl Coalition from 1992 to 1994, the Bowl Alliance from 1995 to 1997, and the Bowl Championship Series from 1998 to 2013.
Number of FBS teams per state/territory as of 2022:[3]
Six or more FBS schools in the state
Five
Four
Three
Two
One
No FBS schools
The FBS is the highest level of college football in the United States, and FBS players make up the vast majority of the players picked in the NFLDraft.[4] For every sport but football, the NCAA divides schools into three major divisions: Divisions I, II, and III. However, in football, Division I is further divided into two sub-divisions: the Bowl Subdivision, abbreviated as the FBS, and the Championship Subdivision, abbreviated as the FCS.[5] Divisions are themselves further divided up into conferences, which are groupings of schools that play each other in contention for a conference championship. The FBS currently has ten conferences, which are often divided into the "Power Five conferences" and the less prominent "Group of Five".
Although FCS programs can draw thousands of fans per game, many FCS schools attempt to join the FBS in hopes of increased revenue, corporate sponsorship, alumni donations, prestige, and national exposure.[6] However, FBS programs also face increased expenses in regards to staff salaries, facility improvements, and scholarships.[6] The athletic departments of many FBS schools lose money every year, and these athletic departments must rely on subsidies from the rest of the university.[7] In many states, the highest-paid public employee is the head coach of an FBS team.[8] FBS schools are limited to a total of 85 football players receiving financial assistance.[9] Nearly all FBS schools that are not on NCAA probation give 85 full scholarships.[citation needed]
In order to retain FBS membership, schools must meet several requirements.[10] Before 2023, FBS schools had to average at least 15,000 home attendance (over a rolling two-year period).[10] An FBS school must sponsor a minimum of 16 varsity intercollegiate teams (including football), with at least six men's or coeducational teams and at least eight all-female teams.[10] Across all sports, each FBS school must offer at least 200 athletic scholarships (or spend at least $4 million on athletic scholarships) per year, and FBS football teams must provide at least 90% of the maximum number of football scholarships (which is currently 85).[10]
In October 2023, the NCAA announced major changes to FBS membership requirements. The average home attendance requirement, which had largely gone unenforced in the 21st century and was suspended in 2020 due to COVID-19 impacts, was permanently eliminated, effective immediately. Effective in 2027–28, the number of required athletic scholarships across all sports will increase to 210, with the annual spending requirement raised to $6 million. Also starting in 2027–28, FBS programs must not only provide at least 90% of the required number of football scholarships, but must provide at least 90% of the maximum number of scholarships across a total of 16 sports, including football.[11]
The FBS season begins in late August or early September and ends in January with the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Most FBS teams play 12 regular season games per year, with eight or nine of those games coming against conference opponents.[12] All ten FBS conferences hold a conference championship game to determine the winner of the conference.[13] Between conference games, non-conference games, a conference championship game, and up to two bowl games if ranked among the top four college teams in the country by the College Football Playoff Committee. Only the four Playoff teams are eligible to participate in two bowl games in one postseason, and only the winners of the two playoff semifinal bowl games will play a 15th game when they meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship. The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors[14] and teams that play at Hawaii[15] get a special exemption and are allowed to play a thirteenth regular season game in order to defray travel costs,[12] so an FBS team that plays 13 regular season games, a conference championship game, a semifinal bowl game, and in the national championship game could theoretically play 16 games in a season. No team has played a 16th game in one season, due to the unlikelihood of a team playing Hawaii at some point, finishing the season ranked in the top four, opting in to a 13th regular season game, and then winning a Playoff semifinal game. The theoretical 16th game has only been possible since the beginning of the College Football Playoff era in the 2014 season. Furthermore, the College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams starting in the 2024 season,[16] and, with its new bracket format, means that a team could potentially play in up to 18 games.
For non-conference regular season games, FBS teams are free to schedule match-ups against any other FBS team, regardless of conference. A small number of FBS teams are independent, and have total control over their own schedule. Non-conference games are scheduled by mutual agreement and often involve "home and homes" (where teams alternate as hosts) and long-established rivalries. A 2014 study found that teams from the stronger conferences frequently play non-conference games against teams from the weaker conferences or, occasionally, against FCS teams.[19] FBS teams are free to schedule up to forty percent of their games against FCS teams,[10] but FBS teams can only use one win per season against an FCS team for the purposes of bowl eligibility. Additionally, the FCS opponent must have averaged at least 90% of the FCS limit of 63 scholarship equivalents over a rolling two-year period.[20][c] An FBS team must schedule a total of five home games per year; for the purposes of scheduling, a "home game" must take place at a venue in which the team plays 50% of its "home games", although a team is allowed to count one neutral-site game against an FBS team toward the "home game" requirement.[22] FBS-FCS games, known as "money games," are often home games for the FBS team, and victories by FCS teams are usually considered to be upsets.[23] FCS teams receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for their participation in these games.[23]
The Football Bowl Subdivision gets its name from the bowl games that many FBS teams play at the end of the year, although other college divisions also have their own bowl games. FBS bowl games are played at the end of the season in December or January, and collectively generate over $400 million per year as of 2012.[24] For the 2017–18 bowl season, there were 40 bowl games. In order to be bowl eligible, an FBS team must have a winning record. In certain cases, 5–7 and 6–7 teams can also be selected to bowls, usually to fill bowl vacancies.[25]
Many bowls have an established conference tie-in; for example, the Pop-Tarts Bowl provides a match-up between teams from ACC and the Big 12. A small number of long-established bowls played a major role in the Bowl Championship Series, which was used to select the national champion until the 2013 season, and these bowls continue to play a major role in the College Football Playoff. Under the playoff, there are six major bowls, known as the New Year's Six, with automatic bids going to the conference champions of the Power Five conferences and the top-ranked member of the "Group of Five." Two of these bowls serve as semi-final games to the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Conferences receive millions of dollars for each school that appears in the playoff, and appearances in other bowls are also quite lucrative.[26] In addition to the regular bowls, some postseason bowls, such as the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, match up teams of all-stars and NFL Draft entrants.
College football has been played for over one hundred years, but the game and the organizational structure of college football have evolved significantly during that time. The first college football game was played in 1869, but the game continued to develop during the late 19th and early 20th century. During this period, Walter Camp pioneered the concept of a line of scrimmage, the system of downs, and the College Football All-America Team.[27] The 1902 Rose Bowl was the first bowl game in college football history, and the event began to be held annually starting with the 1916 Rose Bowl. In the 1930s, other bowl games came into existence, including the Sugar Bowl, the Cotton Bowl Classic, and the Orange Bowl. The 1906 college football season was the first season played under the IAAUS (which would later change its name to the NCAA) and the first season in which the forward pass was legal. The IAAUS had formed after President Theodore Roosevelt, responding to several deaths that had occurred during football games, requested that colleges find ways to make football a safer sport.[28]
In 1935, the Heisman Trophy was presented for the first time; the award is generally considered to be college football's most prestigious individual award.[32] In 1965, the NCAA voted to allow the platoon system, in which different players played on offense and defense; teams had previously experimented with the concept in the 1940s.[33] In 1968, the NCAA began allowing freshmen to compete in games; freshmen had previously been required to take a redshirt year.[34] In 1975, after a growth of "grants-in-aid" (scholarships given for athletic rather than academic or need-based reasons), the NCAA voted to limit the number of athletic scholarships each school could offer.[35] In 1968, the NCAA required all teams to identify as members of either the University Division (for larger schools) or the College Division (for smaller schools), and in 1973, the NCAA divided into three divisions.[36] At the urging of several larger schools seeking increased autonomy and commonality, Division I-A was formed prior to the 1978 season; the remaining teams in Division I formed the Football Championship Subdivision or FCS (then known as Division I-AA).[37] In 1981, members of the College Football Association attempted to create a fourth division consisting solely of the most competitive schools, but this effort was defeated.[38] In the 1992 season, the SEC split into divisions and played the first FBS conference championship game. The Big 12 and Western Athletic Conference did the same for the 1996 season, and most conferences eventually adopted divisions and championship games.
The NCAA does not officially award an FBS football championship,[39] but several teams have claimed national championships. Other organizations have also sought to rank the teams and crown a national champion. The Dickinson System and other methods were formed in the early 20th century to select the best team in the country, and the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll began rankings teams in the middle of the 20th century. In many seasons, selectors such as the AP and the Coaches Poll designated different teams as national champions. Often, more than one team would finish undefeated, as the top teams were not guaranteed to play each other during the regular season or in bowl games. In 1992, five major conferences established the Bowl Coalition in order to determine the FBS champion. In 1998, the two remaining major conferences joined with the other five conferences to form the Bowl Championship Series. The BCS used a rankings system to match up the top two teams in the BCS National Championship Game.[40] However, even the BCS era saw split national championships, as in 2003 the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll selected different national champions. The College Football Playoff, with a four-team field, replaced the BCS starting with the 2014 season.
Currently as of March 2020, there is no unified system to provide FBS football players with financial compensation aside from collegiate scholarships. Leading the forefront of the movement on compensation is California governor Gavin Newsom. He stated, "Collegiate student athletes put everything on the line — their physical health, future career prospects and years of their lives to compete. Colleges reap billions from these student athletes' sacrifices and success but, in the same breath, block them from earning a single dollar," he said in a statement. "That's a bankrupt model — one that puts institutions ahead of the students they are supposed to serve. It needs to be disrupted." Newsom passed a law in California called the "Fair Play to Pay Act" making it the first state to allow student athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness. The law is scheduled to go in effect on January 1, 2023.[41]
National networks such as CBS, ABC, NBC, several ESPN networks, and several Fox networks have all covered the FBS, as have several regional and local networks. As conferences negotiate their own television deals, each conference is affiliated with a network that airs its home games. In the mid-2000s, college and conferences began to create their own television networks;[48] such networks include the Big Ten Network, BYUtv, the Longhorn Network, and the Pac-12 Network. In 2012, college football games drew over 400 million viewers.[49]
The Big Ten (then popularly known as the Western Conference) was founded in 1896, after which several other schools joined to form conferences, including the Pacific Coast Conference, the MVIAA, the Southwest Conference, the Southern Conference, the Mountain States Conference (also known as the Skyline Conference), and the Border Conference. In 1928, six schools seceded from the MVIAA to form the Big Six Conference, which later expanded to the Big Eight in 1957; the remaining schools formed the Missouri Valley Conference. In 1932, several Southern schools formed the SEC after breaking away from the Southern Conference, and in 1953 several more schools seceded from the Southern Conference to form the ACC. In 1946, several Midwestern schools formed the MAC. Several elite Northeastern schools had formed the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League in 1901, and its members (plus Brown University, not an EIBL member at the time) signed the Ivy Group Agreement, which governed football competition between the signatories, in 1945; the Ivy League was formally founded in 1954, when the agreement was extended to cover all sports. In 1959, the Pacific Coast Conference dissolved, and most of its former members formed the new Athletic Association of Western Universities, which became the Pac-8 when more former PCC members joined. In 1962, several schools from the Mountain States Conference and the Border Conference formed the Western Athletic Conference. In 1969, the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), later known as the Big West Conference, was formed by several Division II California schools that sought to join Division I.
Division I separated into Division I-A (the predecessor to the FBS) and I-AA (predecessor of the FCS) prior to the 1978 season. At that time, there were several independent I-A schools and twelve Division I-A conferences: the Southeastern Conference (SEC), Big Ten, Pacific-10 (Pac-10), Big 8, Southwest Conference (SWC), Western Athletic Conference (WAC), PCAA (which later changed its name to the Big West), Missouri Valley Conference, Southern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Mid-American Conference (MAC), and the Ivy League. The Ivy League and the Southern Conference left for Division I-AA prior to the 1982 season, while the Missouri Valley Conference stopped sponsoring football prior to the 1985 season. In 1991, the Big East recruited several independents and began sponsoring football, becoming a major conference. In 1996, Conference USA (C-USA), formed the previous year by the merger of the non-football Metro and Great Midwest Conferences, also began sponsoring football. That same year, the Southwest Conference dissolved, and four of its former members joined with the Big 8 to form the Big 12 Conference. In 1999, eight schools broke away from the WAC to form the Mountain West Conference (MWC). Prior to the 2000 season, the Big West stopped sponsoring football. The Sun Belt Conference began sponsoring football in 2001. After periods of conference realignment in 2005 and the early 2010s that saw the expansion of the ACC, Big Ten, SEC, and Pac-10 (which changed its name to the Pac-12), the WAC reorganized as a non-football conference and the Big East split into the American Athletic Conference and a new non-football conference that retained the Big East name.[54]
Most of the 131 FBS schools are members of an FBS conference, but there are also a small number of independent schools. Since the Western Athletic Conference discontinued football sponsorship prior to the 2013 season, there have been ten conferences in the FBS. All of the FBS conferences have between ten and fourteen members, although independent Notre Dame has a scheduling agreement with the fourteen-member ACC. The ten conferences are split into two groups for the purposes of the College Football Playoff. The "Power Five conferences" consist of most of the largest and best-known college athletic programs in the country. A school from one of the Power Five conferences won every BCS National Championship Game (which operated from 1999 to 2014), and has won every College Football Playoff National Championship. The remaining five conferences are known as the "Group of Five."[55] Any conference may split its teams into two divisions,[56] and as of the 2022 season, the American Athletic Conference, Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and Conference USA do not use divisions. The American, the Big 12, and C-USA all previously utilized division systems before abandoning them after losing some of their member schools to realignment: UConn left the American in July 2020, and Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss left the C-USA in July 2022, leaving both those conferences with an odd number of members, while the Big 12 has not used divisions since the early-2010s conference realignment left it with 10 members. The Pac-12, however, chose to abandon divisions entirely as a result of the NCAA Division I Council ruling that conferences would no longer be required to maintain divisions in order to hold a conference championship.[57] It was the first conference to entirely abandon divisions due to this, with the Atlantic Coast Conference and Mountain West Conference announcing similar intentions for 2023. As of the 2018 season, all conferences hold a championship game that determines the conference champion. The Sun Belt was the last conference to launch a championship game, as well as the most recent to split into divisions for football, with both the title game and the divisional alignment debuting in 2018. That conference chose to form football divisions despite having only 10 football members.[13]
^While the Ivy League prohibits athletic scholarships across all sports, the Pioneer Football League prohibits scholarships only in football, and Georgetown chooses not to offer football scholarships, wins against such schools may potentially count toward bowl eligibility. NCAA rules interpretations allow academic aid to count toward the 90% requirement. This issue came up in the 2017 season when Florida State was thought to be bowl-ineligible because one of its six wins that season was over Delaware State, a school that did not meet the 90% requirement with football-related aid. However, once academic aid was counted, Delaware State met the threshold and FSU played in its bowl game.[21]
^Includes numbers for the Big East in 1993 and 2003.
^The conference was founded in 1979 as the original Big East Conference. It renamed itself the American Athletic Conference following a 2013 split along football lines. The non-FBS schools of the original conference left to form a new conference that purchased the Big East name, while the FBS schools continued to operate under the old Big East's charter and structure. The American also inherited the old Big East's Bowl Championship Series berth for the 2013 season, the last for the BCS.
^Navy is a football-only member, and Wichita State is a full member that does not sponsor football.
13 full members and 13 football members in 2023 with loss of SMU.
^Notre Dame is a full member except in football, in which it remains independent. It has committed to play at least five games each season against ACC opponents, and to play each other ACC member at least once every three years.
18 full members and 17 football members in 2024 with addition of California, SMU, and Stanford.
^Note that "Independents" is not a conference; it is simply a designation used for schools whose football programs do not play in any conference. All of these schools have conference memberships for other sports.
^Since 2012, Hawaii has been a football-only associate member, with most of its remaining teams in the non-football Big West Conference.
^The charter of the Pac-12 dates only to the formation of the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) in 1959. However, the Pac-12 claims the history of the Pacific Coast Conference, which was founded in 1915 and began competition in 1916, as its own. Of the nine members of the PCC at the time of its demise in June 1959, five were charter members of the AAWU, and three of the four others joined the AAWU by 1964; only Idaho never joined the Pac-12. The PCC's berth in the Rose Bowl passed to the AAWU.
^Likely to disband in 2024; only Oregon State and Washington State have not announced their departure from the conference.
^16 members in 2024 with addition of Oklahoma and Texas.
Transitional teamsEdit
Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia joined the Sun Belt Conference upon transitioning to the FBS level in 2014. Prior to joining the Sun Belt, GASOU won six FCS (I-AA) national championships and have produced two Walter Payton Award winners. The Eagles first continuously fielded a football team in 1924; however, play was suspended for World War II and revived in 1981. The Eagles competed as an FCS independent from 1984 until 1992 as the Eagles' main conference at the time, the Trans America Athletic Conference (now known as the ASUN Conference), did not sponsor football, and as a member of the Southern Conference from 1993 until 2013, winning 10 SoCon championships.
The Georgia Southern Eagles finished their first FBS season 9–3 overall and was undefeated in Sun Belt Conference play at 8–0; winning the Sun Belt Conference championship outright in its first year as an FBS member. They were also the first team ever to go unbeaten in conference play in their first FBS season. Since the Eagles were under transitional status, the university filed for a postseason waiver to allow the Eagles to play in a bowl game; however, the NCAA denied Georgia Southern's waiver request and a subsequent appeal since enough full member FBS teams became bowl-eligible during the season.
Liberty University, the most recent school to complete an FBS transition, began its FBS transition process on July 1, 2017. The NCAA granted the school a waiver from its normal transition rules that require an invitation from an FBS conference before beginning the transition. The Flames played in the Big South Conference in 2017 but were not eligible for the FCS playoffs. For 2018 to 2022, the Flames became an FBS independent. The school initially intended to remain a Big South member in other sports until it received an invitation to an FBS conference,[58] but instead joined the non-football ASUN Conference in 2018.[59]Conference USA (C-USA) eventually announced in November 2021 Liberty's future addition to that conference, with Flames football moving to C-USA starting in the 2023 season.[60]
Three schools began FBS transitions on July 1, 2022. James Madison University joined the Sun Belt after meeting the NCAA minimum of five FBS opponents at its home stadium, as required and scheduled.[61] This happened after James Madison's FCS conference, the all-sports Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), barred the Dukes from competing in or hosting team championships in any sport for that conference during the 2021–22 season according to CAA bylaws. (The CAA football league, branded as CAA Football, is technically a separate entity from the all-sports CAA.) However, the Dukes were eligible for at-large bids to all NCAA team championships in 2021–22.[62] By meeting FBS scheduling requirements in 2022, JMU played an FBS schedule in year one of their transition process, which normally only occurs in the 2nd year of two-year transition process. Due to that, JMU tried to become bowl eligible in 2023, but NCAA refused it.[63] On July 1, 2023, two outgoing FCS teams Jacksonville State and Sam Houston are moving to C-USA.[64]
The next school to start an FBS transition will be Kennesaw State University, which will start its transition in 2023[65] ahead of its move to Conference USA in 2024.[66]
FinancesEdit
The following table shows revenue for each conference reported by the Knight Commission for the 2021–22 academic year.[67]
Note: Values from some universities are not reported here.
The FBS has experienced several realignments since its formation in 1978, with many teams changing conferences, dropping out of the FBS, or moving up from the FCS. In 1982, the size of the division was cut considerably, and the Southern Conference and the Ivy League were demoted to the FCS.[68] In 1985, the Missouri Valley Conference stopped sponsoring football.[54] In the 1980s and 1990s, several independentsjoined conferences, dropped football, or joined the FCS. In the 1996 NCAA conference realignment, the Southwest Conference dissolved, and four Texas teams from that conference joined with the Big 8 schools to form the Big 12 Conference. The Western Athletic Conference expanded to sixteen members, but half of the schools left in 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference. Conference USA (C-USA) formed from a merger of the Metro Conference and the Great Midwest Conference, two conferences which had not sponsored football. The Big West stopped sponsoring football after the 2000 season, and was essentially replaced by the Sun Belt Conference, which added former Big West members and began sponsoring football in 2001. In the mid-2000s, the Big East added former basketball-only member Connecticut, while Temple left the conference (before eventually returning in 2013). During another phase of realignment in 2005, three schools jumped from the Big East to the ACC. The Big East responded by adding schools from Conference USA.[54]
College football underwent another major conference realignment in the first half of the 2010s. Members of the Big East left the conference to join the Big 12 and ACC. The Big 12 lost members to the SEC, the Pac-12, and the Big Ten, while the Big Ten also gained one former ACC member. The remaining members of the Big East split into two conferences: the American Athletic Conference ("The American") and a new conference that assumed the Big East name but does not sponsor football. The American added several schools from C-USA, but lost one school each to the ACC and Big Ten after its first season. In turn, C-USA added FCS schools and schools from the Sun Belt Conference. The Sun Belt Conference replenished its membership by adding FCS schools and schools from the Western Athletic Conference. The Mountain West lost schools to the Big 12, Pac-12, and the FBS independent ranks, and added several schools from the WAC. After several defections, leaving the conference with only two football-sponsoring schools remaining, the WAC dropped its sponsorship of football.[54]
The early-2010s realignment cycle also affected the FBS independent ranks. BYU left the MW in 2011 for football independence and the non-football West Coast Conference. In 2013, Idaho and New Mexico State, the last two football-sponsoring schools in the WAC, became FBS independents, but would return to their former football home of the Sun Belt Conference as football-only members the following year. Also in 2013, Notre Dame became a full but non-football member of the ACC, entering into a scheduling agreement with that conference that calls for the Fighting Irish football team to play five games each season against ACC schools, and to play each other ACC school at least once every three years. Finally, in 2015, Navy became a football-only member of The American, ending more than a century of football independence.[54]
Realignment continued at a lower level through the rest of the 2010s and into the early 2020s. Georgia Southern joined the Sun Belt Conference upon transitioning to the FBS level in 2014. The Eagles won the Sun Belt Conference championship outright in its first year as an FBS member. The 2016 season saw FCS Coastal Carolina join the Sun Belt Conference for non-football sports while beginning a transition to FBS football; the football team joined the Sun Belt in 2017. That season was also the last for Idaho and New Mexico State as Sun Belt football members. After 2017, New Mexico State returned to independent status, while Idaho downgraded to FCS football—becoming the first program ever to voluntarily do so—and added football to its all-sports membership in the Big Sky Conference. Also in 2016, UMass went independent after turning down an offer of full membership in the Mid-American Conference. Most recently, UConn went independent in 2020 when the school left The American to rejoin many of its historic basketball rivals in the current Big East Conference. Notre Dame competed under a full ACC schedule only also in 2020 in response to logistical concerns that arose from the effects of COVID-19.
The most recent realignment is currently ongoing, starting with the announcements by Oklahoma and Texas that they would leave the Big 12 for the SEC no later than 2025.[69] The Big 12 and its departing members later announced a 2024 departure date.[70] The first actual conference changes came in 2022, with the Sun Belt gaining Marshall, returning Old Dominion, and Southern Miss from C-USA,[61][71] and FCS upgrader James Madison. The following year saw C-USA add Jacksonville State, Sam Houston (both from FCS), New Mexico State and Liberty (FBS independents) but lose Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA to The American. In turn, The American lost Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF to the Big 12, which also added former football independent BYU.[72] In 2024, Oklahoma and Texas will join the SEC, while 10 of the 12 members of the Pac-12 have announced their departure for other power conferences—UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington for the Big Ten; Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah for the Big 12;[73][74] and California and Stanford for the ACC. In addition, Kennesaw State will upgrade to FBS and join C-USA,[75] and SMU will leave The American for the ACC.[76][77]
Several awards are given each year to players and coaches in the FBS. Although all college football players are eligible for many of these awards (such as the Heisman Trophy), FBS players usually win these awards, and other awards (such as the Walter Payton Award) exist to honor players in other divisions and the FCS. In addition to the national awards listed below, FBS conferences also have their own awards, and several organizations release a yearly College Football All-America Team. In 1951, the National Football Foundation established the College Football Hall of Fame. Notable individual awards include:
Many of the school names on the maps below are abbreviated in order to save space. Some of them are very well known, others not as well known. The following is list of such abbreviations with along with each school's full name:
ncaa, division, football, bowl, subdivision, formerly, known, division, highest, level, college, football, united, states, consists, largest, schools, national, collegiate, athletic, association, ncaa, 2023, season, there, conferences, schools, current, season. The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision FBS formerly known as Division I A is the highest level of college football in the United States The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA As of the 2023 season there are 10 conferences and 133 schools in FBS NCAA Division I Football Bowl SubdivisionCurrent season competition or edition 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football seasonSportAmerican footballFounded1978No of teams133CountryUnited StatesTV partner s VariousOfficial websitewww wbr ncaa wbr com wbr sports wbr football wbr fbsCollege football is one of the most popular spectator sports throughout much of the United States The top schools generate tens of millions of dollars in yearly revenue 1 2 Top FBS teams draw tens of thousands of fans to games and the fifteen largest American stadiums by capacity all host FBS teams or games Since July 1 2021 college athletes have been able to get paid for the use of their name image and likeness Prior to this date colleges were only allowed to provide players with non monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition housing and books Unlike other NCAA divisions and subdivisions the NCAA does not officially award an FBS football national championship nor does it sanction a playoff tournament to determine such a champion on the field As the College Football Playoff did not exist until 2014 organizations such as the Associated Press and AFCA have historically sought to rank the teams and crown a national champion by taking a vote of sports writers and coaches respectively Various cities across the United States have created their own postseason contests called bowl games in which they traditionally invite teams to participate Historically these bowl games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating teams However in the modern era some of the bowls serve as semifinal games of the Playoff and the remainder constitute the de facto postseason for teams that fail to qualify for the Playoff The decades preceding the advent of the Playoff also included attempts by the premier FBS conferences and bowl games attempt to organize matchups so that the FBS national championship was decided on the field such as the Bowl Coalition from 1992 to 1994 the Bowl Alliance from 1995 to 1997 and the Bowl Championship Series from 1998 to 2013 Contents 1 Overview 2 Scheduling 3 History 4 Television 5 Teams and conferences 5 1 Conferences 5 1 1 History 5 1 2 Current conferences 5 2 Transitional teams 6 Finances 7 Realignment 8 Awards 9 Maps of teams 9 1 1927 map of teams 9 2 1956 map of teams 9 3 1976 map of teams 9 4 1991 map of teams 9 5 2010 map of teams 9 6 2023 map of teams 9 7 Schools that have transitioned to the FBS 10 FBS programs 11 See also 12 ReferencesOverview Edit nbsp Number of FBS teams per state territory as of 2022 3 Six or more FBS schools in the state Five Four Three Two One No FBS schoolsThe FBS is the highest level of college football in the United States and FBS players make up the vast majority of the players picked in the NFL Draft 4 For every sport but football the NCAA divides schools into three major divisions Divisions I II and III However in football Division I is further divided into two sub divisions the Bowl Subdivision abbreviated as the FBS and the Championship Subdivision abbreviated as the FCS 5 Divisions are themselves further divided up into conferences which are groupings of schools that play each other in contention for a conference championship The FBS currently has ten conferences which are often divided into the Power Five conferences and the less prominent Group of Five Although FCS programs can draw thousands of fans per game many FCS schools attempt to join the FBS in hopes of increased revenue corporate sponsorship alumni donations prestige and national exposure 6 However FBS programs also face increased expenses in regards to staff salaries facility improvements and scholarships 6 The athletic departments of many FBS schools lose money every year and these athletic departments must rely on subsidies from the rest of the university 7 In many states the highest paid public employee is the head coach of an FBS team 8 FBS schools are limited to a total of 85 football players receiving financial assistance 9 Nearly all FBS schools that are not on NCAA probation give 85 full scholarships citation needed In order to retain FBS membership schools must meet several requirements 10 Before 2023 FBS schools had to average at least 15 000 home attendance over a rolling two year period 10 An FBS school must sponsor a minimum of 16 varsity intercollegiate teams including football with at least six men s or coeducational teams and at least eight all female teams 10 Across all sports each FBS school must offer at least 200 athletic scholarships or spend at least 4 million on athletic scholarships per year and FBS football teams must provide at least 90 of the maximum number of football scholarships which is currently 85 10 In October 2023 the NCAA announced major changes to FBS membership requirements The average home attendance requirement which had largely gone unenforced in the 21st century and was suspended in 2020 due to COVID 19 impacts was permanently eliminated effective immediately Effective in 2027 28 the number of required athletic scholarships across all sports will increase to 210 with the annual spending requirement raised to 6 million Also starting in 2027 28 FBS programs must not only provide at least 90 of the required number of football scholarships but must provide at least 90 of the maximum number of scholarships across a total of 16 sports including football 11 Scheduling EditFurther information Bowl game List of college bowl games and Bids to college bowl games The FBS season begins in late August or early September and ends in January with the College Football Playoff National Championship game Most FBS teams play 12 regular season games per year with eight or nine of those games coming against conference opponents 12 All ten FBS conferences hold a conference championship game to determine the winner of the conference 13 Between conference games non conference games a conference championship game and up to two bowl games if ranked among the top four college teams in the country by the College Football Playoff Committee Only the four Playoff teams are eligible to participate in two bowl games in one postseason and only the winners of the two playoff semifinal bowl games will play a 15th game when they meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 14 and teams that play at Hawaii 15 get a special exemption and are allowed to play a thirteenth regular season game in order to defray travel costs 12 so an FBS team that plays 13 regular season games a conference championship game a semifinal bowl game and in the national championship game could theoretically play 16 games in a season No team has played a 16th game in one season due to the unlikelihood of a team playing Hawaii at some point finishing the season ranked in the top four opting in to a 13th regular season game and then winning a Playoff semifinal game The theoretical 16th game has only been possible since the beginning of the College Football Playoff era in the 2014 season Furthermore the College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams starting in the 2024 season 16 and with its new bracket format means that a team could potentially play in up to 18 games Number of bowl games 17 Year Bowls Teams in bowls 18 1968 11 N A1984 18 30 1997 20 35 2017 40 a 60 5 b For non conference regular season games FBS teams are free to schedule match ups against any other FBS team regardless of conference A small number of FBS teams are independent and have total control over their own schedule Non conference games are scheduled by mutual agreement and often involve home and homes where teams alternate as hosts and long established rivalries A 2014 study found that teams from the stronger conferences frequently play non conference games against teams from the weaker conferences or occasionally against FCS teams 19 FBS teams are free to schedule up to forty percent of their games against FCS teams 10 but FBS teams can only use one win per season against an FCS team for the purposes of bowl eligibility Additionally the FCS opponent must have averaged at least 90 of the FCS limit of 63 scholarship equivalents over a rolling two year period 20 c An FBS team must schedule a total of five home games per year for the purposes of scheduling a home game must take place at a venue in which the team plays 50 of its home games although a team is allowed to count one neutral site game against an FBS team toward the home game requirement 22 FBS FCS games known as money games are often home games for the FBS team and victories by FCS teams are usually considered to be upsets 23 FCS teams receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for their participation in these games 23 The Football Bowl Subdivision gets its name from the bowl games that many FBS teams play at the end of the year although other college divisions also have their own bowl games FBS bowl games are played at the end of the season in December or January and collectively generate over 400 million per year as of 2012 24 For the 2017 18 bowl season there were 40 bowl games In order to be bowl eligible an FBS team must have a winning record In certain cases 5 7 and 6 7 teams can also be selected to bowls usually to fill bowl vacancies 25 New Year s Six Bowls Bowl Location Est Rose Bowl Pasadena CADurham NC 1942 Arlington TX 2021 1902Orange Bowl Miami Gardens FL 1935Sugar Bowl New Orleans LAAtlanta GA 2006 1935Cotton Bowl Arlington TX 1937Peach Bowl Atlanta GA 1968Fiesta Bowl Glendale AZ 1971Many bowls have an established conference tie in for example the Pop Tarts Bowl provides a match up between teams from ACC and the Big 12 A small number of long established bowls played a major role in the Bowl Championship Series which was used to select the national champion until the 2013 season and these bowls continue to play a major role in the College Football Playoff Under the playoff there are six major bowls known as the New Year s Six with automatic bids going to the conference champions of the Power Five conferences and the top ranked member of the Group of Five Two of these bowls serve as semi final games to the College Football Playoff National Championship game Conferences receive millions of dollars for each school that appears in the playoff and appearances in other bowls are also quite lucrative 26 In addition to the regular bowls some postseason bowls such as the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl match up teams of all stars and NFL Draft entrants History EditSee also History of American football College football has been played for over one hundred years but the game and the organizational structure of college football have evolved significantly during that time The first college football game was played in 1869 but the game continued to develop during the late 19th and early 20th century During this period Walter Camp pioneered the concept of a line of scrimmage the system of downs and the College Football All America Team 27 The 1902 Rose Bowl was the first bowl game in college football history and the event began to be held annually starting with the 1916 Rose Bowl In the 1930s other bowl games came into existence including the Sugar Bowl the Cotton Bowl Classic and the Orange Bowl The 1906 college football season was the first season played under the IAAUS which would later change its name to the NCAA and the first season in which the forward pass was legal The IAAUS had formed after President Theodore Roosevelt responding to several deaths that had occurred during football games requested that colleges find ways to make football a safer sport 28 NCAA Football Average Attendance Conf 1983 29 1993 29 2003 30 2014 31 SEC 64 842 62 789 74 059 77 694Big Ten 67 471 63 535 70 198 66 869Big 12 56 362 58 102Pac 12 47 248 47 919 51 608 52 702ACC 42 608 44 056 51 938 50 291AAC d 38 039 46 870 29 193MW 32 809 25 254C USA 32 346 20 455Sun Belt 14 352 18 294MAC 17 351 14 252 17 820 15 431FBS 42 162 41 281 44 877 44 603FCS 10 844 8 599 7 739 8 310In 1935 the Heisman Trophy was presented for the first time the award is generally considered to be college football s most prestigious individual award 32 In 1965 the NCAA voted to allow the platoon system in which different players played on offense and defense teams had previously experimented with the concept in the 1940s 33 In 1968 the NCAA began allowing freshmen to compete in games freshmen had previously been required to take a redshirt year 34 In 1975 after a growth of grants in aid scholarships given for athletic rather than academic or need based reasons the NCAA voted to limit the number of athletic scholarships each school could offer 35 In 1968 the NCAA required all teams to identify as members of either the University Division for larger schools or the College Division for smaller schools and in 1973 the NCAA divided into three divisions 36 At the urging of several larger schools seeking increased autonomy and commonality Division I A was formed prior to the 1978 season the remaining teams in Division I formed the Football Championship Subdivision or FCS then known as Division I AA 37 In 1981 members of the College Football Association attempted to create a fourth division consisting solely of the most competitive schools but this effort was defeated 38 In the 1992 season the SEC split into divisions and played the first FBS conference championship game The Big 12 and Western Athletic Conference did the same for the 1996 season and most conferences eventually adopted divisions and championship games The NCAA does not officially award an FBS football championship 39 but several teams have claimed national championships Other organizations have also sought to rank the teams and crown a national champion The Dickinson System and other methods were formed in the early 20th century to select the best team in the country and the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll began rankings teams in the middle of the 20th century In many seasons selectors such as the AP and the Coaches Poll designated different teams as national champions Often more than one team would finish undefeated as the top teams were not guaranteed to play each other during the regular season or in bowl games In 1992 five major conferences established the Bowl Coalition in order to determine the FBS champion In 1998 the two remaining major conferences joined with the other five conferences to form the Bowl Championship Series The BCS used a rankings system to match up the top two teams in the BCS National Championship Game 40 However even the BCS era saw split national championships as in 2003 the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll selected different national champions The College Football Playoff with a four team field replaced the BCS starting with the 2014 season Currently as of March 2020 there is no unified system to provide FBS football players with financial compensation aside from collegiate scholarships Leading the forefront of the movement on compensation is California governor Gavin Newsom He stated Collegiate student athletes put everything on the line their physical health future career prospects and years of their lives to compete Colleges reap billions from these student athletes sacrifices and success but in the same breath block them from earning a single dollar he said in a statement That s a bankrupt model one that puts institutions ahead of the students they are supposed to serve It needs to be disrupted Newsom passed a law in California called the Fair Play to Pay Act making it the first state to allow student athletes to profit off their name image and likeness The law is scheduled to go in effect on January 1 2023 41 Television EditMain article College football on television College football was first broadcast on radio in 1921 and first broadcast on television in 1939 42 Television became profitable for both schools and the NCAA which tightly controlled the airing of games in the 1950s 1960s and 1970s 43 The NCAA limited each football team to six television appearances over a two year period 43 The 1981 Supreme Court case NCAA v Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma amp University of Georgia granted television rights to individual schools as opposed to the NCAA and allowed teams to televise all of their games 44 After a period during which FBS schools negotiated collectively under the College Football Association Notre Dame s 1991 television contract ushered in an era in which schools and conferences negotiate their own television contracts 37 45 This new era of television led to several waves of conference realignment most notably in 1996 2005 and the early 2010s 46 FBS games continue to be a major draw on television as over 26 million people watched the 2014 BCS National Championship Game 47 National networks such as CBS ABC NBC several ESPN networks and several Fox networks have all covered the FBS as have several regional and local networks As conferences negotiate their own television deals each conference is affiliated with a network that airs its home games In the mid 2000s college and conferences began to create their own television networks 48 such networks include the Big Ten Network BYUtv the Longhorn Network and the Pac 12 Network In 2012 college football games drew over 400 million viewers 49 Teams and conferences EditConferences Edit FBS teams and conferences Year Conferences Teams1980 13 50 1381990 9 51 1072000 11 52 1162010 11 53 1202023 10 133History Edit The Big Ten then popularly known as the Western Conference was founded in 1896 after which several other schools joined to form conferences including the Pacific Coast Conference the MVIAA the Southwest Conference the Southern Conference the Mountain States Conference also known as the Skyline Conference and the Border Conference In 1928 six schools seceded from the MVIAA to form the Big Six Conference which later expanded to the Big Eight in 1957 the remaining schools formed the Missouri Valley Conference In 1932 several Southern schools formed the SEC after breaking away from the Southern Conference and in 1953 several more schools seceded from the Southern Conference to form the ACC In 1946 several Midwestern schools formed the MAC Several elite Northeastern schools had formed the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League in 1901 and its members plus Brown University not an EIBL member at the time signed the Ivy Group Agreement which governed football competition between the signatories in 1945 the Ivy League was formally founded in 1954 when the agreement was extended to cover all sports In 1959 the Pacific Coast Conference dissolved and most of its former members formed the new Athletic Association of Western Universities which became the Pac 8 when more former PCC members joined In 1962 several schools from the Mountain States Conference and the Border Conference formed the Western Athletic Conference In 1969 the Pacific Coast Athletic Association PCAA later known as the Big West Conference was formed by several Division II California schools that sought to join Division I Division I separated into Division I A the predecessor to the FBS and I AA predecessor of the FCS prior to the 1978 season At that time there were several independent I A schools and twelve Division I A conferences the Southeastern Conference SEC Big Ten Pacific 10 Pac 10 Big 8 Southwest Conference SWC Western Athletic Conference WAC PCAA which later changed its name to the Big West Missouri Valley Conference Southern Conference Atlantic Coast Conference ACC Mid American Conference MAC and the Ivy League The Ivy League and the Southern Conference left for Division I AA prior to the 1982 season while the Missouri Valley Conference stopped sponsoring football prior to the 1985 season In 1991 the Big East recruited several independents and began sponsoring football becoming a major conference In 1996 Conference USA C USA formed the previous year by the merger of the non football Metro and Great Midwest Conferences also began sponsoring football That same year the Southwest Conference dissolved and four of its former members joined with the Big 8 to form the Big 12 Conference In 1999 eight schools broke away from the WAC to form the Mountain West Conference MWC Prior to the 2000 season the Big West stopped sponsoring football The Sun Belt Conference began sponsoring football in 2001 After periods of conference realignment in 2005 and the early 2010s that saw the expansion of the ACC Big Ten SEC and Pac 10 which changed its name to the Pac 12 the WAC reorganized as a non football conference and the Big East split into the American Athletic Conference and a new non football conference that retained the Big East name 54 Current conferences Edit See also List of NCAA Division I FBS football programs Most of the 131 FBS schools are members of an FBS conference but there are also a small number of independent schools Since the Western Athletic Conference discontinued football sponsorship prior to the 2013 season there have been ten conferences in the FBS All of the FBS conferences have between ten and fourteen members although independent Notre Dame has a scheduling agreement with the fourteen member ACC The ten conferences are split into two groups for the purposes of the College Football Playoff The Power Five conferences consist of most of the largest and best known college athletic programs in the country A school from one of the Power Five conferences won every BCS National Championship Game which operated from 1999 to 2014 and has won every College Football Playoff National Championship The remaining five conferences are known as the Group of Five 55 Any conference may split its teams into two divisions 56 and as of the 2022 season the American Athletic Conference Big 12 Conference Pac 12 Conference and Conference USA do not use divisions The American the Big 12 and C USA all previously utilized division systems before abandoning them after losing some of their member schools to realignment UConn left the American in July 2020 and Marshall Old Dominion and Southern Miss left the C USA in July 2022 leaving both those conferences with an odd number of members while the Big 12 has not used divisions since the early 2010s conference realignment left it with 10 members The Pac 12 however chose to abandon divisions entirely as a result of the NCAA Division I Council ruling that conferences would no longer be required to maintain divisions in order to hold a conference championship 57 It was the first conference to entirely abandon divisions due to this with the Atlantic Coast Conference and Mountain West Conference announcing similar intentions for 2023 As of the 2018 season all conferences hold a championship game that determines the conference champion The Sun Belt was the last conference to launch a championship game as well as the most recent to split into divisions for football with both the title game and the divisional alignment debuting in 2018 That conference chose to form football divisions despite having only 10 football members 13 Conference Nickname Founded Football Members Sports HeadquartersAmerican Athletic Conference The American official AAC informal 1979 e 14 f 22 Irving TexasAtlantic Coast Conference ACC 1953 14 g 27 Greensboro North CarolinaBig 12 Conference Big 12 1996 14 h 21 Irving TexasBig Ten Conference Big Ten B1G 1896 14 i 28 Rosemont IllinoisConference USA C USA 1995 j 9 k 19 Dallas TexasDivision I FBS Independents l 4Mid American Conference MAC 1946 12 24 Cleveland OhioMountain West Conference MW official MWC informal 1999 12 m 19 Colorado Springs ColoradoPac 12 Conference Pac 12 1915 n 12 o 24 San Francisco CaliforniaSoutheastern Conference SEC 1932 14 p 20 Birmingham AlabamaSun Belt Conference Sun Belt official SBC informal 1976 14 19 New Orleans Louisiana Big Five or Power Five conferences with guaranteed berths in the access bowls associated with the College Football Playoff Notes Includes the College Football Playoff National Championship which involves the winners of two semifinal bowl games Based on 78 teams qualifying for bowl games While the Ivy League prohibits athletic scholarships across all sports the Pioneer Football League prohibits scholarships only in football and Georgetown chooses not to offer football scholarships wins against such schools may potentially count toward bowl eligibility NCAA rules interpretations allow academic aid to count toward the 90 requirement This issue came up in the 2017 season when Florida State was thought to be bowl ineligible because one of its six wins that season was over Delaware State a school that did not meet the 90 requirement with football related aid However once academic aid was counted Delaware State met the threshold and FSU played in its bowl game 21 Includes numbers for the Big East in 1993 and 2003 The conference was founded in 1979 as the original Big East Conference It renamed itself the American Athletic Conference following a 2013 split along football lines The non FBS schools of the original conference left to form a new conference that purchased the Big East name while the FBS schools continued to operate under the old Big East s charter and structure The American also inherited the old Big East s Bowl Championship Series berth for the 2013 season the last for the BCS Navy is a football only member and Wichita State is a full member that does not sponsor football 13 full members and 13 football members in 2023 with loss of SMU Notre Dame is a full member except in football in which it remains independent It has committed to play at least five games each season against ACC opponents and to play each other ACC member at least once every three years 18 full members and 17 football members in 2024 with addition of California SMU and Stanford 16 members in 2024 with loss of Oklahoma and Texas plus addition of Arizona Arizona State Colorado and Utah 18 members in 2024 with addition of Oregon UCLA USC and Washington The conference was founded in 1995 with football competition starting in 1996 10 members in 2024 with addition of Kennesaw State Note that Independents is not a conference it is simply a designation used for schools whose football programs do not play in any conference All of these schools have conference memberships for other sports Since 2012 Hawaii has been a football only associate member with most of its remaining teams in the non football Big West Conference The charter of the Pac 12 dates only to the formation of the Athletic Association of Western Universities AAWU in 1959 However the Pac 12 claims the history of the Pacific Coast Conference which was founded in 1915 and began competition in 1916 as its own Of the nine members of the PCC at the time of its demise in June 1959 five were charter members of the AAWU and three of the four others joined the AAWU by 1964 only Idaho never joined the Pac 12 The PCC s berth in the Rose Bowl passed to the AAWU Likely to disband in 2024 only Oregon State and Washington State have not announced their departure from the conference 16 members in 2024 with addition of Oklahoma and Texas Transitional teams Edit Georgia Southern University in Statesboro Georgia joined the Sun Belt Conference upon transitioning to the FBS level in 2014 Prior to joining the Sun Belt GASOU won six FCS I AA national championships and have produced two Walter Payton Award winners The Eagles first continuously fielded a football team in 1924 however play was suspended for World War II and revived in 1981 The Eagles competed as an FCS independent from 1984 until 1992 as the Eagles main conference at the time the Trans America Athletic Conference now known as the ASUN Conference did not sponsor football and as a member of the Southern Conference from 1993 until 2013 winning 10 SoCon championships The Georgia Southern Eagles finished their first FBS season 9 3 overall and was undefeated in Sun Belt Conference play at 8 0 winning the Sun Belt Conference championship outright in its first year as an FBS member They were also the first team ever to go unbeaten in conference play in their first FBS season Since the Eagles were under transitional status the university filed for a postseason waiver to allow the Eagles to play in a bowl game however the NCAA denied Georgia Southern s waiver request and a subsequent appeal since enough full member FBS teams became bowl eligible during the season Liberty University the most recent school to complete an FBS transition began its FBS transition process on July 1 2017 The NCAA granted the school a waiver from its normal transition rules that require an invitation from an FBS conference before beginning the transition The Flames played in the Big South Conference in 2017 but were not eligible for the FCS playoffs For 2018 to 2022 the Flames became an FBS independent The school initially intended to remain a Big South member in other sports until it received an invitation to an FBS conference 58 but instead joined the non football ASUN Conference in 2018 59 Conference USA C USA eventually announced in November 2021 Liberty s future addition to that conference with Flames football moving to C USA starting in the 2023 season 60 Three schools began FBS transitions on July 1 2022 James Madison University joined the Sun Belt after meeting the NCAA minimum of five FBS opponents at its home stadium as required and scheduled 61 This happened after James Madison s FCS conference the all sports Colonial Athletic Association CAA barred the Dukes from competing in or hosting team championships in any sport for that conference during the 2021 22 season according to CAA bylaws The CAA football league branded as CAA Football is technically a separate entity from the all sports CAA However the Dukes were eligible for at large bids to all NCAA team championships in 2021 22 62 By meeting FBS scheduling requirements in 2022 JMU played an FBS schedule in year one of their transition process which normally only occurs in the 2nd year of two year transition process Due to that JMU tried to become bowl eligible in 2023 but NCAA refused it 63 On July 1 2023 two outgoing FCS teams Jacksonville State and Sam Houston are moving to C USA 64 The next school to start an FBS transition will be Kennesaw State University which will start its transition in 2023 65 ahead of its move to Conference USA in 2024 66 Finances EditThe following table shows revenue for each conference reported by the Knight Commission for the 2021 22 academic year 67 Note Values from some universities are not reported here Conference 2021 22Total Revenue 2021 22Total Expenses 2021 22Reporting Members 2021 22Total Revenue Reporting Member 2021 22Total Expense Reporting Member 2021 22 Members Not ReportingAmerican Athletic Conference 423 910 145 397 404 448 6 70 651 691 66 234 075 SMU Temple Tulane Navy TulsaAtlantic Coast Conference 1 072 193 980 1 028 501 053 8 134 024 248 128 562 632 Boston College Duke Syracuse Miami Pitt Wake ForestBig 12 Conference 1 066 493 140 1 016 951 340 8 133 311 643 127 118 918 Baylor TCUBig Ten Conference 2 041 265 014 1 927 764 454 13 157 020 386 148 289 573 NorthwesternConference USA 496 221 144 493 252 353 13 38 170 857 37 942 489 RiceMid American Conference 288 033 509 282 855 157 9 32 003 723 31 428 351 Ball State Eastern Michigan BuffaloMountain West Conference 570 792 144 555 080 056 11 51 890 195 50 461 823 Air ForcePac 12 Conference 1 144 504 032 1 163 840 847 10 114 450 403 116 384 085 Stanford USCSoutheastern Conference 2 168 587 358 2 044 850 233 13 166 814 412 157 296 172 VanderbiltSun Belt Conference 335 515 775 329 574 687 9 37 279 531 36 619 410 Louisiana at MonroeRealignment EditThe FBS has experienced several realignments since its formation in 1978 with many teams changing conferences dropping out of the FBS or moving up from the FCS In 1982 the size of the division was cut considerably and the Southern Conference and the Ivy League were demoted to the FCS 68 In 1985 the Missouri Valley Conference stopped sponsoring football 54 In the 1980s and 1990s several independents joined conferences dropped football or joined the FCS In the 1996 NCAA conference realignment the Southwest Conference dissolved and four Texas teams from that conference joined with the Big 8 schools to form the Big 12 Conference The Western Athletic Conference expanded to sixteen members but half of the schools left in 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference Conference USA C USA formed from a merger of the Metro Conference and the Great Midwest Conference two conferences which had not sponsored football The Big West stopped sponsoring football after the 2000 season and was essentially replaced by the Sun Belt Conference which added former Big West members and began sponsoring football in 2001 In the mid 2000s the Big East added former basketball only member Connecticut while Temple left the conference before eventually returning in 2013 During another phase of realignment in 2005 three schools jumped from the Big East to the ACC The Big East responded by adding schools from Conference USA 54 College football underwent another major conference realignment in the first half of the 2010s Members of the Big East left the conference to join the Big 12 and ACC The Big 12 lost members to the SEC the Pac 12 and the Big Ten while the Big Ten also gained one former ACC member The remaining members of the Big East split into two conferences the American Athletic Conference The American and a new conference that assumed the Big East name but does not sponsor football The American added several schools from C USA but lost one school each to the ACC and Big Ten after its first season In turn C USA added FCS schools and schools from the Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference replenished its membership by adding FCS schools and schools from the Western Athletic Conference The Mountain West lost schools to the Big 12 Pac 12 and the FBS independent ranks and added several schools from the WAC After several defections leaving the conference with only two football sponsoring schools remaining the WAC dropped its sponsorship of football 54 The early 2010s realignment cycle also affected the FBS independent ranks BYU left the MW in 2011 for football independence and the non football West Coast Conference In 2013 Idaho and New Mexico State the last two football sponsoring schools in the WAC became FBS independents but would return to their former football home of the Sun Belt Conference as football only members the following year Also in 2013 Notre Dame became a full but non football member of the ACC entering into a scheduling agreement with that conference that calls for the Fighting Irish football team to play five games each season against ACC schools and to play each other ACC school at least once every three years Finally in 2015 Navy became a football only member of The American ending more than a century of football independence 54 Realignment continued at a lower level through the rest of the 2010s and into the early 2020s Georgia Southern joined the Sun Belt Conference upon transitioning to the FBS level in 2014 The Eagles won the Sun Belt Conference championship outright in its first year as an FBS member The 2016 season saw FCS Coastal Carolina join the Sun Belt Conference for non football sports while beginning a transition to FBS football the football team joined the Sun Belt in 2017 That season was also the last for Idaho and New Mexico State as Sun Belt football members After 2017 New Mexico State returned to independent status while Idaho downgraded to FCS football becoming the first program ever to voluntarily do so and added football to its all sports membership in the Big Sky Conference Also in 2016 UMass went independent after turning down an offer of full membership in the Mid American Conference Most recently UConn went independent in 2020 when the school left The American to rejoin many of its historic basketball rivals in the current Big East Conference Notre Dame competed under a full ACC schedule only also in 2020 in response to logistical concerns that arose from the effects of COVID 19 The most recent realignment is currently ongoing starting with the announcements by Oklahoma and Texas that they would leave the Big 12 for the SEC no later than 2025 69 The Big 12 and its departing members later announced a 2024 departure date 70 The first actual conference changes came in 2022 with the Sun Belt gaining Marshall returning Old Dominion and Southern Miss from C USA 61 71 and FCS upgrader James Madison The following year saw C USA add Jacksonville State Sam Houston both from FCS New Mexico State and Liberty FBS independents but lose Charlotte Florida Atlantic North Texas Rice UAB and UTSA to The American In turn The American lost Cincinnati Houston and UCF to the Big 12 which also added former football independent BYU 72 In 2024 Oklahoma and Texas will join the SEC while 10 of the 12 members of the Pac 12 have announced their departure for other power conferences UCLA USC Oregon and Washington for the Big Ten Arizona Arizona State Colorado and Utah for the Big 12 73 74 and California and Stanford for the ACC In addition Kennesaw State will upgrade to FBS and join C USA 75 and SMU will leave The American for the ACC 76 77 Awards EditSee also College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS Several awards are given each year to players and coaches in the FBS Although all college football players are eligible for many of these awards such as the Heisman Trophy FBS players usually win these awards and other awards such as the Walter Payton Award exist to honor players in other divisions and the FCS In addition to the national awards listed below FBS conferences also have their own awards and several organizations release a yearly College Football All America Team In 1951 the National Football Foundation established the College Football Hall of Fame Notable individual awards include Best most valuable player Heisman Trophy Maxwell Award Walter Camp Award Archie Griffin Award AP Player of the Year SN Player of the Year Lombardi Award originally lineman linebacker but expanded to all players in 2016 Defensive player of the year Chuck Bednarik Award Bronko Nagurski Trophy Lott Trophy Position awards Dave Rimington Trophy Center Davey O Brien Award and Manning Award Quarterback Dick Butkus Award Linebacker Doak Walker Award Running back Fred Biletnikoff Award Wide receiver Jim Thorpe Award Defensive back John Mackey Award Tight end Lou Groza Award Placekicker Outland Trophy Interior lineman Ray Guy Award Punter Ted Hendricks Award Defensive end Jet Award Return Specialist Non positional playing awards Paul Hornung Award most versatile player Burlsworth Trophy top player who began his college career as a walk on Jon Cornish Trophy top Canadian player Coaching awards Head coaches AFCA Coach of the Year Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year SN Coach of the Year Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award Paul Bear Bryant Award Home Depot Coach of the Year Award AP Coach of the Year Assistants Broyles Award AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year Other awards William V Campbell Trophy Wuerffel Trophy Rudy Award Amos Alonzo Stagg Award Walter Camp Man of the Year Theodore Roosevelt AwardThe NCAA does not officially name a national champion but several other organizations name national champions and all conferences participate in the College Football Playoff in order to determine a champion The winner of the College Football Playoff receives the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy The AP awards the AP National Championship Trophy while the American Football Coaches Association awards the AFCA National Championship Trophy The AFCA trophy was previously awarded to the winner of the BCS National Championship Game a predecessor of the College Football Playoff National Championship game which operated from 1999 to 2014 The Football Writers Association of America awarded the Grantland Rice Trophy until after the 2013 season and the National Football Foundation awards the MacArthur Bowl Since the disputed end of the 2003 season the various organizations have been able to agree on a single national champion Maps of teams EditMany of the school names on the maps below are abbreviated in order to save space Some of them are very well known others not as well known The following is list of such abbreviations with along with each school s full name App State Appalachian State University BC Boston College BGSU Bowling Green State University BSU Ball State University BU Boston University BYU Brigham Young University CCU Coastal Carolina University CMU Central Michigan University CSUF California State University Fullerton CSULB California State University Long Beach ECU East Carolina University EMU Eastern Michigan University FAU Florida Atlantic University FIU Florida International University GW George Washington University JMU James Madison University JSU Jacksonville State University LSU Louisiana State University MTSU Middle Tennessee State University NIU Northern Illinois University NYU New York University ODU Old Dominion University SDSU San Diego State University SJSU San Jose State University SMU Southern Methodist University TCU Texas Christian University TXST Texas State University UAB University of Alabama at Birmingham UCF University of Central Florida UCLA University of California Los Angeles UConn University of Connecticut ULM University of Louisiana at Monroe UMass University of Massachusetts UNLV University of Nevada Las Vegas USC University of Southern California USF University of South Florida UTSA University of Texas at San Antonio VMI Virginia Military Institute W amp J Washington amp Jefferson College W amp L Washington and Lee University W amp M College of William amp Mary WKU Western Kentucky University WMU Western Michigan University WUSTL Washington University in St Louis 1927 map of teams Edit nbsp gt nbsp Illinois nbsp Minnesota nbsp Michigan nbsp Purdue nbsp Chicago nbsp Northwestern nbsp Ohio State nbsp Indiana nbsp Iowa nbsp Wisconsin nbsp Missouri nbsp Nebraska nbsp Oklahoma State nbsp Iowa State nbsp WUSTL nbsp Kansas nbsp Oklahoma nbsp Kansas State nbsp Drake nbsp Grinnell nbsp USC nbsp Stanford nbsp Idaho nbsp Washington nbsp California nbsp Oregon State nbsp Washington State nbsp Oregon nbsp Montana nbsp Colorado State nbsp Denver nbsp Montana State nbsp Colorado College nbsp Utah nbsp Colorado nbsp Utah State nbsp BYU nbsp Colorado Mines nbsp Wyoming nbsp Western State nbsp Northern Colorado nbsp NC State nbsp Georgia Tech nbsp Tennessee nbsp Georgia nbsp Vanderbilt nbsp Florida nbsp Ole Miss nbsp Clemson nbsp Virginia nbsp Alabama nbsp LSU nbsp Mississippi State nbsp Virginia Tech nbsp W amp L nbsp Maryland nbsp VMI nbsp SouthCarolina nbsp Tulane nbsp North Carolina nbsp Sewanee nbsp Kentucky nbsp Auburn nbsp Texas A amp M nbsp SMU nbsp Arkansas nbsp Texas nbsp TCU nbsp Rice nbsp Baylor nbsp Furman nbsp Army nbsp Georgetown nbsp W amp J nbsp Dartmouth nbsp Yale nbsp Princeton nbsp Pittsburgh nbsp Notre Dame nbsp Creighton nbsp NYU nbsp Detroit nbsp Penn State nbsp Columbia nbsp Marquette nbsp Navy nbsp Colgate nbsp Lafayette nbsp Penn nbsp Syracuse nbsp Carnegie Mellon nbsp Cornell nbsp Davidson nbsp Harvard nbsp Duke nbsp Michigan State nbsp WestVirginia nbsp Brown nbsp Wake Forestclass notpageimage College football teams in 1927 78 nbsp Big Ten Conference nbsp Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association before six teams left to form the Big 6 which grew into the Big 8 79 nbsp Pacific Coast Conference which grew into the Pacific 10 nbsp Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference nbsp Southern Conference nbsp Southwest Conference nbsp Independents 1956 map of teams Edit nbsp nbsp Clemson nbsp Duke nbsp SouthCarolina nbsp Maryland nbsp North Carolina nbsp NC State nbsp Wake Forest nbsp Virginia nbsp Oklahoma nbsp Colorado nbsp Missouri nbsp Nebraska nbsp Kansas nbsp Kansas State nbsp Iowa State nbsp Iowa nbsp Michigan nbsp Minnesota nbsp Michigan State nbsp Ohio State nbsp Northwestern nbsp Purdue nbsp Illinois nbsp Wisconsin nbsp Indiana nbsp UTEP nbsp Arizona State nbsp West Texas State nbsp Arizona nbsp Hardin Simmons nbsp New Mexico State nbsp Yale nbsp Princeton nbsp Dartmouth nbsp Penn nbsp Brown nbsp Columbia nbsp Harvard nbsp Cornell nbsp Houston nbsp Tulsa nbsp Oklahoma State nbsp Wichita State nbsp Detroit nbsp Oregon State nbsp USC nbsp UCLA nbsp Oregon nbsp Washington nbsp Stanford nbsp Washington State nbsp California nbsp Idaho nbsp Wyoming nbsp Utah nbsp Denver nbsp Utah State nbsp Colorado State nbsp New Mexico nbsp BYU nbsp Montana nbsp WestVirginia nbsp Virginia Tech nbsp GW nbsp Furman nbsp VMI nbsp Davidson nbsp Richmond nbsp Citadel nbsp W amp M nbsp Tennessee nbsp Georgia Tech nbsp Florida nbsp Ole Miss nbsp Auburn nbsp Kentucky nbsp Tulane nbsp Vanderbilt nbsp Mississippi State nbsp Alabama nbsp LSU nbsp Georgia nbsp Texas A amp M nbsp TCU nbsp Baylor nbsp Arkansas nbsp SMU nbsp Rice nbsp Texas nbsp Miami FL nbsp Navy nbsp Syracuse nbsp North Texas nbsp Penn State nbsp Pittsburgh nbsp Pacific nbsp Army nbsp Holy Cross nbsp BC nbsp Villanova nbsp Florida State nbsp Cincinnati nbsp Colgate nbsp Dayton nbsp Drake nbsp Rutgers nbsp BU nbsp SJSU nbsp Texas Tech nbsp Notre Dame nbsp Marquetteclass notpageimage College football teams in 1956 The University Division 80 nbsp Atlantic Coast Conference nbsp Big 7 Conference which grew into the Big 8 nbsp Big Ten Conference nbsp Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association nbsp Ivy League nbsp Missouri Valley Conference nbsp Pacific Coast Conference which grew into the Pacific 10 nbsp Skyline Conference nbsp Southern Conference nbsp SEC nbsp Southwest Conference nbsp Independents 1976 map of teams Edit nbsp nbsp Maryland nbsp North Carolina nbsp Wake Forest nbsp Duke nbsp NC State nbsp Virginia nbsp Clemson nbsp Oklahoma nbsp Oklahoma State nbsp Colorado nbsp Nebraska nbsp Iowa State nbsp Missouri nbsp Kansas nbsp Kansas State nbsp Michigan nbsp Ohio State nbsp Minnesota nbsp Illinois nbsp Indiana nbsp Purdue nbsp Iowa nbsp Wisconsin nbsp Michigan State nbsp Northwestern nbsp Brown nbsp Yale nbsp Dartmouth nbsp Harvard nbsp Columbia nbsp Penn nbsp Cornell nbsp Princeton nbsp BSU nbsp Kent State nbsp Ohio nbsp WMU nbsp CMU nbsp BGSU nbsp Miami OH nbsp Toledo nbsp EMU nbsp NIU nbsp Tulsa nbsp New Mexico State nbsp West Texas State nbsp Wichita State nbsp Drake nbsp USC nbsp UCLA nbsp Stanford nbsp California nbsp Washington nbsp Washington State nbsp Oregon nbsp Oregon State nbsp SJSU nbsp Fresno State nbsp CSULB nbsp CSUF nbsp Pacific nbsp ECU nbsp Richmond nbsp W amp M nbsp App State nbsp Furman nbsp Citadel nbsp VMI nbsp Georgia nbsp Kentucky nbsp Alabama nbsp Mississippi State nbsp Florida nbsp Ole Miss nbsp LSU nbsp Tennessee nbsp Auburn nbsp Vanderbilt nbsp Houston nbsp Texas Tech nbsp Texas A amp M nbsp Baylor nbsp Texas nbsp Arkansas nbsp Rice nbsp SMU nbsp TCU nbsp BYU nbsp Wyoming nbsp Arizona State nbsp Utah nbsp Arizona nbsp New Mexico nbsp Colorado State nbsp UTEP nbsp Pittsburgh nbsp Rutgers nbsp SDSU nbsp Colgate nbsp Notre Dame nbsp BC nbsp Cincinnati nbsp Memphis nbsp Villanova nbsp Penn State nbsp North Texas nbsp SouthCarolina nbsp Virginia Tech nbsp Army nbsp Florida State nbsp WestVirginia nbsp Georgia Tech nbsp Temple nbsp Air Force nbsp Dayton nbsp Louisville nbsp Marshall nbsp Navy nbsp Holy Cross nbsp Miami FL nbsp Syracuse nbsp Utah State nbsp ULM nbsp Southern Miss nbsp Tulaneclass notpageimage College football teams in 1976 81 nbsp Atlantic Coast Conference nbsp Big Eight Conference nbsp Big Ten Conference nbsp Ivy League nbsp Mid American Conference nbsp Missouri Valley Conference nbsp Pac 8 Conference nbsp PCAA aka Big West Conference nbsp Southern Conference nbsp SEC nbsp Southwest Conference nbsp Western Athletic Conference nbsp Independents 1991 map of teams Edit nbsp nbsp Georgia Tech nbsp Wake Forest nbsp Virginia nbsp NC State nbsp North Carolina nbsp Duke nbsp Clemson nbsp Maryland nbsp BC nbsp Syracuse nbsp Pittsburgh nbsp Miami FL nbsp Rutgers nbsp WestVirginia nbsp Virginia Tech nbsp Temple nbsp Colorado nbsp Iowa State nbsp Kansas nbsp Kansas State nbsp Missouri nbsp Nebraska nbsp Oklahoma nbsp Oklahoma State nbsp Indiana nbsp Michigan nbsp Michigan State nbsp Ohio State nbsp Illinois nbsp Iowa nbsp Minnesota nbsp Northwestern nbsp Purdue nbsp Wisconsin nbsp Fresno State nbsp SJSU nbsp Utah State nbsp Pacific nbsp UNLV nbsp CSULB nbsp New Mexico State nbsp CSUF nbsp BGSU nbsp CMU nbsp Miami OH nbsp Toledo nbsp WMU nbsp BSU nbsp EMU nbsp Ohio nbsp Kent State nbsp Arizona nbsp Arizona State nbsp California nbsp UCLA nbsp Oregon nbsp Oregon State nbsp USC nbsp Stanford nbsp Washington nbsp Washington State nbsp Florida nbsp Kentucky nbsp Georgia nbsp Tennessee nbsp Vanderbilt nbsp Alabama nbsp Auburn nbsp LSU nbsp Ole Miss nbsp Mississippi State nbsp Houston nbsp Texas Tech nbsp SMU nbsp Texas A amp M nbsp Texas nbsp Rice nbsp Baylor span, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
