NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Current season, competition or edition: 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season | |
Sport | College football |
---|---|
Founded | 1978 |
No. of teams | 134 |
Country | United States |
Most recent champion(s) | Michigan Wolverines (2023) |
TV partner(s) | Various |
Official website | ncaa |
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 2024 season, there are 10 conferences and 134 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 receive payments 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
Overview
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
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. The three United States service academies that are FBS members are technically subject to the 85-scholarship limit, but are effectively exempt because all of their students receive federally-funded full scholarships whether or not they play a varsity sport.[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, minimums on both the total number of, and spending on, athletic scholarships in all FBS programs will be enforced. The number of required athletic scholarships will increase to 210, and the annual spending requirement rises 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
The FBS season begins in late August or early September and ends in January with the
Year | Bowls | Teams in bowls[18] |
---|---|---|
1968 | 11 | N/A |
1984 | 18 | ~30% |
1997 | 20 | ~35% |
2015 | 41[a] | 62.5%[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 80% of the FCS limit of 63 scholarship equivalents over a rolling two-year period.[20] (Before the 2022 season, this limit had been 90%.[21][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.[23] FBS-FCS games, known as "money games", are often home games for the FBS team, and victories by FCS teams are considered to be upsets.[24] FCS teams receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for their participation in these FBS-FCS games.[24]
The Football Bowl Subdivision gets its name from the
Bowl | Location | Est. |
---|---|---|
Rose Bowl | Pasadena, CA[d] | 1902 |
Orange Bowl | Miami Gardens, FL | 1935 |
Sugar Bowl | New Orleans, LA[e] | 1935 |
Cotton Bowl | Arlington, TX | 1937 |
Peach Bowl | Atlanta, GA | 1968 |
Fiesta Bowl | Glendale, AZ | 1971 |
Many bowls have an established conference tie-in; for example, the
History
Carolina
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
Conf. | 1983[30] | 1993[30] | 2003[31] | 2014[32] |
---|---|---|---|---|
SEC | 64,842 | 62,789 | 74,059 | 77,694 |
Big Ten | 67,471 | 63,535 | 70,198 | 66,869 |
Big 12 | — | — | 56,362 | 58,102 |
Pac-12 | 47,248 | 47,919 | 51,608 | 52,702 |
ACC | 42,608 | 44,056 | 51,938 | 50,291 |
AAC[f] | — | 38,039 | 46,870 | 29,193 |
MW | — | — | 32,809 | 25,254 |
CUSA | — | — | 32,346 | 20,455 |
Sun Belt | — | — | 14,352 | 18,294 |
MAC | 17,351 | 14,252 | 17,820 | 15,431 |
FBS | 42,162 | 41,281 | 44,877 | 44,603 |
FCS | 10,844 | 8,599 | 7,739 | 8,310 |
In 1935, the
The NCAA does not officially award an FBS football championship,
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.[42]
Television
College football was first broadcast on radio in 1921, and first broadcast on television in 1939.[43] Television became profitable for both schools and the NCAA, which tightly controlled the airing of games in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.[44] The NCAA limited each football team to six television appearances over a two-year period.[44] The 1981 Supreme Court case NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma & University of Georgia granted television rights to individual schools as opposed to the NCAA and allowed teams to televise all of their games.[45] 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.[38][46] This new era of television led to several waves of conference realignment, most notably in 1996, 2005, and the early 2010s.[47] FBS games continue to be a major draw on television, as over 26 million people watched the 2014 BCS National Championship Game.[48]
National networks such as CBS, ABC, NBC, several
Teams and conferences
Conferences
Year | Conferences | Teams |
---|---|---|
1980 | 13[51] | 138 |
1982[g] | 10 [52] | 96 |
1990 | 9[53] | 107 |
2000 | 11[54] | 116 |
2010 | 11[55] | 120 |
2024 | 10 | 134 |
History
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
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 (CUSA), 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 (MW). Prior to the 2000 season, the Big West stopped sponsoring football. The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) 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.[56]
Current conferences
Most of the 133 FBS schools are members of an FBS conference, but there are also a small number of
Conference | Nickname | Founded | Football Members |
Sports | Headquarters |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
American Athletic Conference | The American (official) AAC (informal) |
1979[h] | 14[i] | 21[j] | Irving, Texas |
Atlantic Coast Conference† | ACC | 1953 | 14[k] | 27 | Greensboro, North Carolina |
Big 12 Conference† | Big 12 | 1996 | 14[l] | 23[m] | Irving, Texas |
Big Ten Conference† | Big Ten, B1G | 1896 | 14[n] | 28 | Rosemont, Illinois |
Conference USA | CUSA | 1995[o] | 9[p] | 19 | Dallas, Texas |
Division I FBS Independents[q] | 4[r] | ||||
Mid-American Conference | MAC | 1946 | 12[s] | 24 | Cleveland, Ohio |
Mountain West Conference | MW (official) MWC (informal) |
1999 | 12[t] | 19 | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
Pac-12 Conference† | Pac-12 | 1915[u] | 12[v] | 24 | San Francisco, California |
Southeastern Conference† | SEC | 1932 | 14[w] | 20[x] | Birmingham, Alabama |
Sun Belt Conference | SBC | 1976 | 14 | 20 | New Orleans, Louisiana |
† "Big Five" or "Power Five" conferences with guaranteed berths in the "access bowls" associated with the College Football Playoff
Transitional teams
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 Atlantic Sun Conference, or ASUN), 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 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,[60] but instead joined the non-football ASUN Conference in 2018.[61] Conference USA (CUSA) eventually announced in November 2021 Liberty's future addition to that conference, with Flames football moving to CUSA starting in the 2023 season.[62]
Three schools began FBS transitions on July 1, 2022.
The most recent school to start an FBS transition is Kennesaw State University, which started its transition in 2023[68] ahead of its move to Conference USA in 2024.[69] The next school to start such a transition is Delaware, which will start a transition in 2024 and join CUSA in 2025.[70]
Finances
The following table shows revenue for each conference reported by the Knight Commission for the 2021–22 academic year.[71]
Note: Values from some universities are not reported here. The only conferences made up entirely of state-supported universities are the MAC and SBC.
Conference | 2021–22 Total Revenue |
2021–22 Total Expenses |
2021–22 Reporting Members |
2021–22 Total Revenue / Reporting Member |
2021–22 Total Expense / Reporting Member |
2021–22 Members Not Reporting |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
American Athletic Conference | $423,910,145 | $397,404,448 | 6 | $70,651,691 | $66,234,075 | SMU,[z] Temple,[aa] Tulane,[z] Navy,[ab] Tulsa[z] |
Atlantic Coast Conference | $1,072,193,980 | $1,028,501,053 | 8 | $134,024,248 | $128,562,632 | Boston College,[z] Duke,[z] Syracuse,[z] Miami,[z] Pitt,[aa] Wake Forest[z] |
Big 12 Conference | $1,066,493,140 | $1,016,951,340 | 8 | $133,311,643 | $127,118,918 | Baylor,[z] TCU[z] |
Big Ten Conference | $2,041,265,014 | $1,927,764,454 | 13 | $157,020,386 | $148,289,573 | Northwestern[z] |
Conference USA | $496,221,144 | $493,252,353 | 13 | $38,170,857 | $37,942,489 | Rice[z] |
Mid-American Conference | $288,033,509 | $282,855,157 | 9 | $32,003,723 | $31,428,351 | Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Buffalo |
Mountain West Conference | $570,792,144 | $555,080,056 | 11 | $51,890,195 | $50,461,823 | Air Force[ab] |
Pac-12 Conference | $1,144,504,032 | $1,163,840,847 | 10 | $114,450,403 | $116,384,085 | Stanford,[z] USC[z] |
Southeastern Conference | $2,168,587,358 | $2,044,850,233 | 13 | $166,814,412 | $157,296,172 | Vanderbilt[z] |
Sun Belt Conference | $335,515,775 | $329,574,687 | 9 | $37,279,531 | $36,619,410 | Louisiana–Monroe |
- ^ 40 opening bowl games, plus the College Football Playoff National Championship, which involves the winners of two semifinal bowl games.
- ^ Of 128 FBS teams in 2015, 80 were needed for the opening 40 bowl games. Despite already lowered qualifying standards, which allowed teams with 6–6 non-winning seasons to "legitimately" participate, there were still three vacant bowl slots, requiring three teams with 5–7 losing seasons to be invited, destroying the decades-long tradition of only the best teams participating in 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 80% 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 then-current 90% requirement with football-related aid. However, once academic aid was counted, Delaware State met the threshold and FSU played in its bowl game.[22]
- ^ The 1942 Rose Bowl was played in Durham, North Carolina, and the 2021 Rose Bowl was played in Arlington, Texas.
- Atlanta, Georgia.
- ^ Includes numbers for the Big East in 1993 and 2003.
- ^ This figure includes the two conferences that were Division I-A/Division I-AA hybrids, but does not include the I-AA schools in the member count.
- 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 Seriesberth 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.
- ^ 20 sports in 2024 with dropping of women's rowing.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 25 sports in 2024 with addition of beach volleyball and women's lacrosse.
- ^ 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 and 11 members in 2025 with addition of Delaware.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 3 members in 2024 with loss of Army, and 2 members in 2025 with loss of UMass.
- ^ 13 full members in 2025 with addition of UMass.
- 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.
- ^ 2 members in 2024: Oregon State and Washington State.
- ^ 16 members in 2024 with addition of Oklahoma and Texas.
- ^ 21 sports likely in 2024 with expected (but not yet announced) addition of women's rowing.
- ^ Since renamed the Coastal Athletic Association.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Private institution not required to report.
- ^ a b Members of Pennsylvania's Commonwealth System of Higher Education are exempt from most open records laws. Of the three FBS schools in this system, Penn State chooses to report, while Pitt and Temple choose not to.
- ^ a b Athletic programs of the United States service academies are not directly operated by the academies, but rather by related non-profit entities that are not required to report.
Realignment
The FBS has experienced several
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 CUSA, but lost one school each to the ACC and Big Ten after its first season. In turn, CUSA 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.[56]
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.[56]
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 their 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 without extenuating circumstances[a]—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.[73] The Big 12 and its departing members later announced a 2024 departure date.[74] The first actual conference changes came in 2022, with the Sun Belt gaining Marshall, returning Old Dominion, and Southern Miss from CUSA,[63][75] and FCS upgrader James Madison. The following year saw CUSA 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.[76] 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;[77][78] and California and Stanford for the ACC. In addition, Kennesaw State will upgrade to FBS and join CUSA,[79] SMU will leave The American for the ACC,[80][81] and Army will leave the independent ranks to become a football-only member of The American.[82] 2025 will also see a new team transition from FCS to FBS as Delaware will join CUSA from CAA Football,[83] and also the departure of UMass from the independent ranks to become a full member of the MAC.[84]
Awards
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: 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: Home Depot Coach of the Year Award, AP Coach of the Year
- Assistants: AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year
- Head coaches:
- Other awards: Theodore Roosevelt Award
The NCAA does not officially name a national champion, but several other organizations name
Maps of teams
Many of the school names on the maps below are abbreviated in order to save space.
The following is a 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
- Duke: Duke University
- 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
- PSU : Penn State 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 Amherst
- 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&J : Washington & Jefferson College
- W&L : Washington and Lee University
- W&M : College of William & Mary
- WKU : Western Kentucky University
- WMU : Western Michigan University
- WUSTL : Washington University in St. Louis
- WVU : West Virginia University
1927 map of teams
Carolina
1956 map of teams
1976 map of teams
Carolina
1982 map of teams
Carolina
1991 map of teams
Big Eight Conference
Big Ten Conference
Big West Conference
Mid-American Conference
Pacific-10
SEC
Southwest Conference
Western Athletic Conference
Independents other than those indicated below
Independents that joined an AQ conference by the BCS's inaugural 1998 season
Notes:
- This was one year before the start of the Bowl Coalition.
- Hawaii, a member of the WAC, is not shown.
2010 map of teams
Big 12 Conference
Big Ten Conference
Conference USA
Mid-American Conference
Mountain West Conference
Pacific-10
SEC
Sun Belt Conference
Western Athletic Conference
Notes:
- Hawaii, a member of the WAC, is not shown.
2023 map of teams
Carolina
Schools that have transitioned to the FBS
FBS programs
In addition to the list of FBS football programs in the Main article, there is also a List of NCAA Division I FBS football stadiums.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ When the NCAA demoted the Ivy League and Southland Conference to Division I-AA after the 1981 season due to not meeting then-current football attendance requirements, McNeese (Southland) and Yale (Ivy), both of which had met said requirements, chose to follow their conferences into I-AA (now FCS).
References
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- ^ Dosh, Kristi. "Texas tops in football profit, revenue". Retrieved December 15, 2014.
- ^ Based on List of NCAA Division I FBS football programs
- ^ Huguenin, Mike (July 9, 2014). "14 for '14: Top small-school prospects". NFL.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
- ^ Bryan Nielsen (September 11, 2007). "So what's in a college football subdivision name?". JG-TC.com. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
- ^ a b Pennington, Bill (December 29, 2012). "Big Dream, Rude Awakening". The New York Times. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
- ^ Berkowitz, Steve (July 1, 2013). "Most NCAA Division I athletic departments take subsidies". USA Today. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
- ^ Fischer-Baum, Ruben. "Infographic: Is Your State's Highest-Paid Employee A Coach? (Probably)". Deadspin. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
- ^ "College Football Scholarships. NCAA and NAIA Football Recruiting". College Sports Scholarships. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "2015-16 Football Bowl Subdivision Membership Requirements Certification" (PDF). NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2015. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
- ^ "DI Council approves changes to notification-of-transfer windows" (Press release). NCAA. October 4, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ a b Wischnowsky, Dave (February 16, 2013). "Wisch: Does College Football Need A 13-Game Regular Season?". CBS. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
- ^ a b Wilkerson, Brant (June 9, 2016). "Sun Belt to add football championship game in 2018". Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- ^ "Bylaw 17.28.2: Alaska/Hawaii, Additional Football Contest". 2016–17 NCAA Division I Manual (PDF). NCAA. p. 288. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
- ^ NCAA 2016, "Bylaw 17.10.5.2.1(g) Bowl Subdivision, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico", p. 248.
- ^ "Everything you need to know about the 12-team College Football Playoff for 2024". December 2, 2022.
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