NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2023) |
Current season, competition or edition: 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season | |
Sport | American football |
---|---|
Founded | 1978 |
No. of teams | 128 |
Country | United States |
Official website | www |
The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the FCS level comprises 128 teams in 14 conferences as of the 2023 season. The FCS designation is only tied to football with the non-football sports programs of each school competing in NCAA Division I.
History
From 1906 to 1955, the NCAA had no divisional structure for member schools. Prior to the 1956 college football season, NCAA schools were organized into an upper University Division and lower College Division. In the summer of 1973, the University Division became Division I, but by 1976, there was a desire to further separate the major football programs from those that were less financially successful, while allowing their other sports to compete at the top level.[1]
Division I-AA was created in January 1978, when
But because the NCAA allowed four years for criteria #2 and #3 to be met, just eight schools (seven from the
The next big increase in Division I-AA membership came after the January 1991 NCAA convention voted to require an athletic program to maintain all of its sports at the same divisional level by the 1993 season.[6] In order to comply, 28 Division I schools with football programs at the Division II and Division III levels were forced to upgrade their teams to the Division I level, and all of them (at least initially) chose Division I-AA as their new football home. At the same time, the number of football scholarships allowed in I-AA was reduced from the original 70 to 63, effective in 1994; it has remained at that number ever since. With the new additions, membership in I-AA hit a new high of 118 in 1993.
The subdivision stabilized thereafter, maintaining at least 120 members from 1997 onward. Membership peaked at 130 in 2022 before settling at the current 128.
NCAA Division I-A and NCAA Division I-AA were renamed as NCAA Division I FBS and NCAA Division I FCS prior to the 2006 season.
Championships
The FCS has held a post-season playoff to award an NCAA-sanctioned national championship since its inception in 1978. The size of the playoff bracket has increased from 4 teams in 1978 to 24 teams in the 2020 season. This makes the FCS the highest level of college football with an NCAA-sanctioned national championship.
Conferences
As of the 2023 football season, there are 13 Division I FCS football conferences:
- Big Sky Conference
- Big South–OVC Football Association
- Started play in 2023 as an alliance between the Big South Conference and Ohio Valley Conference that shares a single automatic FCS playoff berth. Technically treated by the NCAA as an alliance instead of a full conference.
- CAA Football – While administered by the multi-sports Coastal Athletic Association, it is a separate legal entity—although the NCAA considers both sides of the CAA to be a single conference.
- Ivy League
- Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
- Missouri Valley Football Conference
- Northeast Conference
- Patriot League
- Pioneer Football League
- Southern Conference
- Southland Conference
- Southwestern Athletic Conference
- United Athletic Conference
- Formed in December 2022 by a football-only merger of the Atlantic Sun Conference (then ASUN Conference) and Western Athletic Conference. In the 2021 and 2022 seasons, those two all-sports conferences had been partners in a football alliance that shared a single berth in the FCS playoffs. The NCAA technically considers the UAC to be a continuation of this alliance instead of a fully formed conference.
See also
- List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs
- List of NCAA Division I FCS football stadiums
- List of NCAA Division I FCS playoff appearances by team
- List of NCAA Division I-AA/FCS football seasons
- NCAA Division I FBS
References
- ^ "NCAA may drop 100 Division 1 schools". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). Associated Press. November 16, 1976. p. B11.
- ^ "Big schools win battle". St. Petersburg Independent. (Florida). Associated Press. January 13, 1978. p. 5C.
- ^ a b Underwood, John (January 23, 1978). "The NCAA splits its decision". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
- ^ "The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts on August 28, 1982 · 32".
- ^ "The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio on August 27, 1982 · Page 19".
- ^ "Northridge Likely To Alter Its Game Plan". Los Angeles Times. January 11, 1991.