NCAA Division I FBS independent schools

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FBS Independents
2009 season
NCAA Division I FBS
Schools 3
Sports fielded 1 (men's: 1; women's: 0)
Region Eastern United States
Locations
FBS Independents locations

NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an NCAA-affiliated conference. This means that FBS independents do not schedule each other for competition like conference schools do. There are considerably fewer independent schools than in years past; many independent schools later join (or attempt to join) established conferences, usually in order to gain a share of television revenue and access to bowl games that agree to take teams from certain conferences.

All Division I FBS independents are eligible for a BCS bowl provided they meet BCS eligibility requirements. Currently, those requirements are finishing in the top 14 of the final BCS standings and there being at least one slot not filled through automatic provisions.[1] Notre Dame can receive an automatic bid by finishing in the top 8 of the final standings. Notre Dame also has other bowl agreements as part of its affiliation with the Big East, and Navy and Army have agreements with the EagleBank Bowl.[2]

Contents

[edit] Reasons for being Independent

 This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (April 2008)

In recent years, most Independent FBS schools have joined a conference for two primary reasons - in order to gain a guaranteed share of television and bowl revenues, and for ease of scheduling. The three Independent FBS schools that are remaining independent (or returned to independent status), all have unique circumstances that circumvent their need for conference affiliation.

[edit] Notre Dame

Notre Dame is one of the most nationally prominent programs in the country. Due to its national popularity built over many years, as well as its strong ethnic and religious appeal among Irish-Americans and Roman Catholics, Notre Dame is the only individual school to have its own national television contract,[3][4] and is the only individual school to be part of the BCS coalition (including a guaranteed payout from the BCS). All these factors help make Notre Dame the most financially valuable football program in the country, thus negating the need for Notre Dame to secure revenue by joining a conference.[5][6]

From a scheduling standpoint, Notre Dame has longstanding rivalries with many different programs around the country, including annual rivalry games with USC, Michigan, Michigan State, Navy, and Purdue. They also have semi-recurring rivalries with Air Force, Army, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Pitt, and in recent years, Stanford. Finally, all Notre Dame home games and most of their away games are nationally televised, meaning that even teams that do not have a rivalry with Notre Dame have a strong financial incentive to schedule them. These factors make it much easier for Notre Dame to fill their schedule on an annual basis than it would be for most other teams. Additionally, if Notre Dame were to join a conference, it would likely have to eliminate or reduce the frequency of several rivalries.

[edit] Army and Navy

The other two perennially Independent programs are two of the service academies, Army and Navy. Because the service academies are fully funded by the federal government, they do not have the financial requirements that most other schools have, where television and bowl appearances are important sources of revenue and advertising for both the football program and the school. Therefore, they do not have any financial incentive to join a conference.

Because of the unique nature of the service academies, scheduling is less of an issue than for most schools. From a scheduling standpoint, both of these service academies already have annual games guaranteed with each other and with Air Force. In addition, Navy has an annual rivalry game with Notre Dame and Army has a semi-regular rivalry with Notre Dame. Finally, despite the two programs' lack of prominence in recent years, television rights for the Army–Navy Game, because of the tradition associated with it, serves as a major revenue source for the programs. The service academies also use their football programs for general recruiting purposes. Without being tied to a conference schedule, and because of their geographically dispersed fan base (potentially all Navy and Army affiliates, respectively), the Academies are able to more easily schedule games around the country than would be possible for other teams.

[edit] FBS Independents for 2009

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[edit] Independents' stadiums

Institution Football Stadium Capacity
Army Michie Stadium 40,000
Navy Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium 34,000
Notre Dame Notre Dame Stadium 80,975

[edit] FBS Independent Teams

The following is a complete list of teams which have been Division 1-A (FBS) Independents since the formation of Division I-A in 1978.

Years Team Previous Conference Conference Joined Current Conference
1978-1979 Air Force Division I Independent Western Athletic Conference (1980-1998) Mountain West Conference (1999-Present)
1987-1991 Akron Ohio Valley Conference Mid-American Conference (1992-Present)
1996-1998 Alabama-Birmingham Division I-AA Independent Conference USA (1999-Present)
1992 Arkansas State Division I-AA Independent Big West Conference (1993-1995)
1996-1998 Arkansas State Big West Conference (1993-1995) Big West Conference (1999-2000) Sun Belt Conference (2001-Present)
1978-1997 Army Division I Independent Conference USA (1998-2004)
2005-Present Army Conference USA (1998-2004)
1978-1990 Boston College Division I Independent Big East Conference (1991-2004) Atlantic Coast Conference (2005-Present)
1992 Cal St.-Fullerton Big West Conference Dropped Football
1991 Cal St.-Long Beach Big West Conference Dropped Football
1996-2001 Central Florida Division I-AA Independent Mid-American Conference (2002-2004) Conference USA (2005-Present)
1978-1995 Cincinnati Division I Independent Conference USA (1996-2004) Big East Conference (2005-Present)
1978-1981 Colgate Division I Independent Division I-AA Independent (1982-1985) Patriot League (1986-Present)
2000-2003 Connecticut Colonial Athletic Association Big East Conference (2004-Present)
1978-1996 East Carolina Division I Independent Conference USA (1997-Present)
1978-1991 Florida State Division I Independent Atlantic Coast Conference (1992-Present)
1978 Georgia Tech Division I Independent Atlantic Coast Conference (1979-Present)
1978 Hawaii Division I Independent Western Athletic Conference (1979-Present)
1978-1981 Holy Cross Division I Independent Division I-AA Independent (1982-1985) Patriot League (1986-Present)
1978-1980 Illinois State Division I Independent Missouri Valley Conference (1981-1984) Missouri Valley Football Conference (1985-Present)
1978-1981 Indiana State Division I Independent Division I-AA Independent (1982-1985) Missouri Valley Football Conference (1986-Present)
1989-1992 Louisiana Tech Division I-AA Independent Big West Conference (1993-1995)
1996-2000 Louisiana Tech Big West Conference (1993-1995) Western Athletic Conference (2001-Present)
1982-1992 Louisiana-Lafayette Southland Conference Big West Conference (1993-1995)
1996-2000 Louisiana-Lafayette Big West Conference (1993-1995) Sun Belt Conference (2001-Present)
1996-2000 Louisiana-Monroe Southland Conference Sun Belt Conference (2001-Present)
1978-1995 Louisville Division I Independent Conference USA (1996-2004) Big East Conference (2005-Present)
1978-1995 Memphis Division I Independent Conference USA (1996-Present)
1978-1990 Miami (FL) Division I Independent Big East Conference (1991-2003) Atlantic Coast Conference (2004-Present)
1999-2000 Middle Tennessee State Ohio Valley Conference Sun Belt Conference (2001-Present)
1978-Present Navy Division I Independent
1978-1981 Nevada-Las Vegas Division II Independent Big West Conference (1982-1995) Mountain West Conference (1999-Present)
1978-1982 North Texas Division I Independent Southland Conference (1983-1994)
1995 North Texas Southland Conference (1983-1994) Big West Conference (1996-2000) Sun Belt Conference (2001-Present)
1987-1992 Northern Illinois Mid-American Conference Big West Conference (1993-1995)
1996 Northern Illinois Big West Conference (1993-1995) Mid-American Conference (1997-Present)
1978-Present Notre Dame Division I Independent
1978-1992 Penn State Division I Independent Big Ten Conference (1993-Present)
1978-1990 Pittsburgh Division I Independent Big East Conference (1991-Present)
1978-1981 Richmond Division I Independent Division I-AA Independent (1982-1983) Colonial Athletic Association (1984-Present)
1978-1990 Rutgers Division I Independent Big East Conference (1991-Present)
1978-1991 South Carolina Division I Independent Southeastern Conference (1992-Present)
2001-2002 South Florida Division I-AA Independent Conference USA (2003-2004) Big East Conference (2005-Present)
1978-1995 Southern Mississippi Division I Independent Conference USA (1996-Present)
1978-1990 Syracuse Division I Independent Big East Conference (1991-Present)
1978-1990 Temple Division I Independent Big East Conference (1991-2004)
2005-2006 Temple Big East Conference (1991-2004) Mid-American Conference (2007-Present)
1978-1980 Tennessee State Division I Independent Division I-AA Independent (1981-1987) Ohio Valley Conference (1988-Present)
2002-2003 Troy Division I-AA Independent Sun Belt Conference (2004-Present)
1978-1995 Tulane Division I Independent Conference USA (1996-Present)
1986-1995 Tulsa Missouri Valley Conference Western Athletic Conference (1996-2004) Conference USA (2005-Present)
2001-2002 Utah State Big West Conference Sun Belt Conference (2003-2004) Western Athletic Conference (2005-Present)
1978-1980 Villanova Division I Independent Dropped Football Colonial Athletic Association (1985-Present)
1978-1990 Virginia Tech Division I Independent Big East Conference (1991-2003) Atlantic Coast Conference (2004-Present)
1978-1990 West Virginia Division I Independent Big East Conference (1991-Present)
1986 Wichita State Missouri Valley Conference Dropped Football
1978-1981 William & Mary Division I Independent Division I-AA Independent (1982-1992) Colonial Athletic Association (1993-Present)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Tenorio, Paul. "Bowl Game Brings Football Back to RFK". The Washington Post. September 11, 2008. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
  3. ^ Sandomir, Richard (1991-08-25). "COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Notre Dame Scored a $38 Million Touchdown on Its TV Deal". New York Times (nyyimes.com). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE0D91038F936A1575BC0A967958260. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
  4. ^ "NBC and Notre Dame Extend Football Agreement Through 2010". und.cstv.com. 2003-12-18. http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121803aaa.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
  5. ^ Gage, Jack (2006-12-22). "The most valuable college football teams". Forbes. newsinfo.nd.edu. http://newsinfo.nd.edu/content.cfm?topicid=20864. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
  6. ^ "Notre Dame Football Program Ranked Most Valuable In College Football". Forbes.com. und.cstv.com. 2006-11-20. http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112007aag.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

[edit] See also

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* Conference champion receives an automatic BCS bid
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