NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision

The original FBS proposal in 1975:

SEC

Independents

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.^[30] 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.^[31]

NCAA Football Average Attendance
Conf.	1983^[32]	1993^[32]	2003^[33]	2014^[34]
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^[e]	—	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 Heisman Trophy was presented for the first time; the award is generally considered to be college football's most prestigious individual award.^[35] 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.^[36] In 1968, the NCAA began allowing freshmen to compete in games; freshmen had previously been required to take a redshirt year.^[37] 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.^[38] 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.^[39] 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).^[40] 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.^[41] 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,^[42] 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.^[43] 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 replaced the BCS starting with the 2014 season; it featured four teams through the 2023 season, after which it expanded to 12 teams.

Since 2021, when the Supreme Court unanimously held in NCAA v. Alston that restrictions on name, image, and likeness compensation violated antitrust law, FBS football players have been able to make money from sources other than college scholarships. However, there remains no unified system to provide players with such compensation.

Television

College football was first broadcast on radio in 1921, and first broadcast on television in 1939.^[44] Television became profitable for both schools and the NCAA, which tightly controlled the airing of games in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.^[45] The NCAA limited each football team to six television appearances over a two-year period.^[45] 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.^[46] 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.^[40]^[47] This new era of television led to several waves of conference realignment, most notably in 1996, 2005, and the early 2010s.^[48] FBS games continue to be a major draw on television, as over 26 million people watched the 2014 BCS National Championship Game.^[49]

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;^[50] such networks include the Big Ten Network, BYUtv, the Longhorn Network (which was folded into the SEC Network in 2024), and the Pac-12 Network. In 2012, college football games drew over 400 million viewers.^[51]

Teams and conferences

Conferences

FBS teams and conferences
Year	Conferences	Teams
1980	13^[52]	138
1982^[f]	10 ^[53]	96
1990	9^[54]	107
2000	11^[55]	116
2010	11^[56]	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 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 (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.^[57]

Current conferences

Most of the 134 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. Through the 2023 season, 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 Four conferences" consist of most of the largest and best-known college athletic programs in the country. A school from one of the power conferences (including the Pac-12, which was a power conference prior to 2024) 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".^[58] Any conference may split its teams into two divisions;^[59] however, as of the 2024 season, the only FBS conference that uses divisions is the SBC. The American, the Big 12, and CUSA 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 CUSA 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.^[60] It was the first conference to entirely abandon divisions due to this, with the ACC and MW announcing similar intentions for 2023, and the Big Ten, MAC, and SEC doing the same for 2024. Since the 2018 season, all conferences have held 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;^[14] it has since expanded to 14 members while maintaining its divisional alignment.

Conference	Nickname	Founded	Football Members^[g]	Sports^[g]	Headquarters
American Athletic Conference	The American (official) AAC (informal)	1979^[h]	14^[i]	20	Irving, Texas
Atlantic Coast Conference†	ACC	1953	17^[j]	27	Charlotte, North Carolina
Big 12 Conference†	Big 12	1996	16	25	Irving, Texas
Big Ten Conference†	Big Ten, B1G	1896	18	28	Rosemont, Illinois
Conference USA	CUSA	1995^[k]	10^[l]	19	Dallas, Texas
Division I FBS Independents^[m]			3^[n]
Mid-American Conference	MAC	1946	12^[o]	23^[p]	Cleveland, Ohio
Mountain West Conference	MW (official) MWC (informal)	1999	12^[q]^[r]	19	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Pac-12 Conference	Pac-12	1915^[s]	2^[t]	24	San Francisco, California
Southeastern Conference†	SEC	1932	16	22	Birmingham, Alabama
Sun Belt Conference	SBC	1976	14	20	New Orleans, Louisiana

† "Big Four" or "Power Four" conferences that enjoy "autonomy status" under NCAA rules

^ 40 opening bowl games, plus the College Football Playoff National Championship, which involves the winners of two semifinal 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.^[23]
^ The 1942 Rose Bowl was played in Durham, North Carolina, and the 2021 Rose Bowl was played in Arlington, Texas.
^ The 2006 Sugar Bowl was played in 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.
^ ^a ^b Numbers are as of the current 2024 football season.
^ 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.
^ Army and Navy are football-only members, and Wichita State is a full member that does not sponsor football.
^ 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.
^ The conference was founded in 1995, with football competition starting in 1996.
^
12 members in 2025 with addition of Delaware and Missouri State.
- 11 members in 2026 with loss of UTEP.
^ 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.
^ 2 members in 2025 with loss of UMass.
^ 13 full members in 2025 with addition of UMass.
^ 24 sports in 2025 with addition of women's rowing.
^ Since 2012, Hawaii has been a football-only associate member, with most of its remaining teams in the non-football Big West Conference.
^
8 members in 2026 with the following changes:
- Loss of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State.
- Addition of UTEP.
- Upgrade of Hawaii's membership from football-only to all-sports.
^ 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.
^ 8 full members and 7 football members in 2026 with addition of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State, plus Gonzaga as a full but non-football member.

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,^[61] but instead joined the non-football ASUN Conference in 2018.^[62] 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.^[63]

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.^[64] This happened after James Madison's FCS conference, the all-sports Colonial Athletic Association (CAA),^[a] barred the Dukes from competing in or hosting team championships in any sport for that conference during the 2021–22 season according to then-current 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.^[65] 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 the NCAA refused it.^[66] However, when only 79 non-transitional FBS teams were available to fill the 82 FBS bowl slots for that season, JMU, which had finished its regular season with an 11–1 record, was allowed to fill one of the vacant slots.^[67] On July 1, 2023, two outgoing FCS teams Jacksonville State and Sam Houston joined CUSA.^[68]

The most recent schools to start such a transition are Delaware and Missouri State,^[69] which began their transitions in 2024 and will join CUSA in 2025.^[70]

The next school scheduled to complete an FBS transition is Kennesaw State University, which started its transition in 2023^[71] ahead of its 2024 move to Conference USA.^[72]

Finances

The following table shows revenue for each conference reported by the Knight Commission for the 2021–22 academic year.^[73]

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,^[b] Temple,^[c] Tulane,^[b] Navy,^[d] Tulsa^[b]
Atlantic Coast Conference	$1,072,193,980	$1,028,501,053	8	$134,024,248	$128,562,632	Boston College,^[b] Duke,^[b] Syracuse,^[b] Miami,^[b] Pitt,^[c] Wake Forest^[b]
Big 12 Conference	$1,066,493,140	$1,016,951,340	8	$133,311,643	$127,118,918	Baylor,^[b] TCU^[b]
Big Ten Conference	$2,041,265,014	$1,927,764,454	13	$157,020,386	$148,289,573	Northwestern^[b]
Conference USA	$496,221,144	$493,252,353	13	$38,170,857	$37,942,489	Rice^[b]
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^[d]
Pac-12 Conference	$1,144,504,032	$1,163,840,847	10	$114,450,403	$116,384,085	Stanford,^[b] USC^[b]
Southeastern Conference	$2,168,587,358	$2,044,850,233	13	$166,814,412	$157,296,172	Vanderbilt^[b]
Sun Belt Conference	$335,515,775	$329,574,687	9	$37,279,531	$36,619,410	Louisiana–Monroe

^ 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 at the time asserted a right not to report. As part of a settlement of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in 2024, Army's related athletic entity agreed to provide complete financial records from 2022–23 forward. The other academies are likely to report in the future to avoid litigation.^[74]

Realignment

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.^[75] In 1985, the Missouri Valley Conference stopped sponsoring football.^[57] 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 (CUSA) 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.^[57]

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.^[57]

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.^[57]

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, with the majority of conference changes in this cycle taking place in 2023 and 2024. It started with the announcements by Oklahoma and Texas that they would leave the Big 12 for the SEC no later than 2025.^[76] The Big 12 and its departing members later announced a 2024 departure date.^[77] The first actual conference changes came in 2022, with the Sun Belt gaining Marshall, returning Old Dominion, and Southern Miss from CUSA,^[64]^[78] 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.^[79] In 2024, Oklahoma and Texas joined the SEC, while 10 of the 12 members of the Pac-12 left for other power conferences—UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington for the Big Ten; Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah for the Big 12;^[80]^[81] and California and Stanford for the ACC. In addition, Kennesaw State upgraded to FBS and joined CUSA,^[82] SMU left The American for the ACC,^[83]^[84] and Army left the independent ranks to become a football-only member of The American.^[85] 2025 will also see two new teams transition from FCS to FBS as Delaware and Missouri State will join CUSA, respectively from CAA Football^[86] and the Missouri Valley Football Conference,^[87] and also the departure of UMass from the independent ranks to become a full member of the MAC.^[88] In September 2024, the Pac-12 started a rebuilding process by raiding the Mountain West Conference, with five MW members (Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State) set to join the Pac-12 in 2026.^[89]^[90] The MW first responded by announcing that UTEP would join from CUSA in 2026,^[91] soon followed by Hawaiʻi upgrading its MW membership from football-only to all-sports in 2026.^[92]

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: 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 Award

The 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

Many of the school names on the maps below are abbreviated in order to save space.
The following is a list of such abbreviations 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
NMSU : New Mexico State 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
UNC : University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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
WFU : Wake Forest University
WKU : Western Kentucky University
WMU : Western Michigan University
WUSTL : Washington University in St. Louis
WVU : West Virginia University

1927 map of teams

>

Illinois

Minnesota

Michigan

Purdue

Chicago

Northwestern

Ohio
State

Indiana

Iowa

Wisconsin

Missouri

Nebraska

Oklahoma State

Iowa State

WUSTL

Kansas

Oklahoma

Kansas State

Drake

Grinnell

USC

Stanford

Idaho

Washington

California

Oregon
State

Washington State

Oregon

Montana

Colorado State

Denver

Montana State

Colorado College

Utah

Colorado

Utah State

BYU

Colorado Mines

Wyoming

Western State

Northern Colorado

NC State

Georgia
Tech

Tennessee

Georgia

Vanderbilt

Florida

Ole Miss

Clemson

Virginia

Alabama

LSU

Mississippi State

Virginia Tech

W&L

Maryland

VMI

South
Carolina

Tulane

UNC

Sewanee

Kentucky

Auburn

Texas A&M

SMU

Arkansas

Texas

TCU

Rice

Baylor

Furman

Army

Georgetown

W&J

Dartmouth

Yale

Princeton

Pittsburgh

Notre
Dame

Creighton

NYU

Detroit

Penn State

Columbia

Marquette

Navy

Colgate

Lafayette

Penn

Syracuse

Carnegie Mellon

Cornell

Davidson

Harvard

Duke

Michigan
State

WVU

Brown

WFU

College football teams in 1927:^[93]

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference

Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (before six teams left to form the Big 6 which grew into the Big 8) ^[94]

Pacific Coast Conference (which grew into the Pacific-10)

Southern Conference

Independents

1956 map of teams

Clemson

Duke

South
Carolina

Maryland

UNC

NC State

Wake Forest

Virginia

Oklahoma

Colorado

Missouri

Nebraska

Kansas

Kansas State

Iowa State

Iowa

Michigan

Minnesota

Michigan
State

Ohio State

Northwestern

Purdue

Illinois

Wisconsin

Indiana

UTEP

Arizona State

West Texas
State

Arizona

Hardin-Simmons

NMSU

Yale

Princeton

Dartmouth

Penn

Brown

Columbia

Harvard

Cornell

Houston

Tulsa

Oklahoma State

Wichita State

Detroit

Oregon
State

USC

UCLA

Oregon

Washington

Stanford

Washington State

California

Idaho

Wyoming

Utah

Denver

Utah State

Colorado State

New Mexico

BYU

Montana

WVU

Virginia Tech

GW

Furman

VMI

Davidson

Richmond

Citadel

W&M

Tennessee

Georgia Tech

Florida

Ole Miss

Auburn

Kentucky

Tulane

Vanderbilt

Mississippi State

Alabama

LSU

Georgia

Texas A&M

TCU

Baylor

Arkansas

SMU

Rice

Texas

Miami (FL)

Navy

Syracuse

North Texas

Penn
State

Pittsburgh

Pacific

Army

Holy
Cross

BC

Villanova

Florida State

Cincinnati

Colgate

Dayton

Drake

Rutgers

BU

SJSU

Texas Tech

Notre
Dame

Marquette

College football teams in 1956:^[95]

Big 7 Conference (which grew into the Big 8)

Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association

Ivy League

Missouri Valley Conference

Pacific Coast Conference (which grew into the Pacific-10)

Skyline Conference

Southern Conference

SEC

Independents

1976 map of teams

Maryland

UNC

WF

Duke

NC State

Virginia

Clemson

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Colorado

Nebraska

Iowa State

Missouri

Kansas

Kansas State

Michigan

Ohio State

Minnesota

Illinois

Indiana

Purdue

Iowa

Wisconsin

Michigan State

Northwestern

Brown

Yale

Dartmouth

Harvard

Columbia

Penn

Cornell

Princeton

BSU

Kent State

Ohio

WMU

CMU

BGSU

Miami (OH)

Toledo

EMU

NIU

Tulsa

NMSU

West Texas State

Wichita State

Drake

USC

UCLA

Stanford

California

Washington

Washington State

Oregon

Oregon State

SJSU

Fresno State

CSULB

CSUF

Pacific

ECU

Richmond

W&M

App State

Furman

Citadel

VMI

Georgia

Kentucky

Alabama

Mississippi State

Florida

Ole Miss

LSU

Tennessee

Auburn

Vanderbilt

Houston

Texas Tech

Texas A&M

Baylor

Texas

Arkansas

Rice

SMU

TCU

BYU

Wyoming

Arizona State

Utah

Arizona

New Mexico

Colorado State

UTEP

Pittsburgh

Rutgers

SDSU

Colgate

Notre Dame

BC

Cincinnati

Memphis

Villanova

Penn State

North Texas

South
Carolina

Virginia Tech

Army

Florida State

WVU

Georgia Tech

Temple

Air Force

Dayton

Louisville

Marshall

Navy

Holy
Cross

Miami (FL)

Syracuse

Utah State

ULM

Southern Miss

Tulane

College football teams in 1976:^[96]

Big Eight Conference

Ivy League

Missouri Valley Conference

Pac-8 Conference

PCAA (aka Big West Conference)

Southern Conference

SEC

Independents

1982 map of teams

WFU

Virginia

NC State

UNC

Duke

Clemson

Maryland

Colorado

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Missouri

Nebraska

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Indiana

Michigan

Michigan
State

Ohio State

Illinois

Iowa

Minnesota

Northwestern

Purdue

Wisconsin

Fresno State

SJSU

Utah State

Pacific

UNLV

CSULB

CSUF

CMU

Toledo

Tulsa

NMSU

Wichita State

Arizona

Arizona State

California

UCLA

Oregon

Oregon State

USC

Stanford

Washington

Washington State

Florida

Kentucky

Georgia

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

Alabama

Auburn

LSU

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

Houston

Texas Tech

SMU

Texas A&M

Texas

Rice

Baylor

TCU

Arkansas

BYU

SDSU

Air Force

Utah

Wyoming

UTEP

Colorado State

New Mexico

BC

Syracuse

Pittsburgh

Miami (FL)

Rutgers

WVU

Virginia Tech

Temple

Louisville

ECU

Memphis

Army

Southern Miss

Navy

Tulane

South
Carolina

Florida State

Penn State

Notre Dame

Georgia Tech

NCAA Division I-A football in 1982:

Big Eight Conference

Big West Conference

Missouri Valley Conference

Pacific-10 Conference

Southeastern Conference

Independents
Notes:

Hawaii, a member of the WAC, is not shown.
The Missouri Valley Conference was a hybrid of NCAA Division I-A and I-AA programs; only I-A members are shown.
Eight of the ten members of the Mid-American Conference were relegated to Division I-AA for the 1982 but they successfully appealed and were returned Division I-A for the 1983 season.
Cincinnati, then an independent, was relegated to Division I-AA for the 1982 season they successfully appealed and returned to Division I-A status for the 1984 season.

1991 map of teams

Georgia Tech

WFU

Virginia

NC State

UNC

Duke

Clemson

Maryland

BC

Syracuse

Pittsburgh

Miami (FL)

Rutgers

WVU

Virginia Tech

Temple

Colorado

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Missouri

Nebraska

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Indiana

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio
State

Illinois

Iowa

Minnesota

Northwestern

Purdue

Wisconsin

Fresno State

SJSU

Utah State

Pacific

UNLV

CSULB

NMSU

CSUF

BGSU

CMU

Miami (OH)

Toledo

WMU

BSU

EMU

Ohio

Kent State

Arizona

Arizona State

California

UCLA

Oregon

Oregon State

USC

Stanford

Washington

Washington State

Florida

Kentucky

Georgia

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

Alabama

Auburn

LSU

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

Houston

Texas Tech

SMU

Texas A&M

Texas

Rice

Baylor

TCU

Arkansas

BYU

SDSU

Air Force

Utah

Wyoming

UTEP

Colorado State

New Mexico

Louisville

Tulsa

ECU

LA Tech

Akron

Memphis

Army

Cincinnati

Southern Miss

NIU

Arkansas State

Navy

Tulane

South
Carolina

Florida State

Penn State

Notre Dame

NCAA Division I-A football in 1991:^[97]

Big East Conference (1979-2013)

Big Eight Conference

Big West Conference

Pacific-10

SEC

Independents other than those indicated below

Independents that joined an AQ conference by the BCS's inaugural 1998 season (plus Notre Dame, which also automatically qualified for the BCS under certain conditions).

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

Navy

Notre Dame

Army

Nevada

Boise State

Fresno State

LA Tech

Idaho

Utah State

NMSU

SJSU

Troy

FIU

MTSU

ULM

Arkansas
State

FAU

Louisiana

North Texas

WKU

South
Carolina

Florida

Georgia

Tennessee

Kentucky

Vanderbilt

Auburn

Arkansas

LSU

Alabama

Mississippi State

Ole Miss

Oregon

Stanford

USC

Washington

Arizona

Arizona State

Oregon
State

California

UCLA

Washington State

TCU

Utah

Air Force

SDSU

BYU

Colorado State

UNLV

Wyoming

New Mexico

Miami (OH)

Ohio

Temple

Kent State

BGSU

Buffalo

Akron

NIU

Toledo

WMU

BSU

CMU

EMU

UCF

ECU

Southern Miss

Marshall

UAB

Memphis

SMU

Tulsa

Houston

UTEP

Rice

Tulane

Nebraska

Missouri

Kansas State

Iowa State

Colorado

Kansas

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Texas
A&M

Baylor

Texas Tech

Texas

Michigan State

Wisconsin

Iowa

Illinois

Penn State

Michigan

Northwestern

Purdue

Minnesota

Indiana

Ohio State

UConn

WVU

Pittsburgh

Syracuse

USF

Louisville

Cincinnati

Rutgers

Florida State

Maryland

NC State

BC

Clemson

WF

Virginia Tech

Miami (FL)

Georgia Tech

UNC

Duke

Virginia

NCAA Division I-A football in 2010:^[98]

Big East Conference (1979-2013)

Big 12 Conference

Conference USA

Mountain West Conference

Pacific-10

SEC

Sun Belt Conference

Independents

Notes:

Hawaii, a member of the WAC, is not shown.

2023 map of teams

Charlotte

FAU

Memphis

SMU

Temple

Tulane

Tulsa

UAB

ECU

Navy

North Texas

Rice

USF

UTSA

Louisville

Florida State

Miami (FL)

NC State

UNC

Pittsburgh

Syracuse

Virginia
Tech

WF

Clemson

Duke

BC

Virginia

Georgia
Tech

BYU

Cincinnati

Houston

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas
State

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Texas

UCF

Baylor

TCU

Texas Tech

WVU

Ohio State

Rutgers

Michigan

Michigan State

Maryland

Penn State

Indiana

Minnesota

Illinois

Iowa

Wisconsin

Purdue

Nebraska

Northwestern

JSU

LA Tech

Liberty

WKU

NMSU

MTSU

Sam Houston

FIU

UTEP

Ohio

Akron

BGSU

Buffalo

Kent State

Miami (OH)

EMU

WMU

BSU

CMU

NIU

Toledo

SDSU

Air Force

Fresno State

UNLV

Wyoming

Boise State

Colorado State

Nevada

New Mexico

Utah State

SJSU

USC

Arizona

Arizona State

California

Colorado

Oregon

Oregon State

Stanford

UCLA

Utah

Washington

Washington State

Vanderbilt

Georgia

Kentucky

Missouri

Tennessee

Florida

South
Carolina

Alabama

Arkansas

Auburn

Mississippi State

Ole Miss

Texas
A&M

LSU

App State

Georgia Southern

Georgia
State

JMU

Marshall

CCU

ODU

Louisiana

ULM

Southern Miss

TXST

Troy

Arkansas
State

South
Alabama

Notre Dame

Army

UConn

UMass

American Athletic Conference

NCAA Division I FBS football in 2023:^[99]

Big 12 Conference

Conference USA

Mountain West Conference

Pac-12 Conference

SEC

Sun Belt Conference

Independents

Notes:

Hawaii, a football-only member of the MW, is not shown.

Schools that have transitioned to the FBS

LA Tech

Akron

UNLV

Arkansas State

Nevada

ULM

North Texas

Boise State

Buffalo

UCF

Marshall

MTSU

USF

UConn

Troy

FAU

FIU

WKU

UMass

Charlotte

Liberty

ODU

UTSA

App State

Georgia Southern

Georgia State

South Alabama

TXST

CCU

JMU

Sam Houston

JSU

Kennesaw State

Delaware

Missouri State

Idaho