List of NCAA Division I FBS football programs
This is a list of the 133 schools in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States.[1] By definition, all schools in this grouping have varsity football teams.
Schools in Division I FBS are distinguished from those in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) by being allowed to provide scholarship aid to a total of 85 players, and may grant a full scholarship to all 85. FCS schools are limited to financial assistance amounting to a maximum of 63 full scholarships, although some conferences voluntarily place further restrictions on athletic aid. The NCAA classifies FBS football as a "head-count" sport, meaning that each player receiving any athletically-related aid from the school counts fully against the 85-player limit. By contrast, FCS football is classified as an "equivalency" sport, which means that scholarship aid is limited to the equivalent of a specified number of full scholarships. In turn, this means that FCS schools can freely grant partial scholarships, but are also limited to a total of 85 players receiving assistance. Another NCAA rule mandates that any multi-sport athlete who plays football and receives any athletic aid is counted against the football limit, with an exception for players in non-scholarship FCS programs who receive aid in another sport. The three service academies that play in Division I FBS—Air Force, Army, and Navy—are theoretically subject to this rule, but are exempt in practice because all students at these schools receive full scholarships from the federal government.
Starting in 2014, the FBS began playing a four-team tournament culminating in a National Championship Game to determine its national champion, a system that has been in place from the 2014–2025 seasons by contract with ESPN, broadcaster of the games. But since the College Football Playoff is not sanctioned by the NCAA, this makes FBS football the only sport without an NCAA-sanctioned champion. The FCS is the highest division in college football to hold a playoff tournament sanctioned by the NCAA to determine its champion.
Conference affiliations are current for the upcoming 2023 season.
FBS programs[edit]
- Notes
- ^ While the academy is often described as being in Colorado Springs, virtually the entire grounds, including the football stadium, lies outside the city limits in an area designated by the U.S. Postal Service as "USAF Academy".
- ^ a b When FBS was created in 1978 as Division I-A, the Southern Conference was designated as a I-A conference. The SoCon was downgraded to FCS (then Division I-AA) level beginning in the 1982 season. This school competed in SoCon football during the league's 1978–81 tenure as a I-A conference.
- ^ At that time, the school was a two-year college known as Boise Junior College. The school did not become a four-year institution until 1965, and only began playing football against four-year schools in 1968.
- ^ Mountain West football-only member. Primary conference: Big West.
- ^ a b c Houston, Memphis, and SMU had originally planned to join the Big East Conference in 2013. However, the conference split along football lines in July 2013, with the seven non-FBS schools of the original conference buying the "Big East" name and reorganizing as a new, non-football Big East Conference. The FBS schools that did not leave at that time for the ACC joined the three newcomers, remaining in the original conference structure under the new name of American Athletic Conference.
- ^ Although Jacksonville State will be playing a full C-USA schedule in 2023, they will not be eligible for the conference championship or a bowl game until 2024.
- ^ Miami currently plays its home games off campus in Miami Gardens, Florida, at Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL's Miami Dolphins.
- ^ a b c d Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Wisconsin have never switched conferences.
- ^ Nearly all of the Mississippi State campus, including the athletic facilities, is actually in an unincorporated area of Oktibbeha County designated by the United States Postal Service as Mississippi State, Mississippi.
- ^ American football-only member. Primary conference: Patriot.
- ^ Even though Notre Dame is a member of the ACC in other sports, they were a member of the ACC in football for the 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- ^ a b Texas and Oklahoma are scheduled to join the SEC effective July 1, 2024.
- ^ "University Park" is the United States Postal Service designation for the Penn State campus, which straddles the boundary between State College and College Township. The football stadium is in College Township.
- ^ Pittsburgh plays its home games off campus at Acrisure Stadium, home of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers.
- ^ The Rutgers campus is divided between New Brunswick and Piscataway. The overall administration and most campus buildings are in New Brunswick, while the athletic administration and most sports facilities, including the football stadium, are in Piscataway.
- ^ Although Sam Houston will be playing a full C-USA schedule in 2023, they will not be eligible for the conference championship or a bowl game until 2024.
- ^ University Park, home to the SMU campus, and its neighbor of Highland Park form an enclave within the city limits of Dallas. The United States Postal Service considers all of University Park and Highland Park to have a Dallas mailing address.
- ^ South Florida plays its home games off campus at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
- ^ While the university is often described as being in Palo Alto, the core of the campus, including the football stadium, lies outside the city limits in the census-designated place of Stanford. The entire campus, including the small parts within the Palo Alto city limits, has a postal address of Stanford.
- ^ Temple plays its home games off campus at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.
- ^ a b UCLA and USC are scheduled to join the Big Ten, effective July 1, 2024.
- ^ UConn currently plays its home games off campus in East Hartford, Connecticut.
- ^ The UNLV campus is not within the City of Las Vegas, but is instead in the unincorporated community of Paradise. The Rebels play off campus at Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, also within the boundaries of Paradise.
Future FBS programs[edit]
| School | Team | City | State | Current conference |
Future conference |
First played |
FBS transition begins |
FBS football membership |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kennesaw State | Owls | Kennesaw | Georgia | ASUN (FCS) | C-USA | 2015 | 2023 | 2024 |
Former programs[edit]
- Notes
- ^ Long Beach State rebranded its athletic program as "The Beach" effective in 2020–21, long after football was discontinued.
- ^ McNeese dropped the word "State" from its athletic branding in 2016. The university's formal name has not changed.
- ^ The school now brands itself in both athletics and academics as UT Arlington or UTA, although the university's formal name has not changed.
- ^ In 1990 West Texas State joined the Texas A&M University System and in 1993 the university's name was renamed to West Texas A&M University.
Notes[edit]
- Several schools have different athletic nicknames for men's and women's teams. Usually, this is a matter of preceding the main nickname with "Lady", such as LSU Lady Tigers and Tennessee Lady Vols. The two FBS schools nicknamed Cowboys, Oklahoma State and Wyoming, use Cowgirls for women's teams. However, in some cases, the women's team nickname has a completely different form, as in Hawaii Rainbow Wahine and Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters. Because this is a list of American football programs, which are traditionally all-male, only the men's form is given.
- The Pac-12 considers the Pacific Coast Conference or PCC as part of its own history, even though the PCC was established with different charter members and was disbanded due to major crisis and scandal. There is considerable continuity between the two leagues. The Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU), which would eventually become the Pac-12, was founded by five former PCC members, and by 1964 all of the final PCC members except for Idaho had been reunited in the AAWU.
- Texas leads the nation with 13 FBS programs based in the state.
References[edit]
- ^ "Division I-FBS Football Institutions". NCAA Directory.
- ^ 9 states (Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont) and Washington, D.C. do not currently have FBS programs.
- ^ Idaho Vandals [@Idaho_Vandals] (April 28, 2016). "President Staben - "The University of Idaho Vandal football team will accept an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference" beginning in '18" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c White Jr., Gordon S. (December 5, 1981). "IVY LEAGUE IS FORCED TO LOSE MAJOR-TEAM FOOTBALL STATUS". The New York Times.
