This is a list of the 134 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 tournament known as the College Football Playoff (CFP) 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. The CFP featured four teams from its first season in 2014 through the 2023 season, and is expanding to 12 teams in 2024. But since the CFP 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 2024 season.
The list includes all current and former FBS, Division I-A, Division I, University Division, and Major-College football teams since 1946 when the NCAA started having continuous records of major football teams. In the 1940s, 50s, and 60s major-status was only based on whether the team had a majority of their schedule filled with major opponents which caused schools like Arizona State to lose "major" status in certain years and schools that were on the borderline like Idaho and Pacific who scheduled each other in certain seasons to change status almost every other year.[2]
FBS programs
editIn addition to the following list of FBS programs, there is also a List of NCAA Division I FBS football stadiums.
- Notes
- ^ 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.
- ^ According to conferences in football, not necessarily a team's primary conference.
- ^ 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. Census Bureau as "Air Force Academy" and the U.S. Postal Service as "USAF Academy".
- ^ a b American football-only member. Primary conference: Patriot.
- ^ a b c d e Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State join the Pac-12 in 2026.
- ^ 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.
- ^ BC's main campus and stadium have Chestnut Hill mailing addresses. However, Chestnut Hill is not an incorporated community; the stadium is within the city limits of Newton.
- ^ UB's campus has a Buffalo mailing address, but most of the campus, including the football stadium, is in the adjacent town of Amherst.
- ^ The team played in its first three years of existence (1946–1948), but folded in 1949. The football program was restarted in 2013; 11 years ago.[3]
- ^ The FIU campus has a Miami mailing address, but is located outside the Miami city limits in University Park, Florida, an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County.
- ^ 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.
- ^ The Illinois campus is bisected by the Urbana–Champaign border. The academic administration and most of the undergraduate campus are in Urbana; the athletic administration and most athletic facilities are in Champaign.
- ^ Due to stadium renovations, Kansas is playing its 2024 home schedule at two off-campus venues. The two non-conference games are being played at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas, and the four conference games at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
- ^ The KSU campus has a Kennesaw mailing address, but is located in unincorporated Cobb County.
- ^ While national media use "Louisiana–Monroe", the school, Sun Belt Conference, and NCAA all use "ULM" as the primary athletic brand.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Although Mississippi State is usually identified as being in Starkville, virtually all of the Mississippi State campus, including the athletic facilities, is actually in an unincorporated area of Oktibbeha County designated by the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Postal Service as "Mississippi State".
- ^ With Northwestern having demolished its on-campus stadium to replace it on-site with a new stadium, it will play its 2024 home schedule at two separate venues. Most games will be played at a temporary on-campus stadium, while two games will be played at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
- ^ Even though Notre Dame is a member of the ACC in other sports, it was a member of the ACC in football for the 2020 season due to COVID-19 impacts.
- ^ Although Ole Miss is usually identified as being in Oxford, the entire campus is in an unincorporated area of Lafayette County designated by both the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Postal Service as "University".
- ^ "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.
- ^ The SMU campus is located in University Park, Texas, a separate city contained within the Dallas city limits. The U.S. Postal Service considers all of University 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 mailing address of Stanford.
- ^ Temple plays its home games off campus at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.
- ^ UCF has an Orlando mailing address, but the main campus, including all athletic facilities, is located in unincorporated Orange County.
- ^ UConn currently plays its home games off campus at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.
- ^ The UMass campus has an Amherst mailing address, but the football stadium is in the adjacent town of Hadley.
- ^ UMass joins the MAC on July 1, 2025.
- ^ 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. The U.S. Postal Service considers all unincorporated communities in the Las Vegas Valley, including Paradise, to have a Las Vegas address.
- ^ UTEP joins the MW in 2026.
Transitioning FBS programs
edit| School | Team | City | State | Current conference |
Future conference |
First played |
FBS transition begins |
FBS football full membership |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kennesaw State | Owls | Kennesaw[a] | Georgia | CUSA | 2015 | 2023 | 2025[b] | |
- ^ The Kennesaw State campus has a Kennesaw mailing address but entirely lies within unincorporated Cobb County.
- ^ Kennesaw State officially obtained FBS membership as of July 1, 2024. However, it is ineligible for postseason play.
Future FBS programs
edit| School | Team | City | State | Current conference |
Future conference |
First played |
FBS transition begins |
FBS football full membership |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware | Fightin' Blue Hens | Newark | Delaware | CAA Football | CUSA | 1889 | 2024 | 2026 |
| Missouri State | Bears | Springfield | Missouri | Missouri Valley Football Conference | CUSA[4] | 1909 | 2024 | 2026[5] |
Former programs
edit- Notes
- ^ Florida A&M did not complete the FBS transition phase and backed out after the first year.
- ^ Harvard's overall administration and undergraduate campus are in Cambridge. However, the athletic department offices and most athletic facilities, including the football stadium, are within the Boston city limits and have a Boston mailing address.
- ^ 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.
- ^ West Texas State joined the Texas A&M University System in 1990, 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.
- ^ "Major-College Alignment History Page 2" (PDF). NCAA.
- ^ "Celebrating 10 years of Charlotte football". ninertimes.com. September 2, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Lyndal Scranton, Missouri State to join Conference USA for chance to ‘play at the highest level in all sports’, Springfield Daily Citizen, May 10, 2024.
- ^ "Missouri State to join Conference USA for chance to 'play at the highest level in all sports'". 10 May 2024.
- ^ 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.
