Division I Football Organization

Division I football is comprised of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly designated, and still referred to, as Division I-A, and the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly designated, and still referred to, as Division I-AA.

Division I Football Season

Division I football teams play an average of 12 games per season scheduled from early September to late November. Approximately half are home games and half are away games. A pre-determined number of games must be scheduled against teams in the same Conference. During the course of the season, weekly “Top 25” national polls are published by the NCAA, as well as a number of media outlets, based primarily on win-loss record and strength of competition.

Division I FBS Bowls and Championship

Currently, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection(s) of the best college football team(s). Two widely recognized national champions selectors are the Associated Press, which conducts a poll of football sportswriters, and the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, a poll of American Football Coaches Association is active coaches, which is contractually obligated to name the winner of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Championship Game as its national champion. FBS football is the only NCAA sport in which a yearly champion is not determined by an NCAA-sanctioned playoff/championship process.

The BCS is a selection system that creates five bowl game match-ups involving ten of the top-ranked FBS teams, including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the national championship game. The BCS relies on a combination of polls and computer selection methods to determine team rankings, and to narrow the field to two teams that play in the BCS championship game held after the other college bowl games have been played. The current BCS bowl games are:

Fiesta Bowl-University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ
Orange Bowl-Land Shark Stadium, Miami, FL
Rose Bowl-Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
Sugar Bowl-Superdome, New Orleans, LA
BCS National Championship Game-location rotates each year

Other current bowl games, played by colleges that have had winning seasons, but do not qualify for the BCS series, are: Alamo Bowl, Armed Forces Bowl, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, Birmingham Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Chick-fil-A Bowl, Cotton Bowl Classic, Dallas Football Classic, EagleBank Bowl, Gator Bowl, GMAC Bowl, Hawaii Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Humanitarian Bowl, Independence Bowl, Insight Bowl, Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Maaco Bowl Las Vegas, Meineke Car Care Bowl, Music City Bowl, New Mexico Bowl, New Orleans Bowl, Outback Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, Poinsettia Bowl, Sun Bowl, and Texas Bowl.

Division I FCS Championship

Currently, the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) is a college football tournament played each year to determine the champion of the FCS. The FCS is the highest division in college football to hold a playoff tournament to determine its champion. The FCS Championship is played at a predetermined neutral site.

The FCS playoff format is comprised of 20 teams, with 10 teams being automatic qualifiers as conference champions, and 10 at-large berths are awarded. The tournament field is selected by a NCAA-appointed committee comprised of athletic directors from select FCS schools that represent each region of the country. The 10 FCS automatic playoff bids are awarded to the Conference Champion of the following conferences:

(The SWAC and Ivy League do not participate in the FCS Playoff tournament)

The FCS Playoffs commence the week following the last week of the regular season (Thanksgiving weekend). The top 12 seeded teams in the FCS tournament will be awarded a bye week, while teams seeded 13-20 (8 teams) will play to narrow the field to 16 teams. The FCS Semifinals will be played the third week of December, and the FCS National Championship will be played the night before the BCS National Championship at a location to be designated in early January.

Division I-A Football Bowl Subdivision Teams (FBS)

Division I-AA Football Championship Subdivision Teams (FCS)

Division 1-A Major Awards

Outstanding Player-Heisman Memorial Trophy
Outstanding Player-Maxwell Award
Player of the Year-Walter Camp Award
Coach of the Year-Eddie Robinson Award
Numerous player position awards

Division 1-AA Major Awards

Offensive Player of the Year-Walter Payton Award
Defensive Player of the Year-Buck Buchanan Award

Division II Major Award

Outstanding Player-Harlon Hill Trophy

Division III Major Award

Outstanding Player-Gagliardi Trophy

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame, located in South Bend, IN, is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. It is slated to move to Atlanta, GA at the end of 2010. The College Football Hall of Fame was established in 1951 by the National Football Foundation (NFF), which oversees the support, administration and operation of the College Football Hall of Fame. The NFF outlines specific criteria that may be used for evaluating a possible candidate for induction into the Hall of Fame. NFF members and the coaches, athletic directors, and sports information officials representing member schools may submit nominations for consideration. Nominees with the highest votes received from one of the eight District Screening Committees (DSC) located closest to the nominee’s college or university are included on that year’s ballot, which is distributed to all NFF members. The selection of Hall of Fame inductees, however, ultimately is determined by the Foundation’s Honor Court (designated NFC members).

The criteria for player nominees are: the nominee must have been selected to the first team of one or more major college football All-America teams; the nomination must be submitted no earlier than ten years since the last year the nominee played intercollegiate football; the nominee must exhibit demonstrated citizenship, “carrying the ideals of football forward into his relations with his community and his fellow man with love of his country” (academic honors may also be considered); the nominee must have played intercollegiate football no more than fifty years ago (exceptions may be granted after review by the appropriate NFF committees); and, the nominee must have ended his professional athletic career prior to the time of the nomination. The criteria for coach nominees are: the nominee must exhibit demonstrated citizenship, “carrying the ideals of football forward into his relations with his community and his fellow man with love of his country.” The nominee must fit one of the following criteria: Be retired from coaching for at least three years; be at least 70 years old and retired; and, be at least 75 years old. He must have held a head coaching position at the collegiate level for at least ten years, and hold at least a .600 career record over the course of 100 games or more.

NCAA Commissioner

Mark Emmert is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the NCAA, and his office is in Indianapolis, IN. Each Division I-A and Division I-AA Conference has its own Commissioner.

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