NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision
Current season, competition or edition:; 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season
Sport	American football
Founded	1978
No. of teams	128
Country	United States
Official website	www.ncaa.com/sports/football/fcs

The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the FCS level comprises 128 teams in 14 conferences as of the 2023 season. The FCS designation is only tied to football with the non-football sports programs of each school generally competing in NCAA Division I.

History

From 1906 to 1955, the NCAA had no divisional structure for member schools. Prior to the 1956 college football season, NCAA schools were organized into an upper University Division and lower College Division. In the summer of 1973, the University Division became Division I, but by 1976, there was a desire to further separate the major football programs from those that were less financially successful, while allowing their other sports to compete at the top level.[1]

Prior to the 1978 season, Division I was split into upper Division I-A and lower Division I-AA. These two divisions were renamed as NCAA Division I FBS and NCAA Division I FCS prior to the 2006 season.

Championships

The FCS has held a post-season playoff to award an NCAA-sanctioned national championship since its inception in 1978. The size of the playoff bracket has increased from 4 teams in 1978 to 24 teams in the 2020 season. This makes the FCS the highest level of college football with an NCAA-sanctioned national championship.

Conferences

As of the 2023 football season, there are 13 Division I FCS football conferences:

Big Sky Conference
Big South–OVC Football Association
- Started play in 2023 as an alliance between the Big South Conference and Ohio Valley Conference that shares a single automatic FCS playoff berth. Technically treated by the NCAA as an alliance instead of a full conference.
CAA Football – While administered by the multi-sports Coastal Athletic Association, it is a separate legal entity—although the NCAA considers both sides of the CAA to be a single conference.
Ivy League
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Missouri Valley Football Conference
Northeast Conference
Patriot League
Pioneer Football League
Southern Conference
Southland Conference
Southwestern Athletic Conference
United Athletic Conference
- Formed in December 2022 by a football-only merger of the ASUN Conference and Western Athletic Conference. In the 2021 and 2022 seasons, those two all-sports conferences had been partners in a football alliance that shared a single berth in the FCS playoffs. The NCAA technically considers the UAC to be a continuation of this alliance instead of a fully formed conference.

References

"NCAA may drop 100 Division 1 schools". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). Associated Press. November 16, 1976. p. B11.

External links

Official website

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[maydrop-1] "NCAA may drop 100 Division 1 schools". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). Associated Press. November 16, 1976. p. B11.

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision conferences
Current conferences	Big Sky Big South–OVC CAA Ivy MEAC MVFC NEC Patriot Pioneer SoCon Southland SWAC UAC
Previous conferences	American West (defunct 1996) ASUN (non-football 2023) Atlantic 10 (non-football 2007) Big South (non-football 2023) Great West (non-football 2012; defunct 2013) Gulf Star (defunct 1987) MAAC (non-football 2008) Mid-Continental (non-football 1987) OVC (non-football 2023) WAC (non-football 2023) Yankee (defunct 1997)
Independents

NCAA football seasons
Pre-NCAA	1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
NCAA pre-divisional	1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
NCAA University Division	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
NCAA Division I	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
NCAA Division I-A/FBS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
NCAA Division I-AA/FCS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
NCAA College Division	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
NCAA Division II	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
NCAA Division III	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023