History UsefulNotes / CollegiateAmericanFootballConferences

The WAC currently has five non-football members in California Baptist, Grand Canyon, Seattle, UTRGV, and Utah Valley. While Chicago State left the WAC in 2022, the conference welcomed two schools at that time. Southern Utah is a full member with football, while UT Arlington (which ''had'' been in the WAC for one year in the 2010s) returned as a non-football member. As noted above, UTRGV is now set to leave for the Southland Conference.\\\

[[UsefulNotes/FootballBowlSubdivision FBS Conferences]] ([[UsefulNotes/BigTenConferenceFootballPrograms B1G]]) ([[UsefulNotes/BigTwelveConferenceFootballPrograms B12]]) ([[UsefulNotes/SoutheasternConferenceFootballPrograms SEC]]) | FCS and Miscellaneous Teams (UsefulNotes/IvyLeague)-]]]]]

->'''Current schools:''' Albany, Bryant, Campbell, Delaware, Elon, Hampton, Maine, Monmouth, New Hampshire, North Carolina A&T, Rhode Island, Richmond, Stony Brook, Towson, Villanova, William & Mary\\

[[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Power Five]] ([[UsefulNotes/SoutheasternConferenceFootballPrograms SEC]]) | [[UsefulNotes/GroupOfFiveConferences Group of Five]] | Independent & FCS (UsefulNotes/IvyLeague)-]]]]]

The top level of NCAA Division I football, also known as FBS or occasionally by its former designation of "I-A" (pronounced "one-A"). The 10 conferences in FBS are the ones most casual football fans think of when they hear the term "college football", particularly the "Power Five" conferences that receive the heaviest media attention and are guaranteed at least one bid in the "New Year's Six" bowl games. The remaining "Group of Five" are generally made of smaller schools that don't receive as much national attention. For more on the Power Five programs (except for Notre Dame), see [[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences their dedicated page]]--except for those in the Southeastern Conference, which now have [[UsefulNotes/SoutheasternConferenceFootballPrograms their own page]]. For more on the schools in the Group of Five (sans [=UMass=] and [=UConn=]), see [[UsefulNotes/GroupOfFiveConferences their page]].

Below are descriptions of each of the remaining conferences. Some non-Power Five programs, plus all of the FBS independents, also have descriptions (those schools without a description are italicized at the start of each folder). Win-loss records are (mostly) accurate as of the end of the 2023 season.[[note]]Disclaimer: Listing win-loss numbers and even national championships is ''complicated'', to say the least. College programs (and even colleges themselves) frequently dissolve and reform, change divisions and conferences, play in games not recognized by the NCAA, have wins officially rescinded due to rule violations, and do other things that make it hard to judge schools' true performance. Since the NCAA doesn't even officially ''recognize'' a national champion at the FBS level, teams are often inconsistent with what titles they acknowledge, sometimes leaving them unclaimed even if picked by numerous selectors and other times jumping on a title given by a random panel that no other school takes seriously. We try to provide context and qualifications when possible, but this isn't The Other Wiki.[[/note]]

"Historic" figures include names mentioned in the program description or who have entries on the UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballNamesToKnow or UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballNonPlayerFigures pages, or those in the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeagueNamesToKnow family. Individuals who have their own pages on this wiki, such as politicians and entertainers (including pro wrestlers), also qualify. Win-loss records are updated at the end of bowl season.

[[foldercontrol]]

!!Power Five Conferences

See UsefulNotes/SoutheasternConferenceFootballPrograms for members of that conference, and UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences for other power conference teams. For Notre Dame, which is a non-football member of the Power Five Atlantic Coast Conference, see the "FBS Independents" folder.

!!Group of Five Conferences

See UsefulNotes/GroupOfFiveConferences. For [=UMass=] and [=UConn=], see the "FBS Independents" folder.

!!FBS Independents

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/independents_6.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see a map of the independent schools in 2024.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/indies_map_2024.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see a map of the independent schools in 2025.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/indies_map_2025.png [=UMass=] plans to join the MAC for the 2025 season.[[/labelnote]]]]

In the past, many schools, especially along the east coast, were able to fill out strong schedules without the need for a conference, but that largely ended once [[MoneyDearBoy TV money]] became the focus of major-college sports. With three schools having left the independent ranks in 2023 (BYU to the Big 12, Liberty and New Mexico State to Conference USA) and Army leaving in 2024 for the American Athletic Conference, only three remain, and the count will drop to two when [=UMass=] joins the Mid-American Conference in 2025. All of these schools belong to conferences for other sports; Notre Dame has special circumstances that minimize its need for a football conference.

->'''Current schools:''' Notre Dame, [=UConn=], [=UMass=]\\
'''Departing schools:''' [=UMass=] (2025)\\

[[folder:FBS Independents]]

!!!Notre Dame Fighting Irish
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/notre_dame.png]]
->'''Location:''' South Bend, IN (though technically it's in the separate adjoining community of Notre Dame, IN)\\
'''School Established:''' 1842[[note]]The full name of the school is University of Notre Dame du Lac (French for "Our Lady of the Lake")... actually a NonIndicativeName, since the school is on ''two'' lakes. Go to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_University_of_Notre_Dame#Early_history The Other Wiki]] for more details.[[/note]]\\
'''Conference Affiliations:''' Ind. (1887-)[[note]]Temporarily joined the ACC for 2020.[[/note]]\\
'''Overall Win Record:''' 948-338-42 (.730)\\
'''Bowl Record:''' 20-20 (.500)[[note]]After playing in the Rose Bowl at the end of the 1924 season, the school elected not to play in bowls, a policy that stayed in place until 1969.[[/note]]\\
'''Colors:''' Blue and gold[[note]]For [[{{Oireland}} obvious reasons]], the Fighting Irish have adopted green as an informal alternate color, with green home jerseys that get used on special occasions.[[/note]]\\
'''Stadium:''' Notre Dame Stadium (capacity 77,622)\\
'''Current Head Coach:''' Marcus Freeman\\
'''Notable Historic Coaches:''' Pat O'Dea, Knute Rockne, Elmer Layden, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, Lou Holtz, Charlie Weis, Brian Kelly\\
'''Notable Historic Players:''' Knute Rockne, Curly Lambeau, George Gipp, Jack Chevigny, The Four Horsemen (Harry Stuhldreher, Jim Crowley, Don Miller, Elmer Layden), Buck Shaw, Frank Leahy, "Jumping" Joe Savoldi, Bill Shakespeare, Wayne Millner, Lou Rymkus, Angelo Bertelli, Frank Danciewicz, Johnny Lujack, George Connor, Leon Hart, Frank Tripucka, Johnny Lattner, Ralph Guglielmi, Paul Hornung, George Izo, Nick Buoniconti, Daryle Lamonica, John Huarte, Alan Page, Kevin Hardy, Rocky Bleier, Bob Kuechenberg, Joe Theismann, Walt Patulski, Dave Casper, Steve Niehaus, [[Film/{{Rudy}} Rudy Ruettiger]], Creator/GregCollins, Joe Montana, Rusty Lisch, Dave Waymer, Greg Bell, Allen Pinkett, John Carney, Steve Beuerlein, Tim Brown, Ricky Watters, Allen Rossum, Rick Mirer, Derek Brown, Jeff Alm, Bryant Young, Ron Powlus, Jeff Faine, Jerome Bettis, Justin Tuck, Brady Quinn, J.J. Jansen, Jimmy Clausen, Michael Floyd, Manti Te'o, Harrison Smith, Zack Martin, Sam Hartman\\
'''National Championships:''' 11 (1924, 1929-30, 1943, 1946-47, 1949, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1988)[[note]]11 unclaimed (1919-20, 1927, 1938, 1953, 1964, 1967, 1970, 1989, 1993, 2012)[[/note]]\\
'''Conference Championships:''' 0

The '''University of Notre Dame du Lac''' is the most famous Catholic university in the country, in no small part because it hosts the most famous remaining football independent and arguably the best-known program in the nation, notably being featured in high-profile sports {{biopic}}s like ''Film/KnuteRockneAllAmerican'' and ''Film/{{Rudy}}''. Notre Dame itself features some of the most distinctive iconography in sports, from the oldest marching band in the nation to the giant mural of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesburgh_Library Jesus signaling a touchdown]] that overlooks the stadium from across campus to the fanbase that makes every game day [[{{Oireland}} look like St. Patrick's Day]]. It is a common joke (with a ring of truth to it) that certain American Catholics hold greater reverence for the Fighting Irish's polished golden helmets than any other aspect of their faith. The program's national following was built over decades of football success, including having produced seven Heisman winners and more [[FlawlessVictory undefeated seasons]] (11),[[note]]Technically, a few other schools could claim to have equaled or surpassed this tally, but only by counting 19th century seasons where they played only a handful of games.[[/note]] College Hall of Fame players (46), consensus All-Americans (110), and NFL draft picks (525) than any other college program as of 2023. The Irish are also second to their longtime rival USC in producing Pro Hall of Famers (12[[note]]The Pro Hall counts Notre Dame with 13 alumni, but one of them was longtime San Francisco 49ers owner Ed [=DeBartolo=] Jr., a Notre Dame alum who didn't play football and was inducted as an owner.[[/note]] to the Trojans' 14).\\\

Their football reputation launched in the 1920s under Knute Rockne (1918-30), whose success on the football field was perhaps only matched by his ability to market the team to a nationwide audience; his death in a plane crash in 1931 was viewed as a national tragedy. Rockne was the first of the "Holy Trinity" of Notre Dame coaches, followed by Frank Leahy (1941-43, 1946-53) and Ara Parseghian (1964-74) who established the university as a football power, each claiming multiple national titles over the decades. Leahy's tenure saw the team regularly dominate the Heisman race, with Irish [=QBs=] Angelo Bartelli (1943) and Johnny Lujack (1947), end Leon Hart (1949), and HB Johnny Lattner (1953) claiming the trophy. Even during the team's worst AudienceAlienatingEra in the 1950s, star JackOfAllTrades Paul Hornung was still able to win the 1956 Heisman on a ''losing team'', and QB John Huarte won the trophy in Parseghian's first year for returning the Irish to their former dominance. Though subsequent coaches Dan Devine (1975-80) and Lou Holtz (1986-96) kept the school a power and won a championship apiece (with Holtz also producing the school's last Heisman winner, WR Tim Brown, in 1987), the program's level of success leveled off as the century wound down, and by the 2000s the Irish had become merely a very good team rather than one that could compete for national titles (though they've remained winning ''enough'' to coast on past glories and hold onto a nationwide fanbase even without bringing home any championships). Brian Kelly (2010-21) helped to restore some of Notre Dame's winning tradition in the 2010s, with an appearance in a BCS Championship Game after 2012 and multiple CFP berths, but the school still has yet to win a national title in over three decades. Observers have often attributed this apparent ceiling to Notre Dame being one of the few universities at its level of competition to truly value education equally to athletics; its football players have some of the [[AcademicAthlete highest graduation rates]] of any program in the nation.\\\

As a result of all its success, Notre Dame can largely dictate its own terms in the football world. The team--and the school itself--became famous in part due to national radio broadcasts dating back to the Rockne years, and it currently has a very lucrative TV contract with NBC to nationally broadcast its home games. Until the 1990s, they had been independent in all sports but eventually joined the original Big East outside of football in 1995. They took a half-step away from football independence when they joined the ACC in 2013, nominally remaining independent but agreeing to play five ACC teams each year. In turn, the ACC gave Notre Dame access to its bowl games in seasons when the Irish don't make the CFP or its associated bowls. Notre Dame's schedule once consisted primarily of old "rivalries" between it and its nearby Midwestern--which is to say Big Ten--neighbors. Trips to Michigan (the school's first ever opponent, which was often dominant at the same time as the Irish) and Michigan State (which is quite close geographically) historically were annual or near-annual occurrences but have been disrupted by the move.[[note]]Oddly, the Irish have not of late often played Northwestern, despite that being the closest major football school to them.[[/note]] Currently, in addition to its ACC commitments, the Irish still play Stanford, USC, and Navy every year[[note]]except in 2020, when [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]] scuttled all three games[[/note]]. The USC rivalry dates to [[OlderThanTelevision the Twenties]], when the Irish added them to its regular schedule in part to increase the program's recruiting power on the West Coast (Stanford joined the regular rotation in the '80s so they could rotate away games). As for Navy, the US Navy kept Notre Dame afloat during World War II by placing one of its many wartime officer training centers on the Notre Dame campus; the annual game with the Midshipmen is Notre Dame's way of paying them back.

!!![=UConn=] Huskies
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uconn_4.png]]
->'''Location:''' Storrs, CT (campus); East Hartford, CT (stadium)\\
'''School Established:''' 1881[[note]]as ''Storrs Agricultural School''; after several [[IHaveManyNames name changes]], became the University of Connecticut in 1939. "[=UConn=]", long used informally as a short form for the school, became the sole athletic brand name in 2013.[[/note]]\\
'''Conference Affiliations:''' ALNESC (1897–1922),[[note]]Did not play in the war years of 1917-18[[/note]] New England[[labelnote:*]]Operated from 1923–47; the earliest predecessor to today's CAA Football, though CAA Football [[CanonDiscontinuity doesn't recognize it as such]].[[/labelnote]] (1923–46),[[note]]Did not play in 1943[[/note]] Yankee[[labelnote:*]]Founded in 1946, with play starting in 1947, by the last four New England Conference members and two other schools under a new charter; became a football-only conference in 1976 and disbanded in 1997, merging into the Atlantic 10 Conference. Both the Yankee and A-10 are also de facto predecessors to CAA Football, with the CAA effectively taking over A-10 football in 2007.[[/labelnote]] (1947–96), A-10 (1997–99), Ind. (2000–03, 2020–), Big East (2004–12), American (2013–19) \\
'''Overall Win Record:''' 521–609–38 (.462)\\
'''Bowl Record:''' 3–4 (.429)\\
'''Colors:''' National flag blue and white\\
'''Stadium:''' Pratt & Whitney Stadium (capacity 40,000)\\
'''Current Head Coach:''' Jim L. Mora\\
'''Notable Historic Coaches:''' Skip Holtz\\
'''Notable Historic Players:''' Kirk Ferentz, Dan Orlovsky\\
'''National Championships:''' 0\\
'''Conference Championships:''' 26 (1 ALNESC – 1901; 7 New England – 1924, 1926, 1928, 1936–37, 1942, 1945; 15 Yankee – 1952, 1956–60, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1982–83, 1986, 1989; 2 Big East – 2007, 2010)

The '''University of Connecticut''' has enjoyed significant success in several sports since the late 1990s, most notably men's and women's basketball, respectively claiming 6 and ''11'' national titles. In fact, [=UConn=] has more official national team titles than any other Group of Five school, with 24 in all (the others being 2 in men's soccer and 5 in women's field hockey).[[note]]Though not the most in D-I outside the Power Five--that distinction belongs to Denver, a school that last played football in 1960. It has 24 titles in skiing alone, and also has 10 in men's ice hockey and one in men's lacrosse.[[/note]] Football is another story entirely. While the Huskies had enjoyed off-and-on regional success in the small-college ranks and later in I-AA/FCS, that didn't continue after their move to FBS in 2002 (though they did share a couple of Big East titles).\\\

By the end of the 2010s, the football team had fallen firmly into ButtMonkey status, becoming a regular member of ESPN's "Bottom 10", with said column consistently calling them "U-Can't". To make matters worse, their bread-and-butter sports of men's and women's basketball were being visibly hurt by being in the geographically far-flung American (the women weren't hurt on the court, but suffered from an utter lack of in-conference competition). In the end, basketball won out, with the Huskies rejoining several of their former conference rivals in the Big East in 2020. As it turned out, [=UConn=] became the first FBS school (of three) to cancel its 2020 football season due to COVID-19.[[note]]The Big Ten, MAC, MW, and Pac-12 initially canceled their seasons, with plans to move them to the spring, but all four leagues eventually decided to play abbreviated conference-only fall seasons.[[/note]] The hiring of Jim Mora as coach in 2022 saw the program immediately return to bowl eligibility, though only time will tell if that marks the start of a long-term revival.\\\

While the school is located in Storrs, it plays its home games about 23 miles[=/=]37 km away (by road) at Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford, the second-longest distance from an FBS school's campus to its home field (UCLA is 26 miles from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena). The stadium was originally conceived as a possible home for the New England Patriots when they were considering relocating away from greater Boston due to struggles over a new stadium deal, but once the Patriots decided to stay in Foxboro, East Hartford scaled back its stadium plans and made [=UConn=] its main tenant.

!!![=UMass=] Minutemen
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/umass.png]]
->'''Location:''' Amherst, MA\\
'''School Established:''' 1863[[note]]Founded as Massachusetts Agricultural College, became Massachusetts State College in 1931, and took current name in 1947.[[/note]]\\
'''Conference Affiliations:''' Ind. (1879–96, 1923–46, 2016–), ALNESC[[labelnote:*]]Athletic League of New England State Colleges, which operated from 1896–1923[[/labelnote]] (1897-1922), Yankee (1947-96), A-10 (1997-2006), CAA (2007-11), MAC (2012-15)\\
'''Overall Win Record:''' 580–641–50 (.476)\\
'''Bowl Record:''' N/A[[note]]1–1 (.500) as a "Small College"[[/note]]\\
'''Colors:''' Maroon and white\\
'''Stadium:''' Warren [=McGuirk=] Alumni Stadium (capacity 17,000)\\
'''Current Head Coach:''' Don Brown\\
'''Notable Historic Coaches:''' Dick [=MacPherson=]\\
'''Notable Historic Players:''' Victor Cruz\\
'''National Championships:''' 1 in FCS (1998)\\
'''Conference Championships:''' 22, all in CAA Football and its predecessors (17 Yankee – 1960, 1963–64, 1966–67, 1969, 1971–72, 1974, 1977–79, 1981–82, 1986, 1988, 1990; 4 Atlantic 10 – 1998–99, 2003, 2006; 1 CAA – 2007)

The '''University of Massachusetts Amherst''' is its state's flagship public school, located in the western half of the state (just north of [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} Springfield]]) and notable for its massive library. Its football team became independent by default, being effectively kicked out of MAC football after 2015. The Minutemen had been a quite successful FCS program, even winning a national title in 1998, but had little success after moving to FBS and MAC football in 2012; they are the only FBS program to never play in an FBS bowl game.[[note]]Technically, Sam Houston also hasn't played in a bowl game, but being brand new to the FBS, it isn't even eligible to qualify for a bowl game until 2024, so it wouldn't be fair to include SH unless it misses out in 2024.[[/note]] After four seasons, they left to an uncertain future, with no FBS conference in their region willing to take them in. They've become a fixture in ESPN's "Bottom 10" as "[=UMess=]" and went completely winless in a COVID-shortened 2020 season. However, the Minutemen (and Minutewomen) will return to the MAC in 2025, this time as full members.
[[/folder]]

Founded in 1986 as the football-only Colonial League, it became the '''[[PatrioticFervor Patriot League]]''' in 1990 when it added other sports. Basically an "Ivy League Lite"--its members are relatively small[[note]]only Boston University, which no longer has a football team, has over 10,000 undergrads[[/note]], academically strong schools, though not quite at the Ivy level. The league was actually founded to give the Ivies a chance to fill out their football schedules with schools that shared their academic focus. The conference did not allow athletic scholarships at all until permitting them for basketball in 1996 (allegedly to keep Holy Cross from jumping ship). Scholarships were extended to all non-football sports in 2001, but football scholarships were not allowed until 2013[[note]]Fordham actually started giving them out in 2010, which created the scenario where they were still a member of the league but were ineligible for the league title and their opponents' games against them didn't count towards their league records. Once the other schools started giving them out, they were eligible once again and won the title in 2014.[[/note]], and Georgetown still doesn't award football scholarships. Unlike the Ivies, the Patriot League participates in the FCS postseason. The league has only reached the championship game once: Colgate in 2003. They lost [[CurbStompBattle 40–0]] to Delaware.[[note]]Before the league was formed, Lehigh played in the 1979 championship game, losing 30–7 to Eastern Kentucky.[[/note]] It's also home to the most-played and longest continuous rivalry in all of college football, namely Lafayette–Lehigh. The Leopards and Mountain Hawks played their 159th game in 2023, and have played at least once in each season since 1897.[[note]]From their first matchup in 1884 to 1901, they played twice in each season except in 1891, when they played ''three'' times, and 1896, when they didn't play at all. They didn't play in calendar 2020 thanks to COVID-19, but played during the Patriot League's rescheduled spring 2021 season.[[/note]] Patriot League will add a new football member in 2025 when Richmond, which will remain a member of the non-football Atlantic 10 Conference, joins from CAA Football (it's already a PL member in women's golf, a sport the A-10 doesn't sponsor).\\\

Founded in 1986 as the football-only Colonial League, it became the '''[[PatrioticFervor Patriot League]]''' in 1990 when it added other sports. Basically an "Ivy League Lite"--its members are relatively small[[note]]only Boston University, which no longer has a football team, has over 10,000 undergrads[[/note]], academically strong schools, though not quite at the Ivy level. The league was actually founded to give the Ivies a chance to fill out their football schedules with schools that shared their academic focus. The conference did not allow athletic scholarships at all until permitting them for basketball in 1996 (allegedly to keep Holy Cross from jumping ship). Scholarships were extended to all non-football sports in 2001, but football scholarships were not allowed until 2013[[note]]Fordham actually started giving them out in 2010, which created the scenario where they were still a member of the league but were ineligible for the league title and their opponents' games against them didn't count towards their league records. Once the other schools started giving them out, they were eligible once again and won the title in 2014.[[/note]], and Georgetown still doesn't award football scholarships. Unlike the Ivies, the Patriot League participates in the FCS postseason. The league has only reached the championship game once: Colgate in 2003. They lost [[CurbStompBattle 40–0]] to Delaware.[[note]]Before the league was formed, Lehigh played in the 1979 championship game, losing 30–7 to Eastern Kentucky.[[/note]] It's also home to the most-played and longest continuous rivalry in all of college football, namely Lafayette–Lehigh. The Leopards and Mountain Hawks played their 159th game in 2023, and have played at least once in each season since 1897.[[note]]From their first matchup in 1884 to 1901, they played twice in each season except in 1891, when they played ''three'' times, and 1896, when they didn't play at all. They didn't play in calendar 2020 thanks to COVID-19, but played during the Patriot League's rescheduled spring 2021 season.[[/note]] Patriot League will add a football-only member in 2025 when Richmond, otherwise a member of the non-football Atlantic 10 Conference, joins from CAA Football.\\\

As for the WAC, it started in 1962 with six schools in the intermountain West and over time expanded and flourished as a major conference until an ill-advised expansion to 16 members in 1996 started two decades of turmoil. Eight schools left in 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference, and further instability eventually saw the WAC lose all but two of its football schools during the early-2010s realignment cycle, leading the FBS conference to drop football after the 2012 season, then reinstate it in the FCS level in 2021 after the 2020 arrivals of Tarleton and Utah Tech (then Dixie State), both D-II upgraders with football. Five FCS schools joined the league as all-sports members in 2022 (four Southland members out of Texas and one from the Big Sky), at which time WAC football returned. When the Southland responded by kicking out its departing members (the so-called "Texas Four"), the WAC in turn pushed the arrival of those schools, as well as the return of football, forward to 2021. They solved the numbers problem for playoff qualification by bringing incoming ASUN members Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and Jacksonville State in as football members, originally intended for that season only, in what was officially called the "ASUN–WAC ([[BreadEggsBreadedEggs or WAC–ASUN]]) Challenge". However, they only got their automatic bid after successfully lobbying the NCAA for a rules change that accommodated the new alliance. With Sam Houston starting an FBS transition in 2022 ahead of its 2023 departure for C-USA, dropping the WAC to 5 playoff-eligible schools, the WAC and ASUN renewed that alliance for 2022. The WAC's playoff-eligible lineup dropped to 4 when Incarnate Word, which had planned to join from the SLC, backed out of that move and stayed put, and then to 3 when Lamar pushed its planned 2023 return to the SLC forward a year. All this led the ASUN and WAC to formally merge their football leagues.\\\

'''Departing schools:''' Delaware (2025)\\

Depending on definitions, CAA Football member Villanova (otherwise a Big East member) has a claim to the most NCAA D-I team titles of any FCS school, with 21 in all,[[note]]13 in cross country (9 women's, 4 men's), 4 in men's track & field (3 indoor, 1 outdoor), 3 in men's basketball, and one FCS title in 2009.[[/note]] though Yale has a separate claim to this honor.[[note]]The NCAA credits Yale with 29 titles in all, surpassing Nova. However, only 9 of these were actually awarded by the NCAA. The other 20 are men's golf titles awarded by the National Intercollegiate Golf Association before the NCAA launched its own men's golf championship in 1939. The NCAA recognizes pre-1939 NIGA titles as its own.[[/note]] The CAA suffered a significant blow in the 2021 realignment saga when James Madison, which had spent the last 20 years openly seeking an FBS move, was announced as a future member of the Sun Belt Conference. While JMU initially planned to join the Sun Belt in 2023, the move was pushed forward to 2022 after the all-sports CAA chose to enforce a provision in its bylaws stating that any school that announces its departure can be banned from the conference's postseason tournaments.[[labelnote:*]]JMU was still eligible for the 2021 CAA Football title because that league's bylaws lacked said provision. The all-sports CAA has since changed its bylaws on this point, no longer banning departing members from its conference tournaments.[[/labelnote]] The CAA reloaded shortly thereafter, bringing football member Stony Brook into the all-sports league and also poaching Campbell, Hampton, Monmouth, and North Carolina A&T for both sides of the league and Bryant for football only to expand its football membership to 13 effective in 2022, 15 in 2023, and 16 in 2024. (A&T joined the all-sports CAA in 2022 but didn't join for football until 2023.) The 16-team lineup will last only one season, as Delaware starts a transition to FBS in 2024 and joins Conference USA in 2025.

Founded in 1986 as the football-only Colonial League, it became the '''[[PatrioticFervor Patriot League]]''' in 1990 when it added other sports. Basically an "Ivy League Lite"--its members are relatively small[[note]]only Boston University, which no longer has a football team, has over 10,000 undergrads[[/note]], academically strong schools, though not quite at the Ivy level. The league was actually founded to give the Ivies a chance to fill out their football schedules with schools that shared their academic focus. The conference did not allow athletic scholarships at all until permitting them for basketball in 1996 (allegedly to keep Holy Cross from jumping ship). Scholarships were extended to all non-football sports in 2001, but football scholarships were not allowed until 2013[[note]]Fordham actually started giving them out in 2010, which created the scenario where they were still a member of the league but were ineligible for the league title and their opponents' games against them didn't count towards their league records. Once the other schools started giving them out, they were eligible once again and won the title in 2014.[[/note]], and Georgetown still doesn't award football scholarships. Unlike the Ivies, the Patriot League participates in the FCS postseason. The league has only reached the championship game once: Colgate in 2003. They lost [[CurbStompBattle 40–0]] to Delaware.[[note]]Before the league was formed, Lehigh played in the 1979 championship game, losing 30–7 to Eastern Kentucky.[[/note]] It's also home to the most-played and longest continuous rivalry in all of college football, namely Lafayette–Lehigh. The Leopards and Mountain Hawks played their 159th game in 2023, and have played at least once in each season since 1897.[[note]]From their first matchup in 1884 to 1901, they played twice in each season except in 1891, when they played ''three'' times, and 1896, when they didn't play at all. They didn't play in calendar 2020 thanks to COVID-19, but played during the Patriot League's rescheduled spring 2021 season.[[/note]]\\\

There will be two FCS independents in the 2024 season--Merrimack and Sacred Heart, both of which left the NEC for the non-football MAAC. The only FCS indy in 2023, Kennesaw State, joins Conference USA for 2024 and beyond. Delaware will play one final season in CAA Football, though without playoff eligibility, before following KSU to CUSA in 2025.

Though the MVFC and MVC are separate entities, they share a very close relationship. The two leagues have six members in common[[labelnote:*]]Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Murray State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois[[/labelnote]], and along with the Pioneer Football League (see below), which includes two other MVC members[[labelnote:*]]Drake and Valparaiso[[/labelnote]], operate out of the same office complex in UsefulNotes/StLouis. The four Dakotas schools are members of the now non-football Summit League, another one of the precursor leagues alluded to in the previous paragraph. Murray State, which joined the MVC in 2022, played the 2022 football season in its previous all-sports home of the Ohio Valley Conference before joining the MVFC in 2023.\\\

The latest membership change was announced in 2023, when Western Illinois left the Summit League for the OVC, playing one last season in the MVFC before joining the Big South–OVC alliance in 2024.

->'''Current schools:''' Houston Christian[[labelnote:*]]formerly Houston Baptist, changed its name in 2022[[/labelnote]], Incarnate Word, Lamar, [=McNeese=][[labelnote:*]]its formal name includes "State", but it no longer uses that word in its athletic branding[[/labelnote]], Nicholls[[labelnote:*]]ditto[[/labelnote]], Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas A&M–Commerce\\

Formed in 1963, the '''Big Sky Conference''' is one of the better FCS conferences. Popular among Western schools seeking easy wins, though two of its teams have delivered upsets over ranked FBS programs (Eastern Washington against Oregon State in 2013, Montana against Washington in 2021). The MedalOfDishonor in this respect would however go to North Texas, which ended up on the wrong end of a [[CurbStompBattle 66–7 shellacking]] by Portland State in 2015. At the Mean Green's ''homecoming''.[[note]]The loss, the largest ever by an FBS team to an FCS team, was so humiliating that North Texas fired its head coach on the spot.[[/note]] It's also known for having another oddly-colored field, in this case Eastern Washington's red field, nicknamed [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "The Inferno"]]. Idaho State's ICCU Dome[[note]]"ICCU" is an abbreviation for Idaho Central Credit Union.[[/note]] (originally the Minidome and later Holt Arena) is the oldest on-campus domed stadium in America, built in 1970. Two other conference teams play in domes: Idaho (the Kibbie Dome,[[labelnote:*]]One of the rejected names for it was the [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Palouse Pea Palace.]] Before it picked up a corporate sponsorship in 2023 and officially became the [=P1FCU=] Kibbie Dome, it also had an {{overly long|Name}} official name of William H. Kibbie–ASUI Activity Center. Both names would be even longer if they were spelled out (respectively Potlatch No. 1 Federal Credit Union and Associated Students of the University of Idaho).[[/labelnote]] built in 1975) and Northern Arizona (the Walkup Skydome, built in 1977, not because of extreme heat, as you might guess, but because of the cold temperatures and heavy snow in Flagstaff, which sits at an elevation of 6,900+ feet). NAU's stadium, at 6,980 feet, has the highest elevation of any in FCS, and is second only to Wyoming in all of D-I. Montana State has won national championships at the NAIA (1956)[[note]]Technically a shared title with St. Joseph's (Indiana), since the game ended in a scoreless tie[[/note]], D-II (1976), and FCS (1984) levels, making it the only team to win titles in three different classifications.\\\

See UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences. For Notre Dame, which is a non-football member of the Power Five Atlantic Coast Conference, see the "FBS Independents" folder.

The top level of NCAA Division I football, also known as FBS or occasionally by its former designation of "I-A" (pronounced "one-A"). The 10 conferences in FBS are the ones most casual football fans think of when they hear the term "college football", particularly the "Power Five" conferences that receive the heaviest media attention and are guaranteed at least one bid in the "New Year's Six" bowl games. The remaining "Group of Five" are generally made of smaller schools that don't receive as much national attention. For more on the Power Five programs (except for Notre Dame), see [[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences their dedicated page]]. For more on the schools in the Group of Five (sans [=UMass=] and [=UConn=]), see [[UsefulNotes/GroupOfFiveConferences their page]].

The '''University of Connecticut''' has enjoyed significant success in several sports since the late 1990s, most notably men's and women's basketball, respectively claiming 6 and ''11'' national titles. In fact, [=UConn=] has more official national team titles than any other Group of Five school, with 24 in all (the others being 2 in men's soccer and 5 in women's field hockey).[[note]]Though not the most in D-I outside the Power Five--that distinction belongs to Denver, a school that last played football team in 1960. It has 24 titles in skiing alone, and also has 10 in men's ice hockey and one in men's lacrosse.[[/note]] Football is another story entirely. While the Huskies had enjoyed off-and-on regional success in the small-college ranks and later in I-AA/FCS, that didn't continue after their move to FBS in 2002 (though they did share a couple of Big East titles).\\\

The '''University of Connecticut''' has enjoyed significant success in several sports since the late 1990s, most notably men's and women's basketball, respectively claiming 6 and ''11'' national titles. In fact, [=UConn=] has more official national team titles than any other Group of Five school, with 23 in all (the others being 2 in men's soccer and 5 in women's field hockey).[[note]]Though not the most in D-I outside the Power Five--that distinction belongs to Denver, a school that hasn't had a football team since 1961. Its 24 skiing titles alone place it ahead of any Group of Five school; it also has 9 in men's ice hockey and one in men's lacrosse.[[/note]] Football is another story entirely. While the Huskies had enjoyed off-and-on regional success in the small-college ranks and later in I-AA/FCS, that didn't continue after their move to FBS in 2002 (though they did share a couple of Big East titles).\\\

The '''University of Connecticut''' has enjoyed significant success in several sports since the late 1990s, most notably men's and women's basketball, respectively claiming 5 and ''11'' national titles. In fact, [=UConn=] has more official national team titles than any other Group of Five school, with 23 in all (the others being 2 in men's soccer and 5 in women's field hockey).[[note]]Though not the most in D-I outside the Power Five--that distinction belongs to Denver, a school that hasn't had a football team since 1961. Its 24 skiing titles alone place it ahead of any Group of Five school; it also has 9 in men's ice hockey and one in men's lacrosse.[[/note]] Football is another story entirely. While the Huskies had enjoyed off-and-on regional success in the small-college ranks and later in I-AA/FCS, that didn't continue after their move to FBS in 2002 (though they did share a couple of Big East titles).\\\

Formed in 1981, the '''Northeast Conference''' (or '''NEC''') did not sponsor football until 1996. It is in the lower tier of FCS, largely because it restricts football scholarships to a shade over two-thirds of the FCS maximum (45 instead of 63). As of the 2023 season, the only full NEC members that don't play football are Fairleigh Dickinson[[note]]The D-I program at the school's "Metropolitan" campus in Teaneck, New Jersey, that is. The "Florham" campus thirty miles away in Madison is a member of the D-III Middle Atlantic Conference and ''does'' play football.[[/note]] and Le Moyne (see below). Chicago State joins this group in 2024, though as noted in the MEAC folder it is exploring adding FCS football. Until fairly recently, those ranks included three other schools: LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary's, and St. Francis Brooklyn.[[note]]Formally St. Francis College ("Saint" officially abbreviated).[[/note]] First, Long Island University merged the Brooklyn athletic program with the D-II LIU Post program (which did play football) into a single D-I LIU program effective in 2019–20. The football team that played as the LIU Post Pioneers in 2018 accordingly became the LIU Sharks. As for Mount St. Mary's, it left the NEC in 2022 for another non-football league, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. St. Francis Brooklyn shut down its entire athletic program at the end of the 2022–23 school year, and the conference quickly replaced them with Le Moyne, a longtime D-II Jesuit school in suburban Syracuse, New York, whose signature sport is lacrosse. Merrimack and Sacred Heart announced their departure for the MAAC effective in 2024, and both chose to become FCS independents for at least 2024. The NEC shored up its football numbers for 2024 by bringing back Robert Morris, which had been in NEC football from its start in 1996 until leaving after the 2019 season, as a football associate, and picking up D-II upgrader Mercyhurst.[[note]]Both RMU and the other football associate, Duquesne, are (or will be) NEC members in an additional sport. Duquesne is also a member in the niche sport of women's bowling, while RMU will join for men's lacrosse at the same time it joins for football.[[/note]]\\\

->'''Current schools:''' Central Connecticut, Duquesne (football only), LIU, Robert Morris (football only), Saint Francis,[[note]]The one in Pennsylvania; see below for a former conference mate. Formally Saint Francis University ("Saint" spelled out).[[/note]] Stonehill, Wagner\\

Formed in 1981, the '''Northeast Conference''' (or '''NEC''') did not sponsor football until 1996. It is in the lower tier of FCS, largely because it restricts football scholarships to a shade over two-thirds of the FCS maximum (45 instead of 63). As of the 2023 season, the only full NEC members that don't play football are Fairleigh Dickinson[[note]]The D-I program at the school's "Metropolitan" campus in Teaneck, New Jersey, that is. The "Florham" campus thirty miles away in Madison is a member of the D-III Middle Atlantic Conference and ''does'' play football.[[/note]] and Le Moyne (see below). Chicago State joins this group in 2024, though as noted in the MEAC folder it is exploring adding FCS football. Until fairly recently, those ranks included three other schools: LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary's, and St. Francis Brooklyn.[[note]]Formally St. Francis College ("Saint" officially abbreviated).[[/note]] First, Long Island University merged the Brooklyn athletic program with the D-II LIU Post program (which did play football) into a single D-I LIU program effective in 2019–20. The football team that played as the LIU Post Pioneers in 2018 accordingly became the LIU Sharks. As for Mount St. Mary's, it left the NEC in 2022 for another non-football league, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. St. Francis Brooklyn shut down its entire athletic program at the end of the 2022–23 school year, and the conference quickly replaced them with Le Moyne, a longtime D-II Jesuit school in suburban Syracuse, New York, whose signature sport is lacrosse. Merrimack and Sacred Heart announced their departure for the MAAC effective in 2024, and both chose to become FCS independents for at least 2024. The NEC shored up its football numbers for 2024 by bringing back Robert Morris, which had been in NEC football from its start in 1996 until leaving after the 2019 season, as a football associate.[[note]]Both RMU and the other football associate, Duquesne, are (or will be) NEC members in an additional sport. Duquesne is also a member in the niche sport of women's bowling, while RMU will join for men's lacrosse at the same time it joins for football.[[/note]]\\\

The 2023 season was the first in which Merrimack, which joined the conference in all sports from D-II in 2019, was eligible for the FCS playoffs. Stonehill, which made the same move in 2022, is ineligible until 2026. The latter replaced Bryant, which left for the non-football America East Conference in 2022 and parked football in the Big South, thereby becoming part of the Big South–OVC football alliance in 2023 (and moving from there to CAA Football in 2024).

'''Notable Historic Players:''' Knute Rockne, Curly Lambeau, George Gipp, Jack Chevigny, The Four Horsemen (Harry Stuhldreher, Jim Crowley, Don Miller, Elmer Layden), Buck Shaw, Frank Leahy, "Jumping" Joe Savoldi, Bill Shakespeare, Wayne Millner, Lou Rymkus, Angelo Bertelli, Frank Danciewicz, Johnny Lujack, George Connor, Leon Hart, Frank Tripucka, Johnny Lattner, Ralph Guglielmi, Paul Hornung, George Izo, Nick Buoniconti, Daryle Lamonica, John Huarte, Alan Page, Kevin Hardy, Rocky Bleier, Bob Kuechenberg, Joe Theismann, Walt Patulski, Dave Casper, Steve Niehaus, [[Film/{{Rudy}} Rudy Ruettiger]], Joe Montana, Rusty Lisch, Dave Waymer, Greg Bell, Allen Pinkett, John Carney, Steve Beuerlein, Tim Brown, Ricky Watters, Allen Rossum, Rick Mirer, Derek Brown, Jeff Alm, Bryant Young, Ron Powlus, Jeff Faine, Jerome Bettis, Justin Tuck, Brady Quinn, J.J. Jansen, Jimmy Clausen, Michael Floyd, Manti Te'o, Harrison Smith, Zack Martin, Sam Hartman\\

The SLC has two full non-football members in New Orleans and Texas A&M–Corpus Christi. It added D-II upgrader Texas A&M–Commerce in 2022, and its football future was further secured when Incarnate Word, which had announced a move to the Western Athletic Conference and its newly reestablished football league, backed out of that move and stayed in the SLC. As noted above, the SLC and OVC entered into a scheduling partnership, though it didn't keep the OVC from announcing its plans to merge its football league with that of the Big South. The SLC had announced plans to adopt a new name in the near future, but took a half-step away from them, unveiling a new logo in 2023 but keeping its name.

Founded in 1963, the '''Southland Conference''' (or '''SLC''') was a strong lower level conference in its early years (then-league member Louisiana Tech won the initial NCAA D-II championship in 1973), before moving to the major college level in 1975. The Independence Bowl began in 1976 as a postseason home for the Southland's champion. In 1982, the league moved to I-AA after most of its members failed to meet the requirements for I-A membership ([=McNeese=] did meet the requirements but voluntarily reclassified with the rest of the conference). Long considered one of the top FCS leagues, five schools left following the spring 2021 season. One of the departing schools, Sam Houston, won the FCS title on its way out. Another one of the departing schools, Lamar, decided that its destination of the WAC wasn't as good of a fit as it thought; it originally planned to return to the SLC in 2023, but wound up returning for 2022.\\\

'''Arriving schools:''' UTRGV (non-football WAC member adding football in 2025)\\

The '''United Athletic Conference''' is the newest FCS conference, created in December 2022 by the announcement that the '''ASUN Conference''' (or '''Atlantic Sun''') and '''Western Athletic Conference (WAC)''' would merge their football leagues. The league used the placeholder name of "ASUN–WAC Football Conference" before unveiling its new name in April 2023. The ASUN initially contributed Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and North Alabama, with the WAC contributing schools from Texas and Utah, namely Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton, and Utah Tech. Due to scheduling commitments, the UAC played only a 6-game schedule in 2023. It was set to move to a full round-robin in 2024, but that was before D-II upgrader West Georgia was announced as joining in that season. On top of that, WAC member UTRGV will add football in 2025 (after an exhibition-only season in 2024).[[note]]A 9-game conference schedule is viable for FBS programs, which have 12-game regular seasons, but FCS programs are limited to 11 games in most seasons.[[/note]] While media reports indicated that the new football conference planned to move en masse to FBS in the near future, neither conference mentioned an FBS move. In any event, stay tuned.

The WAC currently has five non-football members in California Baptist, Grand Canyon, Seattle, UTRGV,[[labelnote:*]]Texas–Rio Grande Valley[[/labelnote]] and Utah Valley. While Chicago State left the WAC in 2022, the conference welcomed two schools at that time. Southern Utah is a full member with football, while UT Arlington (which ''had'' been in the WAC for one year in the 2010s) returned as a non-football member. UTRGV initially announced it would start an FCS football program no later than 2024, but instead made that an exhibition year before full varsity play in 2025.\\\

->'''Current schools:''' Central Connecticut, Duquesne (football only), LIU, Merrimack, Robert Morris (football only), Saint Francis,[[note]]The one in Pennsylvania; see below for a former conference mate. Formally Saint Francis University ("Saint" spelled out).[[/note]] Stonehill, Wagner\\

Formed in 1981, the '''Northeast Conference''' (or '''NEC''') did not sponsor football until 1996. It is in the lower tier of FCS, largely because it restricts football scholarships to a shade over two-thirds of the FCS maximum (45 instead of 63). As of the 2023 season, the only full NEC members that don't play football are Fairleigh Dickinson[[note]]The D-I program at the school's "Metropolitan" campus in Teaneck, New Jersey, that is. The "Florham" campus thirty miles away in Madison is a member of the D-III Middle Atlantic Conference and ''does'' play football.[[/note]] and Le Moyne (see below). Chicago State joins this group in 2024, though as noted in the MEAC folder it is exploring adding FCS football. Until fairly recently, those ranks included three other schools: LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary's, and St. Francis Brooklyn.[[note]]Formally St. Francis College ("Saint" officially abbreviated).[[/note]] First, Long Island University merged the Brooklyn athletic program with the D-II LIU Post program (which did play football) into a single D-I LIU program effective in 2019–20. The football team that played as the LIU Post Pioneers in 2018 accordingly became the LIU Sharks. As for Mount St. Mary's, it left the NEC in 2022 for another non-football league, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. St. Francis Brooklyn shut down its entire athletic program at the end of the 2022–23 school year, and the conference quickly replaced them with Le Moyne, a longtime D-II Jesuit school in suburban Syracuse, New York, whose signature sport is lacrosse. Merrimack and Sacred Heart announced their departure for the MAAC effective in 2024; Sacred Heart decided to become an FCS independent for at least 2024, while Merrimack has yet to announce an affiliation for that season. The NEC further shored up its football numbers for 2024 by bringing back Robert Morris, which had been in NEC football from its start in 1996 until leaving after the 2019 season, as a football associate.[[note]]Both RMU and the other football associate, Duquesne, are (or will be) NEC members in an additional sport. Duquesne is also a member in the niche sport of women's bowling, while RMU will join for men's lacrosse at the same time it joins for football.[[/note]]\\\

The 2023 season was the first in which Merrimack, which joined the conference in all sports from D-II in 2019, is eligible for the FCS playoffs. Stonehill, which made the same move in 2022, is ineligible until 2026. The latter replaced Bryant, which left for the non-football America East Conference in 2022 and parked football in the Big South, thereby becoming part of the Big South–OVC football alliance in 2023 (and moving from there to CAA Football in 2024).

As of February 2024, there is one confirmed FCS independent; Sacred Heart will play as such after having left the NEC for the non-football MAAC. Merrimack, which made the same conference move as Sacred Heart, has not announced its future football affiliation. The only FCS indy in 2023, Kennesaw State, joins Conference USA for 2024 and beyond. Delaware will play one final season in CAA Football, though without playoff eligibility, before following KSU to CUSA in 2025.

The end of the line for Chicago as a football power came when Robert Maynard Hutchins became the university's president in 1929. Hutchins believed that universities should be squarely focused on classical education, and had disdain for things he regarded as distractions to pure academics, like vocational majors, activities, fraternities and sororities, and ''especially'' athletics. Hutchins forced Stagg to retire against his will, then squeezed the football program by eliminating athletic scholarships, refusing to establish a physical education major, and forcing the team to forego spring practices by changing the academic calendar. After years of struggle under this de-emphasis of athletics, the school finally dropped its football team entirely in 1939, clearing the way for their now-vacant stadium to be used as the site for the world's first ever artificial nuclear reactor. Chicago was the most successful defunct program in NCAA football history... for about 22 years. In 1963, the university brought football back first as a club sport, then as a D-III program. They've never come close to their heights of the early 20th century, but did have a run of success in the University Athletic Association conference in the '90s-'00s including five conference titles.

Three new members arrived in 2022, although only one of them plays football. Little Rock, a non-football Sun Belt member for over 30 years, saw the writing on the wall with the SBC's coming football expansion and moved to the OVC. Two D-II upgraders, football-sponsoring Lindenwood (out of the St. Louis area) and non-football Southern Indiana, also arrived. While all this was going on, the OVC and the Southland Conference, another league that experienced major membership losses, announced a football scheduling alliance for 2022 and 2023... but then the OVC and Big South announced their more comprehensive football alliance. In 2024, the alliance adds Western Illinois, which became a full OVC member in 2023. WIU is probably most notable for its nickname of Leathernecks—which ''does'' come from [[SemperFi the Marines]], with permission.[[note]]In 1927, the Marines' parent organization, the Department of the Navy, okayed Western's use of the nickname, as well as the Marine seal and bulldog mascot. The team's HC and AD at the time, Roy Hanson, was a highly decorated Marine veteran of World War I, and was serving as a Marine reservist. WIU's football stadium bears his name.[[/note]]\\\