How many Division I college football teams are in the NCAA? Conferences, schedule and total games in a season explored

With a huge amount of followers across the country, college football is beloved in the United States. Millions of fans eagerly follow the highest level of collegiate play, the NCAA Division I, enjoying lots of thrilling and exciting action every year.

Division I college football has two subdivisions: the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision. FBS programs are larger and more well-funded, while FCS programs tend to have smaller budgets and enrollments.

There are 261 programs in Division I college football. The FBS consists of 133 teams with a scholarship allotment of 85 players. The other 128 teams belong to the FCS, which is allowed to offer a maximum of 63 scholarships.

Conferences in college football

The programs in each college football subdivision are further divided into conferences. Each conference has its own set of member institutions, and they often comprise a varying number of teams, ranging from 10 to 14, and in some cases even more.

The 133 programs in the FBS are spread across 11 conferences along with independents like Notre Dame. Being a more prominent and well-funded subdivision, the FBS owns the most notable conferences and most reputable programs in collegiate football.

Here are the FBS conferences:

• Atlantic American Conference

• Atlantic Coast Conference
• Big Ten
• Big 12
• Conference USA
• Mid-American Conference
• Pac-12
• Southeastern Conference
• Sun Belt Conference

The 128 teams in the FCS are spread across 17 conferences along with independents. FCS teams have smaller budgets than FBS teams, and its conferences and teams are lesser known.

Here are the FCS conferences:

• Atlantic Sun Conference

• Big Sky Conference
• Big South Conference
• Colonial Athletic Association Football Conference
• Ivy League
• Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
• Missouri Valley Football Conference
• Northeast Conference
• Ohio Valley Conference
• Patriot League
• Pioneer Football League
• Southern Conference
• Southland Conference
• Southwestern Athletic Conference
• United Athletic Conference
• Western Athletic Conference

Scheduling in Division I college football

The schedule for college football typically starts in late August or early September and runs until late November or early December. Teams compete in a combination of conference and nonconference games to secure a postseason berths.

Conference games are contests between teams within the same conference, while nonconference games involve teams from different conferences. The number of conference games played by each team varies based on the conference's structure and the number of teams in the conference.

A typical college football season consists of 12 regular-season games. However, teams can also play 13 games if they participate in a "week sero" game, which takes place a week before the official start of the regular season.