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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 The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...
. Sponsored by the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athlete, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic sports, ...
(NCAA), the FCS level comprises 130 teams in 15 conferences as of the 2022 season. The FCS designation is only tied to football with the non-football sports programs of each school generally competing in
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...
.


History

From 1906 to 1955, the NCAA had no divisional structure for member schools. Prior to the 1956 college football season, schools were organized into an upper NCAA University Division and lower NCAA College Division. From 1973 to 1977, all schools participated in a single
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...
group. Prior to the 1978 season, schools were again organized into upper
NCAA Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...
and lower
NCAA Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of ...
groupings. 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.


See also

* List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs *
List of NCAA Division I FCS football stadiums The following is a list of current National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) College football, football stadiums in the United States. Conference affili ...
* List of NCAA Division I FCS playoff appearances by team * List of NCAA Division I-AA/FCS football seasons *
NCAA Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...


References


External links

* {{Collegefootball-stub