College Football Conference Teams
Keeping a pulse on all College Football Conference Teams isn’t easy since the number continues to grow. Currently, the College Football Bowl Subdivision or FBS has 130 Division 1 Teams and while that seems impossible to follow, those schools are divided into 10 conferences.
For College Football Conference enthusiasts, there are plenty of other teams to follow in the Football Championship Subdivision. Those 120-plus teams go by FCS schools and they fall into 13 conferences. The difference in levels between the FBS and FCS can be defined as a few things but money or funds allocated to the football programs is the key factor. The smaller schools in the FCS offer less scholarships to their universities and don’t depend on those programs to fund the athletic program. The FBS football programs are normally the pipeline for revenue, since the television deals help each school.
Talent, both with coaching and players, is another difference between the two levels and depth since the FCS only provides 63 student-athlete scholarships while the FBS has 85 full-rides.
It’s very common to see FCS and FBS schools meet during the regular season, and sometimes those games are referred to as cupcake matchups since the point-spreads are much higher than normal. If the FCS does have an advantage, they determine their champion on the field with a single elimination tournament while the FBS has four teams chosen subjectively in the College Football Playoff.
What are the most important College Football Conferences?
The College Football Playoff crowns the top team each season and we always see the winner come from a “Power Five” conference. These 64 schools have strong following and the alumni for each football program supports their teams throughout the season and in bowl or playoff games.
Power Five
- ACC
- Big Ten
- Big 12
- Pac-12
- SEC
Group of Five
Every now and then, we’ll see a Group of Five school make some noise with an undefeated record. These teams aren’t always listed as underdogs to the Power Five, sometimes they’re favored. Notable Group of Five schools that get notice on the national stage are Central Florida and Boise State.
- American Athletic
- Conference USA
- Mid-American (MAC)
- Mountain West
- Sun Belt
There is also another group of teams that aren’t affiliated with a conference and they fall into the Independent category. Notre Dame Fighting Irish is the most prestigious of this group and some old-school pundits will tell you that it’s still nationally recognized as the top College Football Team just based on reputation.
- Army
- Brigham Young
- Liberty
- Massachusetts
- New Mexico State
- Notre Dame
