As the College Football Playoff did not exist until 2014, organizations such as the Associated Press and AFCA have historically sought to rank the teams and crown a national champion, by taking a vote of sports writers and coaches, respectively.

Various cities across the United States have created their own postseason contests, called bowl games, in which they traditionally invite teams to participate.

[6] However, FBS programs also face increased expenses in regards to staff salaries, facility improvements, and scholarships.

The three United States service academies that are FBS members are technically subject to the 85-scholarship limit, but are effectively exempt because all of their students receive federally-funded full scholarships whether or not they play a varsity sport.

The average home attendance requirement, which had largely gone unenforced in the 21st century and was suspended in 2020 due to COVID-19 impacts, was permanently eliminated, effective immediately.

Effective in 2027–28, minimums on both the total number of, and spending on, athletic scholarships in all FBS programs will be enforced.

[12] The FBS season begins in late August or early September and ends in mid-January with the College Football Playoff National Championship game.

In addition to payouts to participating teams, conferences receive millions of dollars for each school that appears in the playoff.

During this period, Walter Camp pioneered the concept of a line of scrimmage, the system of downs, and the College Football All-America Team.

[35] In 1965, the NCAA voted to allow the platoon system, in which different players played on offense and defense; teams had previously experimented with the concept in the 1940s.

[40] In 1981, members of the College Football Association attempted to create a fourth division consisting solely of the most competitive schools, but this effort was defeated.

Since 2021, when the Supreme Court unanimously held in NCAA v. Alston that restrictions on name, image, and likeness compensation violated antitrust law, FBS football players have been able to make money from sources other than college scholarships.

Several elite Northeastern schools had formed the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League in 1901, and its members (plus Brown University, not an EIBL member at the time) signed the Ivy Group Agreement, which governed football competition between the signatories, in 1945; the Ivy League was formally founded in 1954, when the agreement was extended to cover all sports.

Through the 2023 season, all of the FBS conferences have between ten and fourteen members, although independent Notre Dame has a scheduling agreement with the fourteen-member ACC.

[60] It was the first conference to entirely abandon divisions due to this, with the ACC and MW announcing similar intentions for 2023, and the Big Ten, MAC, and SEC doing the same for 2024.

AAC (unofficial) Sun Belt (unofficial) † "Big Four" or "Power Four" conferences that enjoy "autonomy status" under NCAA rules Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia joined the Sun Belt Conference upon transitioning to the FBS level in 2014.

Prior to joining the Sun Belt, GASOU won six FCS (I-AA) national championships and have produced two Walter Payton Award winners.

The Eagles first continuously fielded a football team in 1924; however, play was suspended for World War II and revived in 1981.

Since the Eagles were under transitional status, the university filed for a postseason waiver to allow the Eagles to play in a bowl game; however, the NCAA denied Georgia Southern's waiver request and a subsequent appeal since enough full member FBS teams became bowl-eligible during the season.

James Madison joined the Sun Belt after meeting the NCAA minimum of five FBS opponents at its home stadium, as required and scheduled.

[67] On July 1, 2023, the two other outgoing FCS teams, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston joined Conference USA.

In the mid-2000s, the Big East added former basketball-only member Connecticut, while Temple left the conference (before eventually returning in 2013).

After several defections, leaving the conference with only two football-sponsoring schools remaining, the WAC dropped its sponsorship of football.

In 2013, Idaho and New Mexico State, the last two football-sponsoring schools in the WAC, became FBS independents, but would return to their former football home of the Sun Belt Conference as football-only members the following year.

After 2017, New Mexico State returned to independent status, while Idaho downgraded to FCS football—becoming the first program ever to voluntarily do so without extenuating circumstances[k]—and added football to its all-sports membership in the Big Sky Conference.

Most recently, UConn went independent in 2020 when the school left The American to rejoin many of its historic basketball rivals in the current Big East Conference.

Notre Dame competed under a full ACC schedule only also in 2020 in response to logistical concerns that arose from the effects of COVID-19.

The most recent realignment is currently ongoing, with the majority of conference changes in this cycle taking place in 2023 and 2024.

[77] The first actual conference changes came in 2022, with the Sun Belt gaining Marshall, returning Old Dominion, and Southern Miss from CUSA,[64][78] and FCS upgrader James Madison.

In turn, The American lost Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF to the Big 12, which also added former football independent BYU.