The following is a list of conference championship games in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football. With the Sun Belt Conference holding its first championship game in 2018, all 10 active FBS conferences now have championship games.
Before the 2016 season, the NCAA required that a conference have a minimum of 12 teams and play in two divisions in order to hold a football championship game that did not count against the limit of 12 regular-season games per team. [1]
The first post-regular season conference championship game played in Division I-A football (what is now Division I FBS) was the 1992 SEC Championship Game, won by Alabama over Florida. [2] The SEC had gone from being a 10-team conference in 1991, to being a 12-team conference—divided into two six-team divisions—in 1992. [3] The next championship games to debut were that of the Big 12 Conference and Western Athletic Conference (WAC), starting in 1996. [4] That year, the Big Eight Conference and Southwest Conference dissolved and were essentially replaced by the Big 12, [5] with twelve teams divided into six-team divisions; while the WAC expanded to sixteen teams, divided into eight-team divisions. This was followed in 1997 by the Mid-American Conference, which expanded from ten to twelve teams, divided into six-team divisions. Prior to the 1999 season, eight schools left the WAC to form the Mountain West Conference (MW); the WAC thus discontinued its championship games (the conference would stop sponsoring football after 2012; it reinstated football in 2021 in Division I FCS). New championship games were next added in 2005, when both the Atlantic Coast Conference and Conference USA expanded from eleven teams to twelve teams and implemented six-team divisions.
The requirement for a conference to have 12 teams in order to stage a championship game caused the Big 12 to discontinue its championship game after the 2010 season, as the conference contracted to 10 members in 2011 (while retaining its name).
In 2011, the Big Ten Conference added its twelfth team (while retaining its name), split into six-team divisions, and added a championship game. That same season, what had been the Pacific-10 Conference added two teams, split into six-team divisions, renamed itself the Pac-12 Conference, and initiated its own championship game. The MW grew to twelve teams in 2013, as did the American Athletic Conference in 2015; both structured themselves into six-team divisions and began staging championship games.
At the conclusion of the 2015 season, only the Big 12 and the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) did not have championship games, as neither conference had the required minimum of 12 teams. In January 2016, the NCAA approved championship games for smaller conferences, provided the championship game features either (1) the top two teams at the end of a full round-robin conference schedule, or (2) the winners of each of two divisions, with each team playing a full round-robin schedule within its division. [6] Following that change to NCAA rules, the Big 12 reinstated its championship game in 2017, [7] operating with 10 teams in a single division while playing a full round-robin schedule.
In 2017, the SBC grew to 12 members with the addition of Coastal Carolina. [8] At that time, the SBC operated with all teams in a single division but did not play a full round-robin schedule and did not hold a championship game. The conference dropped to 10 football members after the football-only memberships of Idaho and New Mexico State were not extended following the 2017 season. [9] The conference announced that it would begin playing a championship game in 2018, [10] which it facilitated by splitting into two five-team divisions. [11] Thus, 2018 was the first season that all FBS conferences held a championship game.
Prior to the 2022 season, the NCAA gave conferences full freedom to determine the participants in their championship games. [12] The Pac-12 scrapped its football divisions, effective immediately, on the very same day that the NCAA passed this rule change, [13] soon followed by the MW [14] and ACC [15] effective in 2023. The Big Ten, [16] MAC, [17] and SEC [18] all eliminated football divisions after the 2023 season, leaving the SBC as the only FBS conference using a divisional alignment in football.
Beginning in the 2024-25 season the top 6 ranked winners of conference receive automatic bids to the College Football Playoff with the top 4 ranked conference champions receiving a bye to the second round. Since every conference champion is decided by a championship game as of that season, the games can serve as de-facto playoff qualification games. (Espically for teams in the power 4.)
Rankings are pre-game and from the AP Poll.
| Conference | Inaugural year | Final year |
|---|---|---|
| WAC Championship Game | 1996 | 1998 |
| Pac-12 Championship Game | 2011 | 2023 |
Conference USA (CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas.
The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The 14 member institutions of the Sun Belt are distributed across the Southern United States.
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington.
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an NCAA-affiliated conference. This means that FBS independents are not required to schedule each other for competition like conference schools do.
NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions in the United States whose football programs are not part of a football conference. This means that FCS independents are not required to schedule each other for competition as conference schools do. As of the 2024 season, Merrimack and Sacred Heart will be competing as independents, as their primary conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, does not sponsor football after previously being members of the Northeast Conference. Merrimack and Sacred Heart are confirmed to play as FCS independents in 2024.
The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. Originally established as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) in 1978, it was renamed as the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001, and briefly rebranded as the ASUN Conference from 2016 to 2023. The conference still uses "ASUN" as an official abbreviation. The conference headquarters are located in Atlanta. On May 8th, 2024, the conference announced it would move its headquarters from Atlanta, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida in the fall of 2024.
Mid-major is a term used in American college sports at the NCAA Division I level, particularly men's basketball, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the Power Five conferences and the Big East, collectively referred to as the Power Six or "high majors".
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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 of the 2024 season, there are 10 conferences and 134 schools in FBS.
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The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as the American, is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States featuring 14 full member universities and eight affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I, with its football teams competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Member universities represent a range of private and public research universities of various enrollment sizes located primarily in urban metropolitan areas in the Northeastern, Midwestern, and Southern regions of the United States.
The Sun Belt Conference Football Championship Game is an annual college football game that determines the season champion of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). The game is played between the SBC regular-season divisional champions from the East and West divisions. First contested in 2018, the game is typically played on the first Saturday of December. The current champion is the Troy Trojans.
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Beginning in the 2021–22 academic year, extensive changes occurred in NCAA conference membership, primarily at the Division I level.
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