College Sports

College athletics is a major enterprise in the United States, with more than 400,000 student-athletes competing annually.

A college needs to be a member of one of the college sports associations in order to participate in formal competitions with other schools. The largest and most popular college sports association is by far the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). However, there are a few smaller associations including the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).

NCAA

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the single governing body that is charged with overseeing schools that make up the association. A small number of volunteers from the NCAA’s member schools manage the organization and make rules to ensure fairness among all intercollegiate athletics. In 2013, there were 1,066 colleges and universities that were active members of the NCAA. The rest of this article talks specifically about the NCAA.

Conferences

The NCAA is divided into three levels of conferences, Division I, Division II, and Division III. Division I is the highlest level of college athletics, followed by Division II then Division III.

Division I

NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics in the NCAA. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic powers, with larger budgets, more elaborate facilities and more athletic scholarships than Divisions II and III, as well as many smaller schools committed to the highest level of intercollegiate competition.

For college football only, D-I schools are further divided into the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and those institutions that do not have any football program. The FBS subdivision is the stronger and most popular of the two with its teams having higher game attendance and more players receiving athletic scholarships than FCS teams. The FBS is named for its series of postseason bowl games, with various polls ranking teams after the conclusion of these games, while the FCS national champion is determined by a multi-team bracket tournament.

FBS Subdivision

5 big conferences, or “Power 5”

Southeastern Conference (SEC)

• Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Miss St, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

• Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, NC State, UNC, Notre Dame (Basketball), Pitt, Syracuse, UVA, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

Big 12

• Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia

Big Ten

• Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Marlyland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, OSU, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin

Pac-12

• Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington St

5 smaller conferences

American Athletic Conference (American)

• Cincinnati, UConn, ECU, Houston, Memphis, SMU, USF, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, Wichita State

Conference USA (C-USA)

• Charlotte, FAU, FIU, LA Tech, Marshall, Mid Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTSA, UTEP, W Kentucky

Mid-American Conference (MAC)

• Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Cent Michigan, E Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), N Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, W Michigan

Mountain West

• Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming

Sun Belt

• Appalachian St, Arkansas State, C. Carolina, Ga Southern, Georgia State, Little Rock, Louisiana, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, UL Monroe, UT Arlington

Independent

• Army West Point, BYU, UMass Amherst, Notre Dame (Football)

Remaining conferences

America East Conference

• Albany, Binghamton, Hartford, Maine, UNH, Stony Brook, UMass Lowell, UMBC, Vermont

Atlantic 10 Conference

• Davidson, Dayton, Duquesne, Fordham, George Mason, G Washington, La Salle, UMass, URI, Richmond, Saint Joe’s, St Bonaventure, VCU

Atlantic Sun Conference

• FGCU, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, NJIT, North Florida, USC Upstate, Stetson

Big East Conference

• Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St Johns, Villanova, Xavier

Big Sky Conference

• E Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, North Dakota, N Arizona, N Colorado, Portland State, Sacramento St, Southern Utah, Weber State

Big South Conference

• Campbell, Charleston So, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Liberty, Longwood, Presbyterian, Radford, UNC Asheville, Winthrop

Big West Conference

• Cal Poly, CSU Fullerton, CSU Northridge, Hawai’i, Long Beach St, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UCSB

Colonial Athletic Association

• Charleston, Delaware, Drexel, Elon, Hofstra, JMU, Northeastern, Towson, UNC Wilmington, William & Mary

Horizon League

• Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Green Bay, IUPUI, Milwaukee, N Kentucky, Oakland, UIC, Wright State, Youngstown St

Ivy League

• Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Yale

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)

• Canisius, Fairfield, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Monmouth, Niagara, Quinnipiac, Rider, St Peter’s, Siena

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC)

• Bethune-Cookman, Coppin State, Delaware State, Florida A&M, Hampton, Howard, MD-E Shore, Morgan State, Norfolk State, NC A&T, NC Central, Savannah State, S Carolina St

Missouri Valley Conference

• Bradley, Drake, Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, Loyola-Chicago, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, S Illinois, Valparaiso

Northeast Conference

• Bryant, Cent Conn St, Fair Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Mt St Mary’s, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St Francis (BKN), St Francis (PA), Wagner

Ohio Valley Conference

• Austin Peay, Belmont, E Illinois, E Kentucky, Jacksonville St, Morehead State, Murray State, SIUE, SE Missouri St, UT Martin, Tennessee St, Tenn Tech

Patriot League

• American U, Army, Boston U, Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola (MD), Navy

Southern Conference

• Chattanooga, ETSU, Furman, Mercer, Samford, The Citadel, UNCG, VMI, W Carolina, Wofford

Southland Conference

• Abil Christian, Cent Arkansas, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, McNeese, New Orleans, Nicholls, Northwestern St, Sam Houston, SE Louisiana, SF Austin, Texas A&M-CC

Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)

• Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, AR-Pine Bluff, Grambling, Jackson State, Miss Valley St, PV A&M, Southern, Texas Southern

Summit League

• Denver, Fort Wayne, North Dakota St, Omaha, Oral Roberts, South Dakota, South Dakota St, W Illinois

West Coast Conference

• BYU, Gonzaga, Loyola Mary, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary’s, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara

Western Athletic Conference (WAC)

• Chicago State, CSU Bakersfield, Grand Canyon, New Mexico St, Seattle, UMKC, UT Rio Grande, Utah Valley

Sports Programs

Among many other sports, the most-watched competitions are in college football and college basketball, though there are competitions in all the other sports. Those include baseball, softball, ice hockey, soccer, rugby, volleyball, lacrosse, field hockey, cricket, handball, swimming and diving, track and field, golf, tennis, table tennis, rowing, and many others depending on the university.

Athelete Compensation

In the United States, college athletes are considered amateurs and their compensation is generally limited to athletic scholarships. However, there is disagreement as to whether college student-athletes should be paid. College athletics have been criticized for diverting resources away from academic studies, while unpaid student athletes generate income for their universities and private entities. Due to the passage of Title IX in the United States, universities must offer an equal number of scholarships for women and for men.

NCAA College Football

The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), also known as Division I-A, is the top level of college football in the United States (FCS is known as Division I-AA). The FBS is the most competitive subdivision of NCAA Division I, which itself consists of the largest and most competitive schools in the NCAA. As of 2020, there are 10 conferences and 130 schools in FBS.

The FBS season begins in late August or early September and ends in January with the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Most FBS teams play 12 regular season games per year, with eight or nine of those games coming against conference opponents. All ten FBS conferences hold a conference championship game to determine the winner of the conference. 

In place of a big playoff tournament, there are many separate bowl games, three of which are organized into a two round championship bracket with the 4 best teams in the country. Bowl games are like one-off post-season games that are hosted by various cities across the United States, where they traditionally invite teams to participate in them. Each bowl game has its own name like the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, etc. The three bowl games that make up the FBS championship tournament change each year between the biggest venues. The top four college teams that play in the FBS championship tournament are decided by the College Football Playoff Committee. The FBS champsionship is known as the College Football Playoff National Championship.

NCAA College Basketball

The conferences in NCAA basketball are the same as those in football. And this goes for all NCAA sports.

A college basketball season is broken down into a few segments: non-conference play, conference play, conference tournaments and the postseason tournaments, including March Madness, NIT, CIT, and CBI. March Madness being the biggest postseason tournament. 

How many basketball games are played in a regular season depends on several factors, but you can expect a men’s D-I college basketball team to usually play somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 32 games.

The number of games in conference play varies by conference with the ACC, Big Sky, Big Ten, MAAC, Southland and Sun Belt conferences playing 20-game schedules in 2019-2020 and the Ivy League playing a national-low 14 conference games.

Conference Championships and Playoffs

In both FBS college football and college basketball there are conference championships at the end of each season to crown the conference champion. In football there is one conference championship game and in college basketball there is a conference tournament to name the champion. After the conference championships comes the NCAA post season. 

Football post season – After the conference championships, there are a number of one-off bowl games and the two round national championship race between the top 4 teams.

Basketball post season – After the conference championships, the top 68 teams play in the March Madness tournament and the remaining top teams play in the other 3 post season tournaments.