NCAAF explained: Why are there different divisions
A guide to the different divisions in the NCAAF
If you are a fan of football then you have probably dreamed of playing for an NCAAF (National Collegiate Athletics Association, football) team.
NCAAF teams are any team from a college, university, or military academy that offers higher education. Many NCAAF games are televised. The NCAAF is split into 4 subdivisions:
- FCS (Football Championship Subdivision)
- And FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) - both of which fall under the bracket of FD1 (Football Division 1)
- FD2
- FD3
There is also the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) that is independent from the NCAA.
If you are interested in betting on college football then you might find it beneficial to understand how this system works.
In this article, we are going to talk you through how the division system works for collegiate sports teams. With a focus on how it affects the sport of football and why the divisions have been put in place.
What is the NCAA and why do they have subdivisions?
NCAA stands for the National Collegiate Athletics Association and it is in charge of governing all collegiate level sports competitions.
The NCAA introduced its subdivision scheme to try and level the playing field between the richest and poorest education institutes.
Each institute gets to pick which division it wants to play in. However, it must play in the same division in every sport. This stops schools from picking and choosing what sports they invest in.
Students competing in each division are required to hit a certain GPA to remain on their team. This rule was brought in to stop schools from fielding 'fake students' in order to win their games.
There are typically 3 divisions for each sport - divisions 1, 2, and 3. There are some sports that have more than 3 divisions, Football has 3 divisions and 4 subdivisions for example.
There is also a group of colleges that are not part of the NCAA, they are called the NINA group. They organize competitions amongst themselves.
What are the Football subdivisions?
Excluding the NAIA group, there are 4 subdivisions in college football.
There are 3 divisions - divisions 1, 2, and 3. Division 1 football contains two subdivisions - the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) and the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision).
The FBS is the highest level of collegiate football. It is made up of 129 major universities. This level of football has 12 season games and a 4 team playoff system as well as season ending bowl games.
The FCS is made up of 124 teams. Each team plays 11 matches and 24 teams play in the playoffs.
In FD2 there are 169 teams, who play 11 games each season and have a 28 team playoff system.
There are 249 teams in FD3, each team plays 10 games per season and the playoff is made up of 32 competing teams.
Players at all levels are expected to maintain at least a 2.3 GPA to compete in their divisions.
Note - some of the bigger universities such as Notre Dame and Stanford are members of the NAIA but play in the FBS.
How does the NCAAF relate to the NFL?
The NCAAF is the name given to the college football system. They include any team belonging to a higher education facility. While the NCAAF is completely separate from the NFL, the professional league does work with the NCAAF to nurture new talent.
At the end of each year, the seniors from the NCAAF are put forward into the NFL draft. Each team in the NFL takes turns picking players from the draft to join their team.
The team that did the worst in the previous season picks first and the team that won the Super Bowl picks last. This is designed to keep the playing field more even.
Without the NCAAF, we would not have such a talent filled NFL.
