NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Football Bowl Subdivision . Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ) , formerly known as Division I - A , is the top level of college football , and is currently the only NCAA - sponsored sport without an organized tournament to determine its champion . Schools in Division I FBS compete in post - season bowl games , with the champions of six conferences receiving automatic bids to the Bowl Championship Series to determine a national champion . This is due to many factors , including that bowl games are sanctioned by the NCAA ( primarily in terms of amateurism regulations and guaranteeing a minimum payout to conferences of the participating schools ) , but are not under its direct administration . Starting with the 2014 season , the BCS will undergo radical change , with a four - team playoff to determine a national champion almost certain to be adopted . The remaining five conferences , often referred to as " Mid - major s " , do not receive automatic bids but their conference champions are eligible for an automatic bid if it ranks in the BCS top 12 or in the top 16 and ahead of the champion from a conference with an automatic bid . Only one " mid - major " champion can qualify for an automatic bid in any year . The one exception is Notre Dame , which only has to rank in the top eight of the BCS standings to earn an automatic bid to a BCS bowl game . FBS schools are limited to a total of 85 football players receiving financial assistance . For competitive reasons , a student receiving partial scholarship counts fully against the total of 85 . Nearly all FBS schools that are not on NCAA probation give 85 full scholarships . As of 2012 , there are 120 full members of Division I FBS . The most recent addition to FBS was Western Kentucky University , which ended its two - year transition period from Division I FCS in 2008 and became a full FBS member in 2009 . In July 2011 , four schools began transitions to FBS , starting as FCS members . Under NCAA rules , these schools were ineligible for the FCS playoffs in 2011 . In 2012 , they will be provisional FBS members without bowl eligibility , with full FBS membership following in 2013 . Three other schools have announced future transitions to FBS : Any conference with at least 12 football teams may split its teams into two divisions and conduct a championship game between the division winners . The prize is normally a specific bowl game bid for which the conference has a tie - in , or a guaranteed spot in the BCS ( depending on the conference ) . Some conferences have numbers in their names but this often has no relation to the number of member institutions in the conference . The Big Ten Conference did not formally adopt the " Big Ten " name until 1987 , but unofficially used that name when it had 10 members from 1917 to 1946 , and again from 1949 forward . However , it has continued to use the name even after it expanded to 11 members with the addition of Penn State in 1990 and 12 with the addition of Nebraska in 2011 . The Big 12 Conference was established in 1996 with 12 members , but continues to use that name even after the 2011 departure of Colorado and Nebraska left the conference with 10 members . On the other hand , the Pacific - 12 Conference has used names ( official or unofficial ) that have reflected the number of members since its current charter was established in 1959 . The conference unofficially used " Big Five " ( 1959 – 62 ) , " Big Six " ( 1962 – 64 ) , and " Pacific - 8 " ( 1964 – 68 ) before officially adopting the " Pacific - 8 " name . The name duly changed to " Pacific - 10 " in 1978 with the addition of Arizona and Arizona State , and " Pacific - 12 " in 2011 when Colorado and Utah joined . Conferences also tend to ignore their regional names when adding new schools . For example , the Pac - 8 / 10 / 12 retained its " Pacific " moniker even though its four newest members ( Arizona , Arizona State , Colorado , Utah ) are located in the inland West , and the Big East kept its name even after adding schools ( either in all sports or for football only ) located in areas traditionally considered to be in the Midwest ( Cincinnati , DePaul , Marquette , Notre Dame ) , Upper South ( Louisville , Memphis ) , Southwest ( Houston , SMU ) and Far West ( Boise State , San Diego State ) .