Independents

Independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an affiliated conference. This means that FBS independents are not required to schedule each other for competition like conference schools do. Many independent schools join, or attempt to join, established conferences, usually in order to gain a share of television revenue and access to bowl games that agree to take teams from certain conferences, and in order to help deal with otherwise potentially difficult challenges in scheduling opponents to play throughout the season.
All Division I FBS independents are eligible for the CFBHC playoff if they finish as the highest ranked Independent and obtain a 9-3 record during the regular season, or for other bowls associated with the CFP, if they are chosen by the CFP selection committee.
Georgia State withdrew from the American Athletic Conference in 2017 and began playing as an Independent in 2018.
Navy was an Independent program before joining the American Athletic Conference for the 2018 season.
UMass became FBS independent in 2020.
==Independents' stadiums==
Institution 	Football Stadium 	Capacity
Army 	Michie Stadium 	38,000
BYU 	LaVell Edwards Stadium 	63,470
Georgia State	Georgia State Stadium 	23,000
Notre Dame 	Notre Dame Stadium 	80,795
UMass 	Gillette Stadium/Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium	68,756/17,000
==All Time Independent Records==
==Independent Award Winners==
*Lou Groza Award
:MICHAEL TURNER (Notre Dame) - 2014 CFBHC Season
*Ray Guy Award
:JASON SOCHIA (Notre Dame) – 2016 CFBHC Season
Category:Independents