NCAA Division I FBS Independent Schools
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. There are many fewer independent schools than in years past; 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 a Bowl Championship Series bowl provided they meet eligibility requirements. Notre Dame receives an automatic bid by finishing in the top eight of the final BCS ranking. Notre Dame also has other bowl agreements as part of its affiliation with the Big East Conference, and Navy and Army have agreements with the Military Bowl (formerly the EagleBank Bowl).
The ranks of football independents increased by one starting with the 2011 season with the announcement that BYU would leave the Mountain West Conference to become a football independent starting with that season. BYU has an agreement with the Armed Forces Bowl for 2011. The ranks increased by two in 2013 with New Mexico State and Idaho. The ranks of football independents are slated to decrease by one in 2015 with the announcement that Navy will join the Big East Conference as a football only member.
Read more about NCAA Division I FBS Independent Schools: Reasons For Independence, FBS Independents, Independents' Stadiums, University Ranking By Annual Research Dollars, Future FBS Independent Schools, Teams
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