2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season

The following rules changes were approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Committee for the 2023 season:[2]

• Mirroring the NFL rule adopted in the 2005 NFL season, teams may not call consecutive timeouts during a single dead ball period.
• Accepted penalties committed on the last play of the first or third quarter will no longer result in an untimed down before the period ends. The penalty enforcement will be marked off and the second or fourth quarter will begin with the ball at the new spot. This modifies the rule adopted in the 1983 season.
• Modifying a rule adopted in the 1968 season, the game clock will no longer be stopped for first downs on offense except inside of the final two minutes of each half. This is similar to a rule used in the current incarnations of the USFL and XFL. The NFL does not stop the game clock for first downs at any time in the game. This rule was adopted for all NCAA Football divisions except Division III, they will still use the previous rule of clock stoppages on first down for the entire game.
• When there is not a replay official in the booth, the on-field officials will have optional replay available in the event of a coaches' challenge. This rule was trialed in the Division II Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association in its 2022 conference season.
• Establishing guidelines for second-half warmup activities, including requiring teams to wait until the field is made available to return and having designated areas of the field to warm up.
• When teams are on the field, drones are not allowed over the playing surface or the team area.
• If a player receives a third targeting penalty in the same season (which requires a one-game suspension) and the penalty is overturned by the National Coordinator of Officials upon appeal, the suspension will be vacated.
• The area where "roughing/running into the kicker" protection ends was expanded to include when the kicker retreats more than five yards behind the spot the kicker was initially lined up to receive the snap. Previously the protection ended only when the kicker ran outside the tackle box before kicking the ball.

Points of Emphasis for the 2023 season include:[3]

• Continued emphasis on targeting, sideline control, concussions, feigning injuries and acts of taunting.
• Pre-snap actions by the offense designed to cause the defense to jump into the neutral zone (abrupt, quick, or jerky motions by the quarterback) and disconcerting signals by the defense designed to cause a false start or snap issues on offense (simulating cadence and other sounds or motions similar to the offense's snap signals, including the use of the "clap" on defense designed to be similar to the offense).
• Rules regarding illegal hits to the quarterback/passer will be more strictly enforced.

• August 15 – Fresno State announced that the Bulldogs' home opener against Eastern Washington on September 9 would be the first-ever FBS game to be broadcast over linear television exclusively in Spanish. The city of Fresno is roughly 60% Hispanic, and the majority of Fresno State's enrollment is Hispanic. The game would be broadcast on UniMás in the Fresno and Bakersfield markets. English-language coverage was exclusively via streaming, with audio by Fresno State's radio broadcast team.[4]
• August 29 – Arizona State announced a self imposed bowl ban for the 2023 season. The ban stems from allegations that Arizona State hosted high school recruits during the COVID-19 dead period. The case is still on-going with the NCAA.[5]
• October 4 – The NCAA announced several major changes to Division I football recruiting and governance rules:[6]
  • The window for athletes to enter the transfer portal was reduced. For FBS players, the portal now opens on the Monday after conference championship games are played and stays open for 30 days. For players participating in the postseason (i.e., bowl games, including the College Football Playoff), there will be an additional 5-day window after the players' final game.
  • The limit on "initial counters"—i.e., players who are receiving athletically-related financial aid for the first time—has been permanently eliminated. The previous limit of 25 had been suspended due to COVID-19 impacts.
  • Football attendance requirements for FBS membership were eliminated, effective immediately.
  • The application fee for transitioning from FCS to FBS increased from $5,000 to $5 million, effective immediately.
  • Starting with the 2027–28 school year, FBS members must fund the equivalent of 210 full scholarships across all sports, and spend at least $6 million annually on such aid.
  • Also starting in 2027–28, FBS members must provide at least 90% of the total number of allowed scholarships across 16 sports, including football. Schools that start FBS transitions in 2024–25 or later must meet both of the aforementioned limits by the end of their two-year transition.

2 schools are playing their first FBS seasons in 2023. Sam Houston (from the Western Athletic Conference) and Jacksonville State (from the ASUN Conference) began transitions from Division I FCS in 2022 and joined Conference USA in July 2023.[7]

2 other Independent schools, Liberty and New Mexico State, joined Conference USA in 2023; those schools had respectively been full members of the ASUN and WAC.[7]

6 schools from Conference USA joined the American Athletic Conference for the 2023 season—Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA.[8] This followed three schools from The American, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF, leaving the conference for the Big 12 Conference in 2023. In addition, BYU, previously an FBS independent and otherwise a member of the non-football West Coast Conference, joined the Big 12.[9]

The 2023 season is expected to be the last for 14 FBS teams in their current conferences and 1 FCS team joining FBS:

In addition to Sam Houston and Jacksonville State, 1 other FCS school will start a transition to FBS in the 2023 season.[10]

• Kennesaw State will leave the ASUN Conference for C-USA. It will play the 2023 season as an FCS independent, while remaining in the ASUN for other sports, before joining C-USA in 2024.

• Arizona State announced a 15 year naming rights agreement to change the name of their stadium to Mountain America Stadium.[11]
• North Texas announced a naming rights agreement with the Denton Area Teachers Credit Union to change the name of their stadium to DATCU Stadium.[12]

Rankings reflect the AP Poll entering each week.

Rankings through Week 9 reflect the AP Poll. Rankings for Week 10 and beyond will list College Football Playoff Rankings first and AP Poll second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted.

This section lists instances of unranked teams defeating AP Poll-ranked teams during the season.

The top 25 from the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls.[14][15]

There are 41 team-competitive FBS post-season bowl games, with two teams advancing to a 42nd – the CFP National Championship game. Normally, a team is required to have a .500 minimum winning percentage during the regular season to become bowl-eligible (six wins for an 11- or 12-game schedule, and seven wins for a 13-game schedule). If there are not enough winning teams to fulfill all open bowl slots, teams with losing records may be chosen to fill all 82 bowl slots. Additionally, on the rare occasion in which a conference champion does not meet eligibility requirements, they are usually still chosen for bowl games via tie-ins for their conference.

This is the first year of television deals for the Big Ten Conference and Conference USA. The Big Ten's deal includes CBS, NBC/Peacock, Fox/FS1 and the Big Ten Network.[19][20] The Conference USA's deal includes ESPN and CBS Sports Network.[21] Due to the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, starting this season, a package of ACC games produced by Raycom Sports that were previously aired on Bally Sports will now air on The CW.[22] This is also the final year of television deals for the Pac-12 Conference and the SEC. The SEC has signed a new deal with ESPN and the SEC Network. No new television deal has yet been signed for the Pac-12.[23][24] Locally, Fresno State reached an agreement with TelevisaUnivision stations KTFF-DT and KBTF-CD to air the first ever exclusively Spanish-language television broadcast in FBS history on September 9.[25]

Noah Eagle, formerly at Fox Sports, and Todd Blackledge, formerly at ESPN, joined NBC Sports in 2023 as the lead commentary team on Big Ten Saturday Night.[26] Greg McElroy replaced Blackledge as ESPN's #2 college football color commentator. Derek Mason and Orlando Franklin also joined ESPN as color commentators.[27] Jeff Levering replaced Eagle at Fox Sports, while Mark Ingram II replaced Reggie Bush on Fox's Big Noon Kickoff show.[28]

• 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season
• 2023 NCAA Division II football season
• 2023 NCAA Division III football season
• 2023 NAIA football season