2023 NCAA Division I FBS season
Jayden Daniels, quarterback for LSU, running from Florida defenders on November 11, 2023, at Tiger Stadium.
Number of teams	133
Duration	August 26, 2023 –December 9, 2023
Preseason AP No. 1	Georgia
Postseason
Duration	December 15, 2023 –January 8, 2024
Bowl games	42[a]
AP Poll No. 1	Michigan
Coaches Poll No. 1	Michigan
Heisman Trophy	Jayden Daniels, QB,LSU
College Football Playoff
2024 College Football Playoff National Championship
Site	NRG Stadium (Houston, Texas)
Champion(s)	Michigan
NCAA Division I FBS football seasons
← 2022 2024 →

The2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 154th season ofcollege football in the United States organized by theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, theFootball Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The regular season began on August 26 and ended on December 9. The postseason began on December 15, and, aside from any all-star games that are scheduled, ended on January 8, 2024, with theCollege Football Playoff National Championship atNRG Stadium inHouston, Texas.

TheMichigan Wolverines defeated theWashington Huskies by a score of 34–13 to claim the program's firstnational championship in theCollege Football Playoff (CFP) era, and their 12th overall. This was the tenth and final season of using the four teamCollege Football Playoff (CFP) system, with the bracket being expanded to 12 teams for the 2024 season.^[1] The season'sHeisman Trophy winner wasLSU Tigers quarterbackJayden Daniels, who led all players intotal yards and set the NCAA single-seasonpasser rating record.

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

• Mirroring the NFL rule adopted in the2005 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 the1983 season.
• Modifying a rule adopted in the1968 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 incarnation of theUFL, as well as its predecessors, theUSFL andXFL. 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, which eventually adopted this change in 2024.
• 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 theDivision IIMid-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. The rule change was the result of a controversial play in the 2022 game betweenMissouri andKentucky, where roughing was called after the Kentucky punter was hit while attempting a rushed kick following a botched snap which sailed more than 20 yards over his head.

Points of Emphasis for the 2023 season included:^[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 theBulldogs'home opener againstEastern Washington on September 9 would be the first-ever FBS game to be broadcast over linear television exclusively inSpanish. The city ofFresno is roughly 60%Hispanic, and the majority of Fresno State's enrollment is Hispanic. The game would be broadcast onUniMás in the Fresno andBakersfield markets. English-language coverage was exclusively viastreaming, 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 theCOVID-19 dead period. At the time of announcement, an NCAA infractions case was ongoing.^[5]
• October 4 – The NCAA announced several major changes to Division I footballrecruiting and governance rules:^[6]
  • The window for athletes to enter thetransfer 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 is 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—was 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.
• November 28 –Conference USA announced thatDelaware, then a member of theCoastal Athletic Association and its technically separate football arm ofCAA Football, would start a transition from FCS to FBS in 2024 and join CUSA in 2025.^[7]
• December 1 – The two schools left behind by the collapse of the Pac-12 Conference,Oregon State andWashington State, entered into a scheduling agreement with theMountain West Conference (MW) for at least the 2024 season. Each MW team would play one game against either of the so-called "Pac-2" schools. These games would not count in the MW standings, and the Pac-2 was not eligible for the MW championship.^[8]

Two schools played their first FBS seasons in 2023. Sam Houston (from theWestern Athletic Conference) and Jacksonville State (from theASUN Conference) began transitions fromDivision I FCS in 2022 and joined Conference USA (CUSA) in July 2023.^[9]

Two otherIndependent schools, Liberty and New Mexico State, joined CUSA in 2023; those schools had respectively been full members of the ASUN and WAC.^[9]

Six schools from CUSA joined theAmerican Athletic Conference for the 2023 season—Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA.^[10] This followed the departure of Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF from The American for theBig 12 Conference in 2023. In addition, BYU, previously an FBS independent, joined the Big 12.^[11]

The 2023 season was the last for 13 FBS teams in their current conferences, and was also the last for Army as an FBS independent.

One FCS school,Kennesaw State, started the transition of its program to FBS in the2023 season by leaving the ASUN Conference and playing the 2023 season as anFCS independent. It joined CUSA in 2024.^[12]

• Arizona State announced a 15-year naming rights agreement to change the name of its stadium toMountain America Stadium.^[13]
• Louisville announced a 20-year naming rights agreement to change the name of its stadium toL&N Federal Credit Union Stadium.^[14] Significantly, the credit union had been founded in 1954 at the current stadium site.^[15]
• North Texas announced a naming rights agreement with the Denton Area Teachers Credit Union to change the name of its stadium toDATCU Stadium.^[16]

Rankings reflect theAP Poll entering each week.

The regular season began on Saturday, August 26 with seven games inWeek 0.

• Aer Lingus College Football Classic
  • No. 13Notre Dame 42,Navy 3 (atAviva Stadium,Dublin, Ireland)
• Jacksonville State 17,UTEP 14
• Louisiana Tech 22,FIU 17
• San Diego State 20,Ohio 13
• No. 6USC 56,San Jose State 28
• UMass 41,New Mexico State 30
• Vanderbilt 35,Hawaii 28

• Aflac Kickoff Game:
  • Louisville 39,Georgia Tech 34 (atMercedes-Benz Stadium,Atlanta, Georgia)
• Duke's Mayo Classic:
  • No. 21North Carolina 31,South Carolina 17 (atBank of America Stadium,Charlotte, North Carolina)
• Camping World Kickoff:
  • No. 8Florida State 45, No. 5LSU 24 (atCamping World Stadium,Orlando, Florida)

• Allstate Crossbar Classic:
  • No. 11Texas 34, No. 3Alabama 24 (atBryant–Denny Stadium,Tuscaloosa, Alabama)

Rankings through Week 9 reflect theAP Poll. Rankings for Week 10 and beyond will listCollege 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.

• Week 1
  • No. 8Florida State defeated No. 5LSU, 45–24 (Camping World Kickoff,Camping World Stadium,Orlando, Florida)
• Week 4
  • No. 6Ohio State defeated No. 9Notre Dame, 17–14 (Notre Dame Stadium,Notre Dame, Indiana)
• Week 7
  • No. 7Washington defeated No. 8Oregon, 36–33 (Husky Stadium,Seattle, Washington)
• Week 8
  • No. 3 Ohio State defeated No. 7Penn State, 20–12 (Ohio Stadium,Columbus, Ohio)
• Week 11
  • No. 3/2Michigan defeated No. 10/9 Penn State, 24–15 (Beaver Stadium,University Park, Pennsylvania)
  • No. 2/1Georgia defeated No. 9/10Ole Miss, 52–17 (Sanford Stadium,Athens, Georgia)
• Week 12
  • No. 5/5 Washington defeated No. 11/10Oregon State, 22–20 (Reser Stadium,Corvallis, Oregon)
• Week 13
  • No. 3/3 Michigan defeated No. 2/2 Ohio State, 30–24 (Michigan Stadium,Ann Arbor, Michigan)

• No. 3/3 Washington defeated No. 5/5 Oregon, 34–31 (Allegiant Stadium,Paradise, Nevada)
• No. 8/8 Alabama defeated No. 1/1 Georgia, 27–24 (Mercedes-Benz Stadium,Atlanta, Georgia)

• Cotton Bowl
  • No. 9Missouri defeated No. 7 Ohio State, 14–3 (AT&T Stadium,Arlington, TX)
• Orange Bowl
  • No. 6 Georgia defeated No. 5Florida State, 63–3 (Hard Rock Stadium,Miami Gardens, FL)
• Rose Bowl (CFB Playoff semifinal)
  • No. 1 Michigan defeated No. 4 Alabama, 27–20^OT (Rose Bowl,Pasadena, CA)
• Sugar Bowl (CFB Playoff semifinal)
  • No. 2 Washington defeated No. 3Texas, 37–31 (Caesars Superdome,New Orleans, LA)
• CFB Playoff National Championship Game
  • No. 1 Michigan defeated No. 2 Washington, 34–13 (NRG Stadium,Houston, TX)

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

• September 2, 2023
  • Colorado 45, No. 17TCU 42
• September 4, 2023
  • Duke 28, No. 9Clemson 7
• September 9, 2023
  • Washington State 31, No. 19Wisconsin 22
  • Miami (FL) 48, No. 23Texas A&M 33
• September 16, 2023
  • Florida 29, No. 11Tennessee 16
  • Missouri 30, No. 15Kansas State 27
• September 30, 2023
  • Kentucky 33, No. 22 Florida 14
• October 7, 2023
  • UCLA 25, No. 13 Washington State 17
  • Georgia Tech 23, No. 17 Miami (FL) 20
  • Wyoming 24, No. 24Fresno State 19
• October 14, 2023
  • Pittsburgh 38, No. 14Louisville 21
  • Arizona 44, No. 19 Washington State 6
  • Oklahoma State 39, No. 23Kansas 32
  • Missouri 38, No. 24 Kentucky 21
• October 21, 2023
  • Virginia 31, No. 10North Carolina 27
  • Minnesota 12, No. 24Iowa 10
• October 28, 2023
  • Kansas 38, No. 6Oklahoma 33
  • Arizona 27, No. 11Oregon State 24
  • Georgia Tech 46, No. 17 North Carolina 42
• November 4, 2023
  • Oklahoma State 27, No. 10 Oklahoma 24
  • Clemson 31, No. 12Notre Dame 23
  • Army 23, No. 17Air Force 3
  • Arizona 27, No. 20 UCLA 10
• November 11, 2023
  • UCF 45, No. 15 Oklahoma State 3
  • Texas Tech 16, No. 19 Kansas 13
• November 18, 2023
  • Appalachian State 26, No. 18James Madison 23^OT
  • Clemson 31, No. 22 North Carolina 20
• November 25, 2023
  • Kentucky 38, No. 9 Louisville 31
  • Iowa State 42, No. 19 Kansas State 35

Rankings in this section are based on the final CFP rankings released on December 3, 2023.

• December 27, 2023
  • USC 42, No. 15 Louisville 28 (Holiday Bowl)
• December 28, 2023
  • Boston College 23, No. 24SMU 14 (Fenway Bowl)

The top 25 from the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls.^[19][20]

On December 3, 2023, theCollege Football Playoff selection committee announced its final team rankings for the year. It was the tenth and final season of the CFP era under four teams. This was the first time that an undefeatedPower Five conference champion (Florida State) was left out of the semifinals.^[21]

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 minimumwinning percentage during the regular season to becomebowl-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 viatie-ins for their conference.

Rankings in this section are based on CFP rankings released prior to the games.

Ranks are per the final CFP rankings, released in December 2023, with win–loss records at that time.

^CFP College Football Playoff participant

• ACC (11):Boston College,Clemson,Duke,Florida State,Georgia Tech,Louisville,Miami (FL),North Carolina,NC State,Syracuse,Virginia Tech
• American (6):Memphis,Rice,SMU,South Florida,Tulane,UTSA
• Big 10 (9):Iowa,Maryland,Michigan,Minnesota,^[a]Northwestern,Ohio State,Penn State,Rutgers,Wisconsin
• Big 12 (9):Iowa State,Kansas,Kansas State,Oklahoma,Oklahoma State,Texas,Texas Tech,UCF,West Virginia
• C-USA (4):Jacksonville State,^[b]Liberty,New Mexico State,Western Kentucky
• MAC (6):Bowling Green,Eastern Michigan,Miami (OH),Northern Illinois,Ohio,Toledo
• MW (7):Air Force,Boise State,Fresno State,San Jose State,UNLV,Utah State,Wyoming
• Pac-12 (8):Arizona,California,Oregon,Oregon State,UCLA,USC,Utah,Washington
• SEC (9):Alabama,Auburn,Georgia,Kentucky,LSU,Missouri,Ole Miss,Tennessee,Texas A&M
• Sun Belt (12):Appalachian State,Arkansas State,Coastal Carolina,Georgia Southern,James Madison,^[b]Georgia State,Louisiana,Marshall,Old Dominion,South Alabama,Texas State,Troy
• Independent (1):Notre Dame

Number of bowl berths available: 82
Number of bowl-eligible teams: 79
Number of conditional bowl-eligible teams: 2 (Jacksonville State and James Madison)
Number of teams qualified byAPR: 1 (Minnesota)

• ACC (3):Pittsburgh,Virginia,Wake Forest
• American (8):Charlotte,East Carolina,Florida Atlantic,Navy,^[c]North Texas,Temple,Tulsa,UAB
• Big 10 (5):Illinois,Indiana,Michigan State,Nebraska,Purdue
• Big 12 (5):Baylor,BYU,Cincinnati,Houston,TCU
• C-USA (5):FIU,Louisiana Tech,Middle Tennessee,Sam Houston,^[d]UTEP
• MAC (6):Akron,Ball State,Buffalo,Central Michigan,Kent State,Western Michigan
• MW (5):Colorado State,Hawaii,Nevada,New Mexico,San Diego State
• Pac-12 (4):Arizona State,^[e]Colorado,Stanford,Washington State
• SEC (5):Arkansas,Florida,Mississippi State,South Carolina,Vanderbilt
• Sun Belt (2):Louisiana–Monroe,Southern Miss
• Independent (3):Army,^[c]UConn,UMass

Number of bowl-ineligible teams: 51

Source:^[33]

Note: The onlyindependent team that played in an FBS bowl game wasNotre Dame.

Each of these games features college seniors, or players whose college football eligibility is ending, who are individually invited by game organizers. These games are scheduled to follow the team-competitive bowls, to allow players selected from bowl teams to participate. The all-star games may include some players from non-FBS programs.

TheNFLPA Collegiate Bowl, which debuted in 2012 and was played 12 times through January 2023, was discontinued. The East–West Shrine Bowl relocated from Nevada (where its prior two editions had been played) to Texas.

TheHeisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player

Quarterback

Running back

Wide receiver

Tight end

Lineman

Defensive front

Defensive back

The following players were recognized as consensus All-Americans for 2023.Unanimous selections are followed by an asterisk (*).

This is restricted to coaching changes taking place on or after May 1, 2023, and will include any changes announced after a team's last regularly scheduled game but before its bowl game. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2023, see2022 NCAA Division I FBS end-of-season coaching changes.

The list includes coaching changes announced during the season that did not take effect until the end of season.

All timesEastern.Rankings are from theAP Poll (before 10/31) andCFP Rankings (thereafter).

All timesEastern.Rankings are from theCFP Rankings.

Source:^[101]

This is the first year of television deals for theBig Ten Conference andConference USA. The Big Ten's deal includesCBS,NBC/Peacock,Fox/FS1 and theBig Ten Network.^[102][103]Conference USA's deal includesESPN andCBS Sports Network.^[104] Due to thebankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, starting this season, a package of ACC games produced byRaycom Sports that were previously aired onBally Sports moved toThe CW.^[105] The CW also acquired the rights to air theBarstool Sports produced broadcast of theArizona Bowl.^[106] Locally,Fresno State reached an agreement withTelevisaUnivision stationsKTFF-DT andKBTF-CD to air the first ever exclusively Spanish-language television broadcast in FBS history on September 9.^[4] This is also the final year of television deals for thePac-12 Conference and theSEC. The SEC has signed a new deal with ESPN and theSEC Network, making 2023 the final year of theSEC on CBS. The Pac-12, with only two members, would announce an agreement withThe CW and Fox Sports.^[107][108]