2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season

The 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 154th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football 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 the College Football Playoff National Championship at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Washington Huskies by a score of 34–13 to claim the program's first national championship in the College Football Playoff (CFP) era, and their 12th overall. This was the tenth and final season of using the four team College Football Playoff (CFP) system, with the bracket being expanded to 12 teams for the 2024 season. The season's Heisman winner was LSU Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels, who lead all players in total yards and set the single-season passer rating record.

Rule changes
The following rules changes were approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Committee for the 2023 season:
 * 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 incarnation of the UFL, as well as its predecessors, 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, who 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. The rule change was the result of a controversial play in the 2022 game between Missouri and Kentucky, 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 include:
 * 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.

Other headlines

 * 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.
 * 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. At the time of announcement, an NCAA infractions case was ongoing.
 * October 4 – The NCAA announced several major changes to Division I football recruiting and governance rules:
 * 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 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 that Delaware, currently a member of the Coastal Athletic Association and its technically separate football arm of CAA Football, would start a transition from FCS to FBS in 2024 and join CUSA in 2025.
 * December 1 – The two schools left behind by the effective demise of the Pac-12 Conference, Oregon State and Washington State, entered into a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West Conference (MW) for at least the 2024 season. Each MW team will play one game against either of the so-called "Pac-2" schools. These games will not count in the MW standings, and the Pac-2 will not be eligible for the MW championship.

Conference realignment
Two schools played 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 (CUSA) in July 2023.

Two other Independent schools, Liberty and New Mexico State, joined CUSA in 2023; those schools had respectively been full members of the ASUN and WAC.

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

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 the 2023 season by leaving the ASUN Conference and playing the 2023 season as an FCS independent. It will join CUSA in 2024.

Stadiums

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

Kickoff games
Rankings reflect the AP Poll entering each week.

"Week 0"
The regular season began on Saturday, August 26 with seven games in Week 0.


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

Week 1

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

Week 2

 * Allstate Crossbar Classic:
 * No. 11 Texas 34, No. 3 Alabama 24 (at Bryant–Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama)

Top 10 matchups
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.

Regular season

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

Conference championship games

 * 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)

Bowl games

 * Cotton Bowl
 * No. 9 Missouri defeated No. 7 Ohio State, 14–3 (AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX)
 * Orange Bowl
 * No. 6 Georgia defeated No. 5 Florida State, 63–3 (Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL)
 * Rose Bowl (CFB Playoff semifinal)
 * No. 1 Michigan defeated No. 4 Alabama, 27–20OT (Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA)
 * Sugar Bowl (CFB Playoff semifinal)
 * No. 2 Washington defeated No. 3 Texas, 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)

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

Regular season

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

Bowl games
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. 24 SMU 14 (Fenway Bowl)

Rankings
The top 25 from the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls.

CFB Playoff final rankings
On December 3, 2023, the College 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 undefeated Power Five conference champion (Florida State) was left out of the semifinals.

Postseason
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.

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

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

CFP College Football Playoff participant

Bowl-eligible teams
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 by APR: 1 (Minnesota)
 * 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, 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, 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, Georgia State, Louisiana, Marshall, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy
 * Independent (1): Notre Dame

Bowl-ineligible teams

 * ACC (3): Pittsburgh, Virginia, Wake Forest
 * American (8): Charlotte, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Navy, 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, 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, Colorado, Stanford, Washington State
 * SEC (5): Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt
 * Sun Belt (2): Louisiana–Monroe, Southern Miss
 * Independent (3): Army, UConn, UMass

Number of bowl-ineligible teams: 51

Conference performance in bowl games
Source:

Note: The only independent team that played in an FBS bowl game was Notre Dame.

All-star games
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.

The NFLPA 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.

Heisman Trophy voting
The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player

Offense
Quarterback

Running back

Wide receiver

Tight end

Lineman

Defense
Defensive front

Defensive back

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

Preseason and in-season
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, see 2022 NCAA Division I FBS end-of-season coaching changes.

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

Top 10 most watched regular season games
All times Eastern. Rankings are from the AP Poll (before 10/31) and CFP Rankings (thereafter).

Conference championship games
All times Eastern. Rankings are from the CFP Rankings.

New Year's Six and College Football Playoff games
Source:

Television changes
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. Conference USA's deal includes ESPN and CBS Sports Network. 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 moved to The CW. The CW also acquired the rights to air the Barstool Sports produced broadcast of the Arizona Bowl. 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. 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, making 2023 the final year of the SEC on CBS. No new television deal was ever reached by the Pac-12.

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. Greg McElroy replaced Blackledge as ESPN's #2 college football color commentator. Derek Mason and Orlando Franklin also joined ESPN as color commentators. Jeff Levering replaced Eagle at Fox Sports, while Mark Ingram II replaced Reggie Bush on Fox's Big Noon Kickoff.

In November 2023, ESPN International reached agreements with Sky Sports NFL to carry packages of games and studio programs in college football and basketball (replacing TNT Sports, which had previously held rights to ESPN International content).