2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season

2022 NCAA Division I FBS season
Number of teams	131
Duration	August 27, 2022–December 10, 2022
Post-season
Duration	December 17, 2022 – January 9, 2023
Bowl games	44 scheduled
AP Poll No. 1	TBD
Coaches Poll No. 1	TBD
College Football Playoff
2023 College Football Playoff National Championship
Site	SoFi Stadium Inglewood, California
NCAA Division I FBS football seasons
← 2021

The 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season will be the 153rd 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 is scheduled to begin on August 27 and end on December 10. The postseason will begin on December 17, and, aside from any all-star games that are scheduled, end on January 9, 2023, with the College Football Playoff National Championship at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. This will be the ninth season of the College Football Playoff (CFP) system.

Rule changes[]

The following rule changes were recommended by the NCAA Football Rules Committee for the 2022 season.^[1]

• In games featuring instant replay, when players are disqualified for a targeting call in the second half or in overtime (which requires a carryover penalty of sitting out the first half of the next scheduled game), an appeal process will be available to allow the National Coordinator of Officials (currently Steve Shaw) to review tapes of the targeting penalty for consideration of not requiring the player to sit out the first half of the following game.
• Injury timeouts awarded due to "deceptive actions" during a game will also be able to reviewed by the National Coordinator of Officials to determine what sanctions, if any, against teams who use this tactic, enforced at the conference or school level.
• Blocking below the waist will only be permitted inside the tackle box by lineman and stationary backs. Blocks below the waist outside of the tackle box are not allowed.
• Defensive holding will remain a 10-yard penalty but will always carry an automatic first down.
• Codifying the rule change made shortly after the 2021 ACC Championship Game, ball carriers who simulate a feet-first slide will be declared down at that spot.
• Uniform rules were changed to require the sock/leg covering to go from the shoe to the bottom of the pants, similar to the NFL rule.

Other headlines[]

• March 1 – The Sun Belt Conference released its 2022 football schedule. Notably, the schedule includes Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss, schools that had announced their departure from Conference USA and are currently in a dispute with C-USA regarding their departure date, with Marshall having sued C-USA. The SBC release did not mention the dispute or the possibility that the three schools would not be able to join for the 2022 season.^[2]

Conference realignment[]

One school will play its first FBS season in 2022. James Madison will start a transition from Division I FCS in 2022, joining the Sun Belt Conference. As a full Sun Belt member, it will meet FBS scheduling requirements in the 2022 season, allowing it to be counted as an FBS opponent for scheduling purposes.^[3] (Normally, this status would not be available until the second transitional season.)

Three other schools are attempting to join the Sun Belt from Conference USA in 2022. Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss, while initially reported to be making said move in 2023, announced their intent to move in 2022. C-USA has insisted that all three are bound to that league through the 2022–23 school year. Marshall has filed suit against C-USA in an attempt to force a 2022 move.^[4]

School	Former conference	New conference
James Madison	CAA (FCS)	Sun Belt
Marshall	C-USA	Sun Belt
Old Dominion	C-USA	Sun Belt
Southern Miss	C-USA	Sun Belt

The 2022 season is expected to be the last for 12 FBS schools in their current conferences or as FBS independents:

School	Former conference	New conference
BYU	Independent	Big 12
Charlotte	C-USA	American
Cincinnati	American	Big 12
Florida Atlantic	C-USA	American
Houston	American	Big 12
Liberty	Independent	C-USA
New Mexico State	Independent	C-USA
North Texas	C-USA	American
Rice	C-USA	American
UAB	C-USA	American
UCF	American	Big 12
UTSA	C-USA	American

In addition to James Madison, two other FCS schools will start transitions to FBS after the 2021 season. They will not join their future FBS conferences until 2023.

• Jacksonville State will leave the ASUN Conference for Conference USA.
• Sam Houston State will leave the Western Athletic Conference for C-USA.

Stadiums[]

This will be the first season for San Diego State at Snapdragon Stadium, replacing the since-demolished San Diego Stadium after playing at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson for two seasons in 2020 and 2021. The team will play their first game in the new stadium against the Arizona Wildcats on September 3, 2022.^[5]

Kickoff games[]

Rankings reflect the AP Poll entering each week.

"Week Zero"[]

The regular season will begin on Saturday, August 27 with eight games in Week 0.

• Aer Lingus College Football Classic (Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland): Nebraska vs. Northwestern
• at Florida State
• at North Carolina
• at Illinois
• Vanderbilt at Hawaii
• Austin Peay at
• at New Mexico State
• UConn at

Week 1[]

The majority of FBS teams will open the season on Labor Day weekend. Eight neutral-site "kickoff" games will be held.

• Chick-fil-A Kickoff:
  • Oregon vs. Georgia (at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA)
  • Clemson vs (at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA)
• Louisiana Kickoff:
  • Florida State vs. LSU (at Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, LA)

Regular season top 10 matchups[]

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

FCS team wins over FBS teams[]

Upsets[]

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

Regular season[]

During the regular season, 0 unranked FBS teams, plus 0 FCS team, defeated ranked FBS teams.

Conference standings[]

2022 American Athletic Conference football standings v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Cincinnati   0 – 0     0 – 0   East Carolina   0 – 0     0 – 0   Houston   0 – 0     0 – 0   Memphis   0 – 0     0 – 0   Navy   0 – 0     0 – 0   SMU   0 – 0     0 – 0   South Florida   0 – 0     0 – 0   Temple   0 – 0     0 – 0   Tulane   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   UCF   0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 3, 2022 As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll	2022 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Atlantic Division   0 – 0     0 – 0   Clemson   0 – 0     0 – 0   Florida State   0 – 0     0 – 0   Louisville   0 – 0     0 – 0   NC State   0 – 0     0 – 0   Syracuse   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   Coastal Division Duke   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   Miami (FL)   0 – 0     0 – 0   North Carolina   0 – 0     0 – 0   Pittsburgh   0 – 0     0 – 0   Virginia   0 – 0     0 – 0   Virginia Tech   0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 3, 2022 As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll	2022 Big Ten Conference football standings v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   East Division Indiana   0 – 0     0 – 0   Maryland   0 – 0     0 – 0   Michigan   0 – 0     0 – 0   Michigan State   0 – 0     0 – 0   Rutgers   0 – 0     0 – 0   Ohio State   0 – 0     0 – 0   Penn State   0 – 0     0 – 0   West Division Illinois   0 – 0     0 – 0   Iowa   0 – 0     0 – 0   Minnesota   0 – 0     0 – 0   Nebraska   0 – 0     0 – 0   Northwestern   0 – 0     0 – 0   Purdue   0 – 0     0 – 0   Wisconsin   0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 3, 2022 As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll
2022 Big 12 Conference football standings v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Baylor   0 – 0     0 – 0   Iowa State   0 – 0     0 – 0   Kansas   0 – 0     0 – 0   Kansas State   0 – 0     0 – 0   Oklahoma   0 – 0     0 – 0   Oklahoma State   0 – 0     0 – 0   TCU   0 – 0     0 – 0   Texas   0 – 0     0 – 0   Texas Tech   0 – 0     0 – 0   West Virginia   0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 3, 2022 As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll	v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 2, 2022 As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll	v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   East Division   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   West Division   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 3, 2022 As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll
v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Mountain Division   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   Colorado State   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   West Division   0 – 0     0 – 0   Hawaii   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 3, 2022 As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll	2022 Pac-12 Conference football standings v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   North Division California   0 – 0     0 – 0   Oregon   0 – 0     0 – 0   Oregon State   0 – 0     0 – 0   Stanford   0 – 0     0 – 0   Washington   0 – 0     0 – 0   Washington State   0 – 0     0 – 0   South Division Arizona   0 – 0     0 – 0   Arizona State   0 – 0     0 – 0   Colorado   0 – 0     0 – 0   UCLA   0 – 0     0 – 0   USC   0 – 0     0 – 0   Utah   0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 2, 2022 As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll	2022 Southeastern Conference football standings v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   East Division Florida   0 – 0     0 – 0   Georgia   0 – 0     0 – 0   Kentucky   0 – 0     0 – 0   Missouri   0 – 0     0 – 0   South Carolina   0 – 0     0 – 0   Tennessee   0 – 0     0 – 0   Vanderbilt   0 – 0     0 – 0   West Division Alabama   0 – 0     0 – 0   Arkansas   0 – 0     0 – 0   Auburn   0 – 0     0 – 0   LSU   0 – 0     0 – 0   Mississippi State   0 – 0     0 – 0   Ole Miss   0 – 0     0 – 0   Texas A&M   0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 3, 2022 As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll
2022 Sun Belt Conference football standings v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   East Division   0 – 0     0 – 0   Coastal Carolina   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   James Madison*   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   West Division   0 – 0     0 – 0   Louisiana   0 – 0     0 – 0   Louisiana–Monroe   0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0     0 – 0   Championship: December 3, 2022 * – Ineligible for postseason play due to FCS-to-FBS transition rules As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll	2022 NCAA Division I FBS independents football records v t Conf Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Army   –     0 – 0   BYU   –     0 – 0   Liberty   –     0 – 0   New Mexico State   –     0 – 0   Notre Dame   –     0 – 0   UConn   –     0 – 0   UMass   –     0 – 0   As of March 23, 2022; Rankings from AP Poll

Rankings[]

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

Pre-season polls[]

AP Ranking Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

USA Today Coaches Ranking Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Coaching changes[]

Preseason and in-season[]

This is restricted to coaching changes taking place on or after May 1, 2022, 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 2022, see 2021 NCAA Division I FBS end-of-season coaching changes.

School	Outgoing coach	Date	Reason	Replacement

End of season[]

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

School	Outgoing coach	Date	Reason	Replacement

Television viewers and ratings[]

Most watched regular season games[]

All times Eastern. Rankings are from the (before 11/2) and (thereafter).

Notes[]

See also[]

• 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season

References[]