2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season


The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season will be a season of college football games in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivison. Pending developments in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the regular season is tentatively scheduled to begin on August 29, 2020, and end on December 12, 2020. The postseason is planned to conclude on January 11, 2021, with the College Football Playoff National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. This will be the seventh season of the College Football Playoff championship system.
The season will be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States; four of the Power Five conferences announced plans to largely restrict their teams' schedules to conference opponents only.

Conference realignment

Membership changes

Rule changes

The following playing rule changes were approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel for 2020:

Season preparations

Multiple universities and conferences had already cancelled their spring football games as part of the wider, nationwide suspension of organized sports and athletics due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. On March 13, the NCAA announced a suspension of all Division I on-campus and off-campus recruiting until April 15. In regards to its impact on the regular season, NCAA president Mark Emmert stated on May 8 that individual decisions on fall semester sports would likely begin to appear as early as June or around July 4. He suggested that the operation of athletics programs would depend on students being present on-campus to a degree, explaining that "you have to treat the health and well-being of the athletes at least as much as the regular students", but that "this is going to be a very unusual school year, and we just have to make the best of it".
The NCAA Division I Council prohibited on-campus activities through May 31; on May 20, the Council voted to end the moratorium and allow voluntary on-campus activity in football and basketball to begin June 1, subject to new safety protocols. On June 17, the Division I Council approved a timetable for a season assumed to begin September 5, including beginning non-voluntary training activities on July 13.
On June 24, USA Today reported that at least 37 FBS schools had reported positive cases of COVID-19 among student-athletes or staff since practices resumed. Amidst a spike in cases in the Southern U.S. since late-June, several state governors, including Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Georgia's Brian Kemp, and South Carolina's Henry McMaster, have warned that football season could be threatened if cases do not subside in time.
On July 15, the Rose Parade was cancelled due to the pandemic. The 2021 Rose Bowl Game itself is still tentatively scheduled. The same day, the NCAA announced that FBS teams would be permitted to count two wins against FCS teams, instead of the usual one, towards bowl eligibility.
On July 16, the NCAA released a series of recommendations regarding protocols for fall sports, including that all participants in "high contact risk sports" be tested with results within 72 hours of play. President Emmert noted, however, that the guidelines presumed that the infection rate would be "manageable", and that "If there is to be college sports in the fall, we need to get a much better handle on the pandemic." The American Athletic Conference announced the same day that it will adhere to this protocol; commissioner Mike Aresco stated that "with the proper quarantine and the proper canvassing of close contacts, we think at this point it would be safe to play games." On July 18, the SEC announced that it would still honor scholarships for players who opt out of the fall season due to safety concerns.
On July 28, by request of the Football Oversight Committee, the NCAA announced that it had issued a blanket waiver for all teams to allow play in "Week 0", in order to allow for greater scheduling flexibility amid changing conditions.
In the event that conditions do not improve by the traditional timeframe of football season, the possibility of delaying the football season entirely to spring 2021 was suggested by several coaches. However, it was largely considered by them to be a last resort. Aresco commented that such a delay would likely require practices to be held over the winter indoors — environments that have been shown to exacerbate spread of COVID-19.

Impact on scheduling and games played

As of July 30, four of the Power Five conferences have announced cuts to non-conference games in order to overcome logistical concerns and reduce interstate travel. The Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC are all limiting play to in-conference opponents only. The Atlantic Coast Conference will allow one non-conference game against an in-state opponent as part of an 11-game schedule, and is temporarily suspending the use of divisions. Some FCS conferences have cancelled or postponed football season outright, affecting games against FBS opponents.
The restrictions complicated matters for FBS independents; the first four games of the BYU Cougars were all against Big Ten and Pac-12 teams, while Notre Dame lost three of its marquee games of the season — including one against Wisconsin that was to be played at Lambeau Field, and traditional rivalry games against Stanford and USC. Notre Dame and Navy had also cancelled a planned international game in Dublin, Ireland, and tentatively rescheduled it for Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
On July 29, the ACC announced that Notre Dame would participate as guest member of the conference for the 2020 season, being incorporated into its scheduling model and being eligible to compete for the conference championship. Notre Dame will pool its media rights revenue from NBC with that of the ACC's other media rights, and be eligible to receive a share of the total revenue.

Impact on attendance

Some teams announced that they tentatively planned to allow spectators at their games at a percentage of normal capacity, such as the Texas Longhorns and the North Carolina Tar Heels. In the state of New York, current health orders require all sporting events be played behind closed doors, and Governor Andrew Cuomo stated that this would apply to college sports as well.

Stadiums

Upcoming

"Week Zero"

The regular season is scheduled to begin on August 29 with four "Week 0" games:
Additionally, the Emerald Isle Classic at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland was scheduled to occur during Week 0, featuring Navy versus Notre Dame. However, on June 2, 2020, the game was moved from Dublin to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. The game will be the first in the history of the Navy–Notre Dame football rivalry to be played at Navy's home stadium.

Week 1

The majority of FBS teams are scheduled to open the season on Labor Day weekend. One neutral-site "kickoff" game will be held.

Rankings

Postseason

Due to a sponsorship change, what had been the Camping World Bowl played in Florida was renamed the Cheez-It Bowl, and the former Cheez-It Bowl played in Arizona reverted its name to Cactus Bowl. Also due to a sponsorship change, what had been the Belk Bowl was renamed as the Duke's Mayo Bowl. Three new bowls are planned to be played for the first time: Myrtle Beach Bowl, Fenway Bowl, and LA Bowl.

Coaching changes

Preseason and in-season

This is restricted to coaching changes taking place on or after May 1, 2020, and will also include any changes announced after a team's last regularly scheduled game but before its bowl game. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2020, see 2019 NCAA Division I FBS end-of-season coaching changes.

End of season

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

Television viewers and ratings

Most-watched regular season games

Conference championship games