Apparently the nation’s Division I-AA football programs are tired of being the little brothers of college football.
Division I-AA is made up of schools who offer a total of 63 full football scholarships per year. Division I-A schools are allowed 85 scholarships. Because of this (and other factors), Division I-AA schools have a harder time recruiting many great high school players. The level of football is good, but not as great as at most Division I-A schools.
So, it seems to me that calling the divisions I-A and I-AA makes sense. But apparently it offended some of the schools in question. They asked the NCAA to change the names of the two divisions. Yesterday, the panel voted to change the terminology. The former I-A classification will be the “Football Bowl Subdivision,” and I-AA will be the “NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.”
Sounds to me like a typically bureaucratic bungling — taking something straightforward and making into something that’s going to be eternally confusing.
[Post by reader Jill. They could have named Division I-A “The Only NCAA Division That Decides Its Champion Off the Field,” but that would have been a little wordy I guess.]