2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season

2018 NCAA Division I FBS season
Total # of teams	129 + 1 transitional
Preseason AP #1	Alabama Crimson Tide
Regular season	August 25, 2018 – December 8, 2018
Number of bowls	40
Bowl games	December 15, 2018 – January 7, 2019
National championship	2019 College Football Playoff National Championship
Location of championship	Levi's Stadium Santa Clara, California
Champions	Clemson Tigers
Heisman	Kyler Murray, Oklahoma
Division I FBS football season «2017 2019»

The 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season was a season of college football games in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The regular season began on August 25, 2018 and ended on December 8, 2018. The postseason began on December 15, 2018 and ended on January 7, 2019 with the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The Clemson Tigers won the title game over Alabama to claim the school's third national title and second in three years.

Rule changes

Game rules

The following rule changes were approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel for the 2018 season:

• Allow players to fair catch the ball inside the 25 yard line on a kickoff and be awarded a touchback, placing the ball at the 25 yard line.
• Offensive players cannot block below the waist more than five yards past the line of scrimmage and, with the exception of interior linemen, all blocks below the waist must be from the front.
• The play clock will be set to 40 seconds between a touchdown and the PAT or two-point conversion and after a kickoff.
• Mirroring the NFL rule adopted in the 2010 season, a 10-second runoff will be applied within the final minute of each half if a replay review overturns the call on the field, and the correct ruling would not have stopped the game clock. As with any other 10 second runoff, teams can take a time out (if available) to avoid the runoff.
• Extending the "no leaping" rule on PATs and field goals adopted in the 2017 season to include the "shield" on a punt.
• Allowing penalties incurred on successful field goals to be enforced on the ensuing kickoff, which matches the rule for successful extra point attempts.
• Continuing the experiment of a collaborative instant replay decision making model not confined to the press box.

Eligibility rules

Major changes to redshirt rules in Division I football (both FBS and FCS) took effect from this season forward after having been approved by the NCAA Division I Council on June 13, 2018. Players can now participate in as many as four games in a season while still retaining redshirt status. This new rule does not apply to players who enroll at a school midyear and participate in postseason competition taking place during or before their first academic term at that school.

Conference realignment

Membership changes

School	Former conference	New conference
Idaho Vandals	Sun Belt	Big Sky (FCS)
New Mexico State Aggies	Sun Belt	FBS independent
Liberty Flames	Big South (FCS)	FBS independent

New Mexico State left the Sun Belt Conference following the 2017 season and will compete as an FBS independent. Idaho also left the Sun Belt, dropping its football program from the FBS to FCS level, where it will compete in the Big Sky Conference.

Liberty began a two-year transition from FCS in 2017. The Flames will be counted as an FBS independent for scheduling purposes in 2018, but will not be fully bowl-eligible until the start of the 2019 season. However, they may participate in a bowl in 2018 if they have at least six eligible wins and there are not enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all the spots.

Other headlines

• July 13 – Following reports that Papa John's Pizza founder John Schnatter had said the "n-word" in an internal conference call, which led to his resignation both as company chairman and member of the University of Louisville board of trustees, University president Neeli Bendapudi announced that the company's name would be removed from the Cardinal Stadium name effective immediately.
• August 1 – Ohio State administrators placed head coach Urban Meyer on paid administrative leave while the school announced it was launching an investigation into claims that Meyer knew of former assistant coach Zach Smith's involvement in a 2015 domestic violence incident against his ex-wife Courtney Smith. Zach Smith had been fired on July 23 after the allegations were made public.
  • August 22 – Following the investigation, Ohio State announced that Meyer would be suspended for the first three games of the 2018 season. In addition, athletic director Gene Smith was suspended from August 31 to September 16.
• August 11 – Maryland placed head coach D. J. Durkin on paid administrative leave during the school's investigation into the death of player Jordan McNair from heatstroke following an offseason practice, in addition to allegations of abuse and disparagement by coaches within the program. This announcement came the day after the school had placed two trainers and the team's strength coach on administrative leave.
  • August 14 – Maryland president Wallace Loh announced that the school "accepts legal and moral responsibility for the mistakes" that led to McNair's death. The university also parted ways with Rick Court, the strength coach widely blamed for establishing the alleged culture of abuse revealed in recent news reports. Court had resigned the previous day, and reached a financial settlement with the university shortly before Loh made his announcement.
  • October 31 – A day after Durkin was reinstated as head coach after the completion of the school's probe, resulting in widespread outrage among state politicians, students, faculty, and members of McNair's family, Loh fired Durkin. Matt Canada, who had been named the interim head coach following Durkin's original suspension, continued in that role for the remainder of the season.
• September 8 – Two of the longest futility streaks of their types in FBS history ended:
  • First, in an afternoon game in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, Kansas defeated Central Michigan 31–7, ending the longest road losing streak in FBS history at 46 games. The only longer such streak in college football history was the 48-game streak of FCS Idaho State, which ended in 2014.
  • In a night game, Kentucky defeated Florida 27–16 for the Wildcats' first win over the Gators since 1986 and ending the longest current losing streak in an uninterrupted series at 31 games. This streak was the fourth-longest of its type in NCAA history. This also marked Kentucky's first win in Gainesville since 1979.
• October 28 – Following a weekend in which eight teams ranked in the AP Poll lost to unranked teams—the most since that poll expanded to a Top 25 format in 1989—seven new teams entered the poll for Week 10, the most in the Top 25 era.
• November 24
  • The LSU–Texas A&M game, played at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, went to seven overtimes and lasted nearly five hours, tying the NCAA record for longest football game with four others. The Aggies slipped past the Tigers 74 - 72. The 146 combined points are currently the second most in college football history since the NCAA started keeping records in 1937, behind the 161 points scored in a 2008 NCAA Division II game between Abilene Christian and West Texas A&M of the Lone Star Conference.
  • In addition, two notable postseason results were for all intents and purposes confirmed:
    • Florida State's loss to rival Florida 41–14 ended the program's Division I FBS-leading streak of 36 consecutive appearances in a postseason bowl game, as the team finished 5–7, and failed to reach bowl eligibility.
    • Notre Dame's win over rival USC 24-17 resulted in the Fighting Irish completing their first undefeated regular season since 2012. This, combined with their lack of a conference title game, resulted in many sports media declaring that Notre Dame was guaranteed to qualify for the College Football Playoff.
• December 15 – Georgia Southern completed its season in the Camellia Bowl with a new FBS record for fewest turnovers lost in a season, with five. The previous record of eight had been accomplished by six teams, most recently by LSU in 2017.
• December 20 – In a more ignominious milestone, South Florida ended its season in the Gasparilla Bowl with a 38–20 loss to Marshall, becoming the first FBS team ever to finish a season 7–6 after a 7–0 start.
• December 22 – Army tied two records for all Division I bowl games in its 70–14 blowout of Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl. The 70 points equaled West Virginia's output against Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl (70–33), and the victory margin equaled that of Tulsa against Bowling Green in the 2008 GMAC Bowl (63–7). It was also the first time since 1955 that the Black Knights had scored 70 points in a game, and capped off the team's first-ever 11-win season.
• December 27 – In its 63–14 blowout of Purdue in the Music City Bowl, Auburn led 56–7 at halftime, setting a new record for points scored by a single team in any half of a bowl game. The previous record had been held by West Virginia, which scored 49 points in the first half of the 2012 Orange Bowl.

Updated stadiums

• Arizona State completed its four-phase renovation of Sun Devil Stadium. The fourth and final phase includes reconstruction of the east sideline. The capacity is now 55,000, down from 71,706 just prior to the renovation.
• Arkansas debuted its $160 million expansion of the north end zone of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. The expansion added 4,800 seats and new premium seating to the north end zone, boosting the capacity of the stadium to 80,800.
• Georgia debuted its $63 million new west end zone project at Sanford Stadium, which relocates the locker room from the east side to the west side, as well as the addition of a new plaza and recruiting pavilion. The project increased the stadium's capacity by 500 seats.
• Indiana debuted its $50 million south end zone complex at Memorial Stadium. The project includes a new rehabilitation and treatment facility for athletes, additional academic and life skills support facilities, a multi-use outdoor terrace on the roof of the structure, and an entry plaza and green space at the south end of the stadium. A new 42 x 91.3 ft. video board was installed for the 2018 season in the completed south end zone.
• Iowa is currently rebuilding the north end zone of Kinnick Stadium. The $89.9 million upgrade will feature the addition of box seating, outdoor club seating and a new scoreboard. Some seating opened for the 2018 season, while the entire project is scheduled to be complete in 2019.
• Liberty completed an expansion of Williams Stadium during the 2018 season. The capacity was increased from 19,200 to 25,000 in time for the Flames' FBS debut, while construction on a new press box continued until midseason.
• Louisville debuted an expansion of the venue now known as Cardinal Stadium, specifically the filling in of the north end zone. Two new video scoreboards were also installed. While Louisville had long publicized this expansion project as adding 10,000 seats, bringing the capacity to 65,000, it acknowledged in February 2018 that the final capacity would instead be about 61,000.

Renamed stadiums

Colorado State announced on April 19, 2018 that an area financial institution, Public Service Credit Union, had paid $37.7 million over 15 years to place its name on the venue then known as Colorado State Stadium. The new stadium name was not revealed at that time because PSCU was in the process of changing its name, with the new name expected to be announced in June 2018. The deal did not affect the playing surface, which continues to be named after former Rams head coach Sonny Lubick. On June 5, the former PSCU announced its new name of Canvas Credit Union, with the CSU venue becoming Canvas Stadium.

Kansas renamed their stadium to David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in honor of alumnus David Booth who donated $50 million to the school for renovations to the stadium.

As noted above, Louisville removed the Papa John's name from Cardinal Stadium in the wake of the controversy over founder John Schnatter.

Kickoff games

"Week Zero"

The regular season began with four games on Saturday, August 25:

• UMass defeated Duquesne, 63–15.
• Rice defeated Prairie View A&M, 31–28.
• Hawaii defeated Colorado State, 43–34, in the only in-conference matchup of the week.
• Wyoming defeated New Mexico State, 29–7.

Week 1

The vast majority of FBS teams opened the season on Labor Day weekend. Five neutral-site "kickoff" games were held (rankings reflect the Week 1 AP Poll):

• Texas Kickoff (NRG Stadium, Houston): Ole Miss defeated Texas Tech, 47–27
• Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta): No. 9 Auburn defeated No. 6 Washington, 21–16
• Belk Kickoff Game (Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte): No. 17 West Virginia defeated Tennessee, 40–14
• Camping World Kickoff (Camping World Stadium, Orlando): No. 1 Alabama defeated Louisville, 51–14
• Advocare Classic (AT&T Stadium, Arlington): No. 25 LSU defeated No. 8 Miami, 33–17

Regular Season Top 10 Matchups

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

• Week 1
  • No. 9 Auburn defeated No. 6 Washington, 21–16 (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA)
• Week 5
  • No. 4 Ohio State defeated No. 9 Penn State, 27–26 (Beaver Stadium, University Park, PA)
  • No. 8 Notre Dame defeated No. 7 Stanford, 38–17 (Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN)
• Week 9
  • No. 7 Georgia defeated No. 9 Florida, 36–17 (TIAA Bank Field, Jacksonville, FL)
• Week 10
  • No. 1/1 Alabama defeated No. 3/4 LSU, 29–0 (Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA)
  • No. 6/6 Georgia defeated No. 9/11 Kentucky, 34–17 (Kroger Field, Lexington, KY)
• Week 13
  • No. 10/10 Ohio State defeated No. 4/4 Michigan, 62–39 (Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH)
• Week 14
  • No. 1/1 Alabama defeated No. 4/4 Georgia, 35–28 (2018 SEC Championship Game, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA)

Cancelled and rescheduled games

Week 1

Two games were cancelled due to thunderstorms:

• South Dakota State at Iowa State
• Akron at Nebraska

Three of these four teams later found replacement games to fill out their schedule.

Week 3

Five games were cancelled due to Hurricane Florence:

• No. 14 West Virginia at NC State
• No. 18 UCF at North Carolina
• East Carolina at No. 13 Virginia Tech
• Marshall at South Carolina
• Southern Miss at Appalachian State

Five of the ten teams that lost games due to Florence scheduled tentative replacement games for Week 14, which is normally reserved for conference championship games.

Four games were moved forward in anticipation of Florence:

• Old Dominion at Charlotte moved to 4:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 13
• Boston College at Wake Forest moved to 5:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 13
• Middle Tennessee at No. 3 Georgia moved to 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 15
• Georgia Southern at No. 2 Clemson moved to 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 15

One game was moved forward and to the visiting team's stadium in anticipation of Florence:

• Campbell at Coastal Carolina was moved from CCU's Brooks Stadium to Campbell's Barker-Lane Stadium, and the kickoff was moved to 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, September 12

One game was moved to a neutral site in anticipation of Florence:

• Ohio vs Virginia was moved to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee

One game was rescheduled in anticipation of Florence:

• Norfolk State at Liberty moved to Saturday, December 1

Week 9

• Bethune-Cookman vs. Nebraska at Memorial Stadium. Scheduled after Nebraska cancelled their Week 1 game vs. Akron due to inclement weather.

Week 12

• The Big Game between Cal and Stanford, originally scheduled for Saturday, November 17, was postponed to Saturday, December 1 due to the Camp Fire in Northern California.

Week 14

Normally reserved for conference championship games, several games were added to the schedule to replace earlier, cancelled games. All of these games were contingent upon both teams being available.

• After both teams cancelled games due to Hurricane Florence, NC State and ECU agreed to schedule a new game against each other on December 1 at 12:00 EST at Carter Finley Stadium, and will officially serve as a home game for NC State. The meeting was contingent on neither team qualifying for its respective conference championship game, both of which were scheduled for that same weekend, but was confirmed once both teams were eliminated from contention for their title games. Events were held at the game to raise money to support victims of Hurricane Florence.
• Iowa State announced on October 1 that it had scheduled a game against FCS opponent Incarnate Word as a replacement for their cancelled Week 1 game. The game was contingent upon both teams being available for the December 1 match-up at Jack Trice Stadium. On November 19, Incarnate Word accepted a bid to the FCS playoffs, if Incarnate Word were to win that game, Iowa State would be left without an opponent, again. Therefore, on November 20, Iowa State announced that they had cancelled the game with Incarnate Word and scheduled a game with Drake for the same date and location.
• South Carolina scheduled a game against Akron on December 1 at Williams-Brice Stadium to replace games each team lost due to weather events. The game was scheduled as a twelfth game on November 2, 2018 as soon as it was clear that neither team was going to qualify for their conference championship, freeing them up for week 14.
• On November 18, 2018, it was announced that Virginia Tech and Marshall scheduled a game for December 1 at Lane Stadium to make up for games lost due to Hurricane Florence. The game was contingent upon one or both teams needing the win to earn bowl eligibility. As of the announcement, Marshall was already bowl eligible, but Virginia Tech needed two more wins in their final two games (including the tentative Marshall game) to become bowl-eligible. The game was confirmed once Tech defeated Virginia during Week 13.

Postseason

The 2018 First Responder Bowl on December 26 between Boston College and Boise State was canceled after severe weather hit the Dallas area. The game was stopped due to lightning in the area shortly after BC had taken a 7–0 lead in the first quarter, and was canceled about 90 minutes later. Lightning continued in the vicinity of the stadium for an additional 90 minutes, and further severe weather was expected for later that night. According to an NCAA spokesperson, this was believed to be the first bowl game ever called off due to weather conditions.

Conference standings

Template:2018 American Athletic Conference football standings	Template:2018 ACC football standings	Template:2018 Big Ten football standings
Template:2018 Big 12 football standings	Template:2018 Conference USA football standings	Template:2018 Mid-American Conference football standings
Template:2018 Mountain West Conference football standings	Template:2018 Pac-12 football standings	Template:2018 SEC football standings
Template:2018 Sun Belt football standings	2018 Division I FBS independents football records Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   No. 5 Notre Dame ^     –           12 – 1   No. 19 Army     –           11 – 2   BYU     –           7 – 6   Liberty*     –           6 – 6   UMass     –           4 – 8   New Mexico State     –           3 – 9   ** – Ineligible for postseason play due to FCS-to-FBS transition rules (can apply for waiver if not enough bowl eligible teams) As of December 13, 2024 • Rankings from AP Poll

Bowl selections

Main article: 2018–19 NCAA football bowl games

There were 39 team-competitive post-season bowl games, with two teams advancing to a 40th – 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 (this is 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 78 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.

As well, the top four teams in the College Football Playoff ranking automatically qualify for the College Football Playoff, while additional highly ranked teams are chosen for the remaining New Years Six bowls. Also, one school from a Group of Five Conference is required to be chosen for a New Years Six Bowl.

CFP top 25 teams

Rank	Week 9, 10/30/2018	Week 10, 11/6/2018	Week 11, 11/13/2018	Week 12, 11/20/2018	Week 13, 11/27/2018	Final, 12/2/2018
1	Alabama (8–0)	Alabama (9–0)	Alabama (10–0)	Alabama (11–0)	Alabama (12–0)	Alabama (13–0)
2	Clemson (8–0)	Clemson (9–0)	Clemson (10–0)	Clemson (11–0)	Clemson (12–0)	Clemson (13–0)
3	LSU (7–1)	Notre Dame (9–0)	Notre Dame (10–0)	Notre Dame (11–0)	Notre Dame (12–0)	Notre Dame (12–0)
4	Notre Dame (8–0)	Michigan (8–1)	Michigan (9–1)	Michigan (10–1)	Georgia (11–1)	Oklahoma (12–1)
5	Michigan (7–1)	Georgia (8–1)	Georgia (9–1)	Georgia (10–1)	Oklahoma (11–1)	Georgia (11–2)
6	Georgia (7–1)	Oklahoma (8–1)	Oklahoma (9–1)	Oklahoma (10–1)	Ohio State (11–1)	Ohio State (12–1)
7	Oklahoma (7–1)	LSU (7–2)	LSU (8–2)	LSU (9–2)	Michigan (10–2)	Michigan (10–2)
8	Washington State (7–1)	Washington State (8–1)	Washington State (9–1)	Washington State (10–1)	UCF (11–0)	UCF (12–0)
9	Kentucky (7–1)	West Virginia (7–1)	West Virginia (8–1)	UCF (10–0)	Florida (9–3)	Washington (10–3)
10	Ohio State (7–1)	Ohio State (8–1)	Ohio State (9–1)	Ohio State (10–1)	LSU (9–3)	Florida (9–3)
11	Florida (6–2)	Kentucky (7–2)	UCF (9–0)	Florida (8–3)	Washington (9–3)	LSU (9–3)
12	UCF (7–0)	UCF (8–0)	Syracuse (8–2)	Penn State (8–3)	Penn State (9–3)	Penn State (9–3)
13	West Virginia (6–1)	Syracuse (7–2)	Florida (7–3)	West Virginia (8–2)	Washington State (10–2)	Washington State (10–2)
14	Penn State (6–2)	NC State (6–2)	Penn State (7–3)	Texas (8–3)	Texas (9–3)	Kentucky (9–3)
15	Utah (6–2)	Florida (6–3)	Texas (7–3)	Kentucky (8–3)	Kentucky (9–3)	Texas (9–4)
16	Iowa (6–2)	Mississippi State (6–3)	Iowa State (6–3)	Washington (8–3)	West Virginia (8–3)	West Virginia (8–3)
17	Texas (6–2)	Boston College (7–2)	Kentucky (7–3)	Utah (8–3)	Utah (9–3)	Utah (9–4)
18	Mississippi State (5–3)	Michigan State (6–3)	Washington (7–3)	Mississippi State (7–4)	Mississippi State (8–4)	Mississippi State (8–4)
19	Syracuse (6–2)	Texas (6–3)	Utah (7–3)	Northwestern (7–4)	Texas A&M (8–4)	Texas A&M (8–4)
20	Texas A&M (5–3)	Penn State (6–3)	Boston College (7–3)	Syracuse (8–3)	Syracuse (9–3)	Syracuse (9–3)
21	NC State (5–2)	Iowa (6–3)	Mississippi State (6–4)	Utah State (10–1)	Northwestern (8–4)	Fresno State (11–2)
22	Boston College (6–2)	Iowa State (5–3)	Northwestern (6–4)	Texas A&M (7–4)	Boise State (10–2)	Northwestern (8–5)
23	Fresno State (7–1)	Fresno State (8–1)	Utah State (9–1)	Boise State (9–2)	Iowa State (7–4)	Missouri (8–4)
24	Iowa State (4–3)	Auburn (6–3)	Cincinnati (9–1)	Pittsburgh (7–4)	Missouri (8–4)	Iowa State (8–4)
25	Virginia (6–2)	Washington (7–3)	Boise State (8–2)	Iowa State (6–4)	Fresno State (10–2)	Boise State (10–3)

Bowl–eligible teams

• ACC (11): Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
• American (7): Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, UCF
• Big Ten (9): Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
• Big 12 (7): Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, West Virginia
• C-USA (7): FIU, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Southern Miss**, UAB
• Independent (3): Army, BYU, Notre Dame
• MAC (7): Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Miami (OH)**, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
• Mountain West (7): Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State, Wyoming**
• Pac-12 (7): Arizona State, California, Oregon, Stanford, Utah, Washington, Washington State
• SEC (11): Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
• Sun Belt (6): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana, Louisiana–Monroe**, Troy

** = Did not receive invitation.
Number of bowl berths available: 78
Number of bowl-eligible teams: 82

Bowl-eligible teams that did not receive a berth

As there were more bowl-eligible teams than berths available, four teams that were bowl-eligible did not receive an invitation.

• Miami (Ohio) (6–6)
• Southern Miss (6–5)
• Louisiana–Monroe (6–6)
• Wyoming (6–6)

Bowl–ineligible teams

• American (5): Connecticut, East Carolina, Navy, Tulsa, SMU
• ACC (3): Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina
• Big Ten (5): Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Rutgers
• Big 12 (3): Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech
• C-USA (7): Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Old Dominion, Rice, UTEP, UTSA, Western Kentucky
• Independent (3): Liberty*, New Mexico State, UMass
• MAC (5): Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Kent State
• Mountain West (5): Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV
• Pac-12 (5): Arizona, Colorado, Oregon State, UCLA, USC
• SEC (3): Arkansas, Ole Miss**, Tennessee
• Sun Belt (4): Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, South Alabama, Texas State

Number of bowl-ineligible teams: 48

* Liberty is not bowl eligible until 2019 due to their transition from FCS to FBS. Note: if Liberty had at least six wins and there were not enough bowl-eligible teams, they could have requested an NCAA waiver; Liberty did reach six wins, but there were more than enough bowl-eligible teams to fill the available bids.

** Ole Miss, who finished their regular season with a 5–7 record, has a self-imposed two-year bowl ban until 2019, which applies for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Conference summaries

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Score	Offensive Player of the Year	Defensive Player of the Year	Coach of the Year
ACC	#2 ClemsonCFP Atlantic Division	Pittsburgh Coastal Division	42–10	Travis Etienne (Clemson)	Clelin Ferrell (Clemson)	Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
American	#8 UCF East Division	Memphis West Division	56–41	McKenzie Milton (UCF)	Nate Harvey (East Carolina)	Luke Fickell (Cincinnati)
Big 12	#5 OklahomaCFP Regular season #1	#14 Texas Regular season #2	39–27	Kyler Murray (Oklahoma)	David Long Jr. (West Virginia)	Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma) Matt Campbell (Iowa State)
Big Ten	#6 Ohio State East Division	#21 Northwestern West Division	45–24	Dwayne Haskins (Ohio State)	Devin Bush Jr. (Michigan)	Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern)
C–USA	UAB West Division	Middle Tennessee East Division	27–25	Mason Fine (North Texas)	Jaylon Ferguson (Louisiana Tech)	Rick Stockstill (Middle Tennessee)
MAC	Northern Illinois West Division	Buffalo East Division	30–29	Tyree Jackson (Buffalo)	Sutton Smith (Northern Illinois)	Lance Leipold (Buffalo)
MW	Fresno State West Division	Boise State Mountain Division	19–16 OT	Brett Rypien (Boise State)	Jeff Allison (Fresno State)	Matt Wells (Utah State)
Pac-12	#10 Washington North Division	#17 Utah South Division	10–3	Gardner Minshew (Washington State)	Ben Burr-Kirven (Washington)	Mike Leach (Washington State)
SEC	#1 AlabamaCFP West Division	#4 Georgia East Division	35–28	Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama)	Josh Allen (Kentucky)	Mark Stoops (Kentucky)
Sun Belt	Appalachian State East Division	Louisiana West Division	30–19	Zac Thomas (Appalachian State)	Ronheen Bingham (Arkansas State)	Scott Satterfield (Appalachian State)

^CFP College Football Playoff participant

Awards and honors

Heisman Trophy

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

• Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma
• Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama
• Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio State

Other overall

• Archie Griffin Award (MVP):Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson
• AP Player of the Year: Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma
• Chic Harley Award (Player of the Year): Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio State
• Maxwell Award (top player): Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama
• SN Player of the Year: Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama
• Walter Camp Award (top player): Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama

Special overall

• Burlsworth Trophy (top player who began as walk-on): Hunter Renfrow, WR, Clemson
• Paul Hornung Award (most versatile player): Rondale Moore, WR/RS, Purdue
• Campbell Trophy ("academic Heisman"): Christian Wilkins, DT, Clemson
• Wuerffel Trophy (humanitarian-athlete): Drue Tranquill, LB, Notre Dame
• Senior CLASS Award (senior student-athlete):
  • Joe Dineen Jr., LB, Kansas
  • Will Grier, QB, West Virginia
  • Hale Hentges, TE, Alabama
  • Patrick Laird, RB, California
  • Drew Lock, QB, Missouri
  • Bryce Love, RB, Stanford
  • Dalton Risner, OL, Kansas State
  • Cameron Smith, LB, USC
  • Christian Wilkins, DT, Clemson
  • Khari Willis, S, Michigan State

Offense

Quarterback

• Davey O'Brien Award: Kyler Murray, Oklahoma
• Johnny Unitas Award (senior/4th year quarterback): Gardner Minshew, Washington State
• Manning Award: Kyler Murray, Oklahoma
• Sammy Baugh Trophy (passing quarterback): Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State

Running back

• Doak Walker Award: Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin

Wide receiver

• Fred Biletnikoff Award: Jerry Jeudy, Alabama

Tight end

• John Mackey Award: T. J. Hockenson, Iowa

Lineman:

• Dave Rimington Trophy (center): Garrett Bradbury, NC State

Defense

• Bronko Nagurski Trophy (defensive player): Josh Allen, LB, Kentucky
• Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player): Josh Allen, Kentucky
• Lott Trophy (defensive impact): Josh Allen, Kentucky

Defensive front

• Bill Willis Award (defensive lineman): Quinnen Williams, Alabama
• Dick Butkus Award (linebacker): Devin White, LSU
• Jack Lambert Trophy (linebacker): Josh Allen, Kentucky
• Ted Hendricks Award (defensive end): Clelin Ferrell, Clemson

Defensive back

• Paycom Jim Thorpe Award: Deandre Baker, Georgia
• Jack Tatum Trophy: Grant Delpit, LSU

Special teams

• Lou Groza Award (placekicker): Andre Szmyt, Syracuse
• Ray Guy Award (punter): Braden Mann, Texas A&M
• Jet Award (return specialist): Savon Scarver, Utah State
• Peter Mortell Award (holder): Mac Loudermilk, UCF

Other positional awards

• Outland Trophy (interior lineman on either offense or defense): Quinnen Williams, Alabama

Coaches

• AFCA Coach of the Year: Mike Leach, Washington State
• AP Coach of the Year: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
• Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year: Bill Clark, UAB
• George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year: Jeff Monken, Army
• Home Depot Coach of the Year: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
• Paul "Bear" Bryant Award: Dabo Swinney, Clemson
• Sporting News Coach of the Year: Bill Clark, UAB
• Walter Camp Coach of the Year: Nick Saban, Alabama

Assistants

• AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year: Jeff Faris, TE, Duke
• Broyles Award: Mike Locksley, OC, Alabama

All-Americans

Main article: 2018 College Football All-America Team

Rankings

Main article: 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

CFB Playoff final rankings

On December 2, 2018, the College Football Playoff selection committee announced its final team rankings for the year.

Rank	Team	W–L	Conference and standing	Bowl game
1	Alabama	13–0	SEC Champions	Orange Bowl (CFP Semifinal #1)
2	Clemson	13–0	ACC Champions	Cotton Bowl (CFP Semifinal #2)
3	Notre Dame	12–0	Independent	Cotton Bowl (CFP Semifinal #2)
4	Oklahoma	12–1	Big 12 Champions	Orange Bowl (CFP Semifinal #1)
5	Georgia	11–2	SEC East Division champions	Sugar Bowl
6	Ohio State	12–1	Big Ten Champions	Rose Bowl
7	Michigan	10–2	Big Ten East Division co-champions	Peach Bowl
8	UCF	12–0	AAC Champions	Fiesta Bowl
9	Washington	10–3	Pac-12 Champions	Rose Bowl
10	Florida	9–3	SEC East Division second place (tie)	Peach Bowl
11	LSU	9–3	SEC West Division second place (tie)	Fiesta Bowl
12	Penn State	9–3	Big Ten East Division third place	Citrus Bowl
13	Washington State	10–2	Pac-12 North Division co-champions	Alamo Bowl
14	Kentucky	9–3	SEC East Division second place (tie)	Citrus Bowl
15	Texas	9–4	Big 12 second place	Sugar Bowl
16	West Virginia	8–3	Big 12 third place (tie)	Camping World Bowl
17	Utah	9–4	Pac-12 South Division champions	Holiday Bowl
18	Mississippi State	8–4	SEC fourth place	Outback Bowl
19	Texas A&M	8–4	SEC second place (tie)	Gator Bowl
20	Syracuse	9–3	ACC Atlantic Division second place	Camping World Bowl
21	Fresno State	11–2	MW champions	Las Vegas Bowl
22	Northwestern	8–5	Big Ten West Division champions	Holiday Bowl
23	Missouri	8–4	SEC East Division fourth place (tie)	Liberty Bowl
24	Iowa State	8–4	Big 12 third place (tie)	Alamo Bowl
25	Boise State	10–3	MW Mountain Division champions	First Responder Bowl

Final rankings

Rank	Associated Press	Coaches' Poll
1	Clemson	Clemson
2	Alabama	Alabama
3	Ohio State	Ohio State
4	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
5	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
6	LSU	Florida
7	Florida Georgia	LSU
8		Georgia
9	Texas	Texas
10	Washington State	Washington State
11	UCF	Kentucky
12	Kentucky	UCF
13	Washington	Washington
14	Michigan	Michigan
15	Syracuse	Syracuse
16	Texas A&M	Texas A&M
17	Penn State	Penn State
18	Fresno State	Fresno State
19	Army	Northwestern
20	West Virginia	Army
21	Northwestern	Utah State
22	Utah State	West Virginia
23	Boise State	Cincinnati
24	Cincinnati	Boise State
25	Iowa	Mississippi State

Coaching changes

Preseason and in-season

This is restricted to coaching changes taking place on or after May 1, 2018. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2018, see 2017 NCAA Division I FBS end-of-season coaching changes.

School	Outgoing Coach	Date	Reason	Replacement
Bowling Green	Mike Jinks	October 14	Fired	Carl Pelini (interim)
Maryland	D. J. Durkin	October 31	Fired	Matt Canada (interim)
Louisville	Bobby Petrino	November 11	Fired	Lorenzo Ward (interim)
Colorado	Mike MacIntyre	November 18	Fired	Kurt Roper (interim)
Texas State	Everett Withers	November 18	Fired	Chris Woods (interim)
East Carolina	Scottie Montgomery	November 29	Fired	David Blackwell (interim)
Utah State	Matt Wells	November 29	Hired as head coach by Texas Tech	Frank Maile (interim, bowl)
Appalachian State	Scott Satterfield	December 4	Hired as head coach by Louisville	Mark Ivey (interim, bowl)
Temple	Geoff Collins	December 7	Hired as head coach by Georgia Tech	Ed Foley (interim, bowl)

End of season

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

School	Conf.	Outgoing Coach	Date	Reason	Replacement
Kansas	Big 12	David Beaty	November 4	Fired (effective at end of season)	Les Miles
Charlotte	C-USA	Brad Lambert	November 18	Fired (effective at end of season)	Will Healy
UMass	Independent	Mark Whipple	November 20	Mutually agreed to part ways	Walt Bell
Central Michigan	MAC	John Bonamego	November 23	Fired	Jim McElwain
North Carolina	ACC	Larry Fedora	November 25	Fired	Mack Brown
Texas Tech	Big 12	Kliff Kingsbury	November 25	Fired	Matt Wells
Western Kentucky	C-USA	Mike Sanford	November 25	Fired	Tyson Helton
Bowling Green	MAC	Carl Pelini (interim)	November 28	Permanent replacement	Scot Loeffler
Georgia Tech	ACC	Paul Johnson	November 28	Retired (effective after Georgia Tech's bowl game)	Geoff Collins
Texas State	Sun Belt	Chris Woods (interim)	November 28	Permanent replacement	Jake Spavital
Kansas State	Big 12	Bill Snyder	December 2	Retired	Chris Klieman
Akron	MAC	Terry Bowden	December 2	Fired	Tom Arth
East Carolina	American	David Blackwell (interim)	December 3	Permanent replacement	Mike Houston
Liberty	Independent	Turner Gill	December 3	Retired	Hugh Freeze
Ohio State	Big Ten	Urban Meyer	December 4	Retired (effective at end of season)	Ryan Day
Louisville	ACC	Lorenzo Ward (interim)	December 4	Permanent replacement	Scott Satterfield
Maryland	Big Ten	Matt Canada (interim)	December 4	Permanent replacement	Mike Locksley
Colorado	Pac-12	Kurt Roper (interim)	December 5	Permanent replacement	Mel Tucker
Utah State	MW	Frank Maile (interim)	December 9	Permanent replacement	Gary Andersen
Appalachian State	Sun Belt	Mark Ivey (interim)	December 13	Permanent replacement	Eliah Drinkwitz
Temple	American	Ed Foley (interim)	December 13	Permanent replacement	Rod Carey
Houston	American	Major Applewhite	December 30	Fired	Dana Holgorsen
Miami	ACC	Mark Richt	December 30	Retired	Manny Diaz
West Virginia	Big 12	Dana Holgorsen	January 1	Hired as head coach by Houston	Neal Brown
Troy	Sun Belt	Neal Brown	January 4	Hired as head coach by West Virginia	Chip Lindsey
Northern Illinois	MAC	Rod Carey	January 10	Hired as head coach by Temple	Thomas Hammock
Coastal Carolina	Sun Belt	Joe Moglia	January 18	Resigned	Jamey Chadwell

Television viewers and ratings

Most watched regular-season games

Rank	Date	Matchup				Network	Viewers (millions)	TV Rating	Significance
1	November 24, 12:00 ET	#4 Michigan	39	#10 Ohio State	62	Fox	13.20	7.5	The Game/College GameDay
2	November 3, 8:00 ET	#1 Alabama	29	#3 LSU	0	CBS	11.54	6.6	Rivalry/College GameDay
3	September 29, 7:30 ET	#4 Ohio State	27	#9 Penn State	26	ABC	9.14	5.3	Rivalry/College GameDay
4	November 24, 3:30 ET	#1 Alabama	52	Auburn	21	CBS	9.13	5.1	Iron Bowl
5	December 8, 3:00 ET	Navy	10	Army	17		8.05	5.0	Army–Navy Game/College GameDay
6	November 24, 8:00 ET	#3 Notre Dame	24	USC	17	ABC	7.74	4.4	Rivalry
7	September 15, 8:00 ET	#4 Ohio State	40	#15 TCU	28		7.23	4.25	College GameDay
8	September 1, 7:30 ET	#14 Michigan	17	#12 Notre Dame	24	NBC	7.09	4.0	Rivalry/College GameDay
9	September 2, 7:30 ET	#8 Miami (FL)	17	#25 LSU	33	ABC	6.56	3.8	Advocare Classic
10	October 27, 3:30 ET	#9 Florida	17	#7 Georgia	36	CBS	6.35	3.9	College GameDay

#Rankings are from the AP Poll (before 10/30) and CFP Rankings (thereafter).

Conference championship games

Rank	Date	Matchup				Network	Viewers (millions)	TV Rating	Conference	Location
1	December 1, 4:00 ET	#1 Alabama (West)	35	#4 Georgia (East)	28	CBS	17.5	10.1	SEC	Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
2	December 1, 12:00 ET	#14 Texas (#2 seed)	27	#5 Oklahoma (#1 seed)	39	ABC	10.2	6.2	Big 12	AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
3	December 1, 8:00 ET	#21 Northwestern (West)	21	#6 Ohio State (East)	45	Fox	8.7	5.0	Big Ten	Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
4	December 1, 8:00 ET	#2 Clemson (Atlantic)	42	Pittsburgh (Coastal)	10	ABC	4.2	2.5	ACC	Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
5	November 30, 8:00 ET	#17 Utah (South)	3	#11 Washington (North)	10	Fox	4.1	2.6	Pac-12	Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA
6	December 1, 3:30 ET	Memphis (West)	41	#8 UCF (East)	56	ABC	3.3	2.1	American	Spectrum Stadium, Orlando, FL
7	December 1, 7:45 ET	#25 Fresno State (West)	19	#22 Boise State (Mountain)	16	ESPN	1.0	0.6	MW	Albertsons Stadium, Boise, ID
8	December 1, 12:00 ET	Louisiana (West)	19	Appalachian State (East)	30		.90	0.6	Sun Belt	Kidd Brewer Stadium, Boone, NC
9	November 30, 7:00 ET	Northern Illinois (West)	30	Buffalo (East)	29	ESPN2	.59	0.4	MAC	Ford Field, Detroit, MI
10	December 1, 1:30 ET	UAB (West)	27	Middle Tennessee (East)	25	CBSSN	n.a	n.a	C-USA	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium, Murfreesboro, TN

#Rankings are from the CFP Rankings.

College Football Playoff

Game	Date	Matchup				Network	Viewers (millions)	TV Rating	Location
Cotton Bowl (semifinal)	December 29, 2018, 4:00 ET	#3 Notre Dame	3	#2 Clemson	30	ESPN	16.9	9.4	AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
Orange Bowl (semifinal)	December 29, 2018, 8:00 ET	#4 Oklahoma	34	#1 Alabama	45		19.1	9.9	Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL
National Championship	January 7, 2019, 8:00 ET	#2 Clemson	44	#1 Alabama	16		25.3	13.6	Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA

See also

• 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season
• 2018 NCAA Division II football season
• 2018 NCAA Division III football season
• 2018 NAIA football season

References

Template:2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season navbox