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.^[1]

The following rules changes were approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Committee for the 2023 season:^[2]

• 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:^[3]

• 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.

• 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.^[4]
• 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.^[5]
• October 4 – The NCAA announced several major changes to Division I football recruiting and governance rules:^[6]
  • 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.^[7]
• 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.^[8]

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.^[9]

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.^[9]

Six schools from CUSA joined the American Athletic Conference for the 2023 season—Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA.^[10] 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.^[11]

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.^[12]

• Arizona State announced a 15-year naming rights agreement to change the name of their stadium to Mountain America Stadium.^[13]
• North Texas announced a naming rights agreement with the Denton Area Teachers Credit Union to change the name of their stadium to DATCU Stadium.^[14]

Rankings reflect the AP Poll entering each week.

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.

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

The top 25 from the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls.^[16][17]

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.