College football season 2018
| College football season 2018 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | |||
| date | August 25, 2018 - December 8, 2018 |
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| Attendees | 129 + 1 transition | ||
| Preseason AP No.1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | ||
| Postseason | |||
| date | December 15, 2018 - January 7, 2019 |
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| Bowl games | 40 | ||
| Postseason AP No.1 | Clemson Tigers | ||
| Heisman Trophy | Kyler Murray , Oklahoma Sooners | ||
| College Football Playoff | |||
| Attendees | No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide No. 2 Clemson Tigers No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners |
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| College Football Playoff National Championship Game |
Levi's Stadium Santa Clara , California |
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| CFP winner | Clemson Tigers | ||
College football season
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The 2018 college football season marked the 149th season in college football for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season took place from August 25, 2018 to December 8, 2018. The postseason began on December 15, 2018 and ended on January 7, 2019 with the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California .
Offseason
Conference change
| college | Old 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 |
After the 2017 season , 2 teams left the Sun Belt Conference . The Idaho Vandals withdrew their team from the Division I - Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and joined the Big Sky Conference in the Division I - Championship Subdivision (FCS) . New Mexico State participated in the season as an FBS Independent. The Liberty Flames began a two-year process to move from the FCS's Big South Conference to the higher-tier FBS. They also competed as FBS Independent. Thus the number of teams without a fixed conference assignment increased to six teams.
Rule changes
For the 2018 season, among other things, the following rule changes were decided by the NCAA:
- A fair catch on a kickoff results in a touchback and the ball is placed at the 25-yard line.
- Offensive player blocks below the waist are prohibited from 5 yards above the line of scrimmage .
- With the exception of interior offensive line players (guard and center), all blocks must be executed frontally.
- The play clock is 40 seconds between touchdown and PAT or two-point conversion and after a kickoff.
- There is a 10-second runoff if a review leads to a changed decision within the last minute of each half and if the decision had been correct the game clock would have continued to run. This can be prevented by a timeout .
- Penalties during a converted field goal can be applied to the subsequent kickoff.
"Redshirt" rule
From now on, players can play up to four games without losing any of their four-year eligibility to play. This is to enable injured players to be eligible to play for another year.
Regular season
Kickoff games
In week 1, five kickoff games took place at a neutral venue (ranking of the AP Poll before week 1):
| date | game | venue | Teams | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 1 | Texas kickoff |
NRG Stadium Houston , Texas |
Ole Miss Rebels (0-0) Texas Tech Red Raiders (0-0) |
Ole Miss 47 Texas Tech 27 |
| Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game |
Mercedes-Benz Stadium Atlanta , Georgia |
9 Auburn Tigers (0-0) 6 Washington Huskies (0-0) |
Auburn 21 Washington 16 |
|
| Belk Kickoff Game |
Bank of America Stadium Charlotte , North Carolina |
17 West Virginia Mountaineers (0-0) Tennessee Volunteers (0-0) |
West Virginia 40 Tennessee 14 |
|
| Camping World Kickoff |
Camping World Stadium Orlando , Florida |
1 Alabama Crimson Tide (0-0) Louisville Cardinals (0-0) |
Alabama 51 Louisville 14 |
|
| September 2nd | Advocare Classic |
AT&T Stadium Arlington , Texas |
25 LSU Tigers (0-0) 8 Miami Hurricanes (0-0) |
LSU 33 Miami 17 |
Top 10 games
There were a total of eight top 10 games during the regular season. The ranking of the first 9 weeks is based on the AP poll. From week 10 the College Football Playoff Ranking will be considered.
Conference Championship Games
For the 2018 season, the Sun Belt Conference introduced its own championship game. The 2018 season is the first season in which an independent championship game was played in each conference to determine the conference champion.
Bowl games
The number of bowl games remained unchanged compared to the previous year. In the postseason 78 teams were invited to 39 bowl games. In order to be invited to a bowl game, a winning percentage of .500 was required. This means at least six wins for a game plan with eleven or twelve games and at least seven wins for a season with 13 games. Based on the CFP ranking, the top 4 teams were invited to the College Football Playoffs . The two semi-finals winners qualified for the 40 bowl game, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game . The semifinals are also part of the New Years Six bowls , which include the most important bowl games. In addition to the top 4 teams, other teams with a high ranking were invited to these. At least one team must come from a Group of Five Conference (AAC, Conference USA, Mountain-West, Mid-American, Sun Belt).
Bowl permissions
Of the 130 teams participating in the season, 82 were eligible to participate in a bowl. The number of eligible teams thus exceeded the number of bowl seats available, which meant that four eligible teams were not invited to a bowl.
Bowl-eligible teams
- AAC (7): Cincinnati , Houston , Memphis , South Florida , Temple , Tulane , UCF
- ACC (11): Boston College , Clemson , Duke , Georgia Tech , Miami , NC State , Pittsburgh , Syracuse , Virginia , Virginia Tech , Wake Forest
- Big 12 (7): Baylor , Iowa State , Oklahoma , Oklahoma State , TCU , Texas , West Virginia
- Big Ten (9): Iowa , Michigan , Michigan State , Minnesota , Northwestern , Ohio State , Penn State , Purdue , Wisconsin
- Conference 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 a bowl invitation.
Available bowl seats: 78
teams eligible for bowls: 82
Bowl-eligible teams that were not invited
The following teams were not invited to a bowl despite their eligibility:
Bowl unauthorized teams
- ACC (3): Florida State , Louisville , North Carolina
- AAC (5): Connecticut , East Carolina , Navy , Tulsa , SMU
- Big 12 (3): Kansas , Kansas State , Texas Tech
- Big Ten (5): Illinois , Indiana , Maryland , Nebraska , Rutgers
- Conference 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
Bowl unauthorized teams: 48
* Due to the switch from FCS to FBS, Liberty will only be eligible for bowls from the 2019 season.
** Ole Miss is banned from bowl participation in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. However, due to a 5-7 record one was not allowed to participate either.
CFP ranking
From October 30th, following the games in week 9, the College Football Playoff selection committee compiled a weekly ranking of the top 25 teams. The final ranking was released on December 2nd after the Conference Championship games. The top 4 teams qualified to participate in the College Football Playoffs .
New Years Six and College Football Playoffs
Individual evidence
- ↑ [email protected]: Change to football's kickoff rule recommended. March 2, 2018, accessed February 11, 2019 .
- ↑ [email protected]: DI football to offer more participation opportunities. June 13, 2018, accessed February 11, 2019 .
- ↑ NCAA Approves Liberty's Waiver Request for FBS Reclassification Process | Liberty University. Accessed February 11, 2019 .
- ↑ [email protected]: Ole Miss lacked institutional control in football program. December 1, 2017, accessed February 11, 2019 .