NCAA Football Facts

There are 120 schools, in 41 of the 50 states, playing at the highest level of NCAA football, Division I-A. All but four schools -- Army, Navy, Notre Dame, and Temple -- play in conferences.

The state of Texas has 10 Division I-A programs -- Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Texas Christian, Texas-El Paso, Baylor, Houston, North Texas, Rice, and Southern Methodist -- more than any other state in the USA. Ohio is second with eight: Ohio State, Ohio University, Akron, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Kent State, Miami University, and Toledo.

The University of Chicago was a founding member of the Big Ten Conference, but withdrew in 1946 when the school decided to de-emphasize college athletics. The first Heisman Trophy winner, Jay Berwanger, played for the University of Chicago. Michigan State joined in 1950, and Penn State became the 11th member in 1990.

The powerful Southwest Conference disbanded in 1996, after Arkansas jumped to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 1991-92. Four teams -- Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech -- joined the Big Eight, which is now the Big 12. Houston became one of the founding members of Conference USA (C-USA). Rice, Southern Methodist, and Texas Christian have jumped between C-USA, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), and Mountain West Conference (MWC).