FCS conference realignment has resulted in several affiliation changes over the last couple of seasons. There are more to come in 2023.
RELATED: FCS Conference Membership Guide
JSU, SHSU Go FBS
Jacksonville State and Sam Houston join the FBS and Conference USA in 2023. JSU was a member of the ASUN, and SHSU was a member of the WAC. Both were in their transition year in 2022.
Kennesaw Transition Year
Kennesaw State is also heading to the FBS, joining C-USA in 2024. The Owls were an ASUN member. While JSU and SHSU were FCS conference members during their 2022 transition year, Kennesaw will be an independent in 2023 and will play mostly FCS opponents.
Campbell, NC A&T Join The CAA
Campbell and North Carolina A&T depart the Big South to join CAA Football in 2023. The CAA grows to 15 members, also recently adding Big South members Hampton and Monmouth in 2022 after losing James Madison to the FBS.
Murray State To The MVFC
Murray State leaves the OVC and joins the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2023. The MVFC grows to 12 members.
Big South-OVC Football Merge
Due to the loss of several members in the last few years, the Big South and the Ohio Valley Conference will merge their football leagues in 2023 for one playoff auto-bid.
The 10-team joint football league includes the four remaining Big South members (Bryant, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Robert Morris) and the six remaining OVC members (Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, SEMO, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin).
ASUN-WAC Football Fully Merge, Rebrand As The United Athletic Conference
The ASUN and the WAC formed two new FCS football-playing conferences in January 2021. They combined for an initial alliance for the 2021 season and then extended it for 2022. Due to membership departures, the ASUN-WAC announced in January 2023 that they would fully merge their football members in 2023 to create a legit football-only league and that they adopted a basic governance structure.
The league reportedly has aspirations to one day try and become an FBS conference, but right now, the primary focus is to get established as a football-only FCS league with a playoff auto-bid, similar to the Missouri Valley Football Conference. In 2023, there will be nine members — four from the ASUN (Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama) and five from the WAC (Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State, Utah Tech).
In April, the joint league rebranded to the United Athletic Conference. About 10 days later, the United Athletic Conference’s waiver request to be recognized as a single-sport FCS football conference was denied by the NCAA. The joint league will still continue to play the 2023 season similar to the previous two seasons for one playoff auto-bid.
