2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season

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2020 NCAA Division I FBS season
Number of teams	128[a]
Duration	September 3, 2020[1] – December 19, 2020[b]
Preseason AP No. 1	Clemson
Postseason
Duration	December 21, 2020 – January 11, 2021
Bowl games	26[c]
AP Poll No. 1	Alabama
Coaches Poll No. 1	Alabama
Heisman Trophy	DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama
College Football Playoff
2021 College Football Playoff National Championship
Site	Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida
Champion(s)	Alabama
NCAA Division I FBS football seasons
← 2019 2021 →

The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football in the United States, organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The regular season began on September 3, 2020, and ended on December 19, 2020. The postseason started on December 21, 2020, and ended on January 11, 2021, with the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes for the national title with a final score of 52-24.

The season was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States; all of the Power Five conferences initially announced plans to play a fall football season beginning on August 29th, but they greatly reduced non-conference games to limit the extent of interstate travel. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 12, and Southeastern Conference (SEC), as well as several other Group of Five conferences, began their seasons in September while independent Notre Dame agreed to play a full conference schedule with the ACC.

In August, the Big Ten, Pac-12, Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West, and several independents announced that they would delay their football seasons until further notice due to concerns regarding the pandemic, targeting the possibility of playing in the spring of 2021 instead. By late September, however, the four conferences reversed their decisions and announced plans to play shortened seasons.

Some postseason activities, including the final College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings and the Heisman Trophy nominations, were delayed to provide flexibility for conferences to finish delayed seasons in mid-December. Several bowl games were canceled due to recommendations by local health officials or because they could not secure teams after multiple programs opted out of bowl games due to COVID-19 concerns. Other contests saw extraordinary relocations; the Rose Bowl was played outside of Pasadena, California, for the first time since 1942, and the New Mexico Bowl was played in Frisco, Texas.

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