What is the primary difference between Div. 1A and 1AA schools?

Answer 1

Div. 1A is a lot better! :)

From NCAA website:

What's the difference between Divisions I, II and III?

Division I Division I member institutions have to sponsor at least seven sports for men and seven for women (or six for men and eight for women) with two team sports for each gender. Each playing season has to be represented by each gender as well. There are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria. For sports other than football and Basketball, Div. I schools must play 100% of the minimum number of contests against Div. I opponents -- anything over the minimum number of games has to be 50% Div. I. Men's and women's basketball teams have to play all but two games against Div. I teams, for men, they must play 1/3 of all their contests in the home arena. Schools that have football are classified as Div. I-A or I-AA. I-A football schools are usually fairly elaborate programs. Div. I-A teams have to meet minimum attendance requirements (17,000 people in attendance per home game, OR 20,000 average of all football games in the last four years or, 30,000 permanent seats in their stadium and average 17,000 per home game or 20,000 average of all football games in the last four years OR, be in a member conference in which at least six conference members sponsor football or more than half of football schools meet attendance criterion. Div. I-AA teams do not need to meet minimum attendance requirements. Div. I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their athletics program, and there are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that a Div. I school cannot exceed.

Division II Division II institutions have to sponsor at least four sports for men and four for women, with two team sports for each gender, and each playing season represented by each gender. There are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria -- football and men's and women's basketball teams must play at least 50% of their games against Div. II or I-A or I-AA opponents. For sports other than football and basketball there are no scheduling requirements. There are not attendance requirements for football, or arena game requirements for basketball. There are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that a Div. II school must not exceed. Division II teams usually feature a number of local or in-state student-athletes. Many Division II student-athletes pay for school through a combination of scholarship money, grants, student loans and employment earnings. Division II athletics programs are financed in the institution's budget like other academic departments on campus. Traditional rivalries with regional institutions dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs.

Division III Division III institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women, with two team sports for each gender, and each playing season represented by each gender. There are minimum contest and participant minimums for each sport. Division III athletics features student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability and athletic departments are staffed and funded like any other department in the university. Division III athletics departments place special importance on the impact of athletics on the participants rather than on the spectators. The student-athlete's experience is of paramount concern. Division III athletics encourages participation by maximizing the number and variety of athletics opportunities available to students, placing primary emphasis on regional in-season and conference competition.

Answer 2

College Football DivisionsThe NCAA adopted a three-division reorginization plan in August of 1973. "Major" college teams were placed in Division 1. "College"-division teams were placed in Div. II and Div. III. In January of 1978 Division 1 was divided into Division 1A and Division 1AA for football only.

To further elaborate, the divisions are made based largely upon the size of the program not the school, 1-A schools like Wake Forest and Duke are smaller than a lot of 1-AA schools. Part of the equation is the size of the stadium, and by connection the amount of revenue that program generates (bigger stadium = more revenue, usually). Thus to play in 1-A you must play a certain amount of your games in a stadium that holds more than X amount of people. In addition, the restrictions on scholarships differ from division to division.

Finally, the way the champion is decided is also different. In 1-A the two highest ranked teams in the computerized Bowl Championship Series poll play 1 game to determine the champion of 1-A football (now called the Bowl Championship Subdivision). In 1-AA there is a 20 team playoff (2010 saw the playoffs expanded from 16 teams to 20 teams) with the champs of the 10 major 1-AA conferences getting automatic bids. Those conferences are:

Big Sky Conference

Big South (added for 2010 playoffs)

Colonial Athletic Association

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Missouri Valley Football Conference (formerly known as the Gateway Football Conference)

Northeast Conference (added for 2010 playoffs)

Patriot League

Ohio Valley

Southern Conference

Southland Conference

The remaining 10 teams are chosen by a selection committee from the remaining conferences as well as the top teams from the automatic bid conferences. It is very rare for a school from a non-automatic qualifying conference to get a playoff bid. The only 2 non auto-qualifying conferences are the Great West and the Pioneer League (plus there are a handful of 1-AA independents, most of whom are schools just starting their football programs).

It was announced on August 16, 2012 that beginning in 2013 the FCS playoffs will expand to 24 teams, and the Pioneer League champion will receive an automatic bid. The playoff will be formated so that the top 8 teams will be seeded, receive first-round byes and host the second round games. The other 16 teams will play in 8 first round matches to determine who moves on to play the 8 seeded teams.

Division 2 and 3 use similar playoff structures to determine their national champions.