2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season

Rule changes

Several rule changes took effect this season:

The half or game can end due to the runoff. Teams can take a time-out to stop the clock and avoid the 10 second runoff. The new rule has been informally dubbed the "Dooley Rule", after former Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley.

In addition, the NCAA recommends that conferences without a pregame warm-up policy should use a ten-yard, no-player zone between the 45-yard lines beginning 60 minutes before kickoff.

Conference realignment

During the first half of 2010, and especially starting in May of that year, several conferences were widely speculated to be considering expansion, and a number of schools were believed to be seriously considering conference moves. Due to conference notice requirements, no changes announced in 2010 would take effect until at least July 2011.

The first change to be officially announced came on June 10, when the Pacific-10 Conference announced that Colorado had accepted that conference's invitation to join. At the time, it was not yet known whether Colorado would officially join the Pac-10 in 2011 or 2012; in September 2010, it was confirmed for 2011.

The following day saw two schools change conferences:

In the following days, it was widely speculated that the five public schools in the Big 12 South Division (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State) would leave as a unit for the Pac-10. A&M was also reported to be flirting with the SEC. However, a last-minute deal announced on June 14 saw Texas cast its lot with a truncated Big 12, with the remaining schools also pledging their support for the conference. Rebuffed by the Big 12 schools, the Pac-10 shifted its focus to the Mountain West, extending an invitation to Utah on June 16 to join effective in 2011. Utah accepted the next day. The conference name changed to Pac-12 once Colorado and Utah officially joined on July 1, 2011.

Two months later, reports surfaced indicating that Brigham Young would leave the Mountain West Conference to become an independent in football, with its other sports rejoining the school's former conference, the WAC. Having already lost Utah to the Pac-10, the Mountain West decided to be proactive and in response the MWC invited WAC members Fresno State, Nevada, and Utah State on August 18 in an attempt to stop BYU's plan to go independent. Utah State declined the MWC offer, but the other two accepted later that day and attempted to join Boise by moving to their new home in the MWC the following year (Nevada will also greatly enhance its rivalry with the UNLV Rebels by joining the MWC). However, after threats of legal action by the WAC, the two schools agreed to stay in the WAC through the 2011–12 season in exchange for greatly reduced exit fees. Just as things appeared to be stabilizing, BYU surprised everyone on August 31 by announcing that they would join the West Coast Conference and play as a FBS independent football team, starting in the 2011–12 season.

Realignment activity then shifted to Division I FCS for several weeks, although rumors continued to swirl regarding potential movement in several conferences. The Big East Conference also announced that it had extended an invitation to Villanova, a founding non-football member, to upgrade its football program to FBS level and join in that sport. On November 11, the WAC announced that Texas State, currently a member of the FCS Southland Conference, and UTSA, which planned to launch an FCS program in that conference in 2011, would upgrade their football programs to FBS level, join the WAC in 2012, and become full FBS members in 2013. On November 29, the next domino fell when TCU announced it would join the Big East in 2012. However, less than a year later on October 10, 2011, TCU announced it would not join the Big East and would instead join the Big 12 in 2012. The MWC replaced TCU for football only with Hawaiʻi on December 10; Hawaiʻi's other sports would join the Big West Conference.

On April 20, 2011, UMass announced that it would upgrade to FBS football and become a football-only member of the Mid-American Conference in 2012, with full FBS membership and eligibility for the conference championship coming in 2013.

Realignment continued to be a major story in the 2011 football season. On September 18, the ACC announced that Big East mainstays Pitt and Syracuse were officially accepted as members. At the time, the schools' departure date was uncertain, as Big East bylaws require a 27-month notice period for departing members. The earliest that Pitt and Syracuse could join the ACC, barring other developments, was July 2014. (TCU was not held to the notice period because it had never formally joined the Big East.) On September 26, the Southeastern Conference announced that Texas A&M would become the league's 13th member in July 2012.

On October 14, it was announced that the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA would merge their football operations to form a two-division, 22-team conference. The conferences were hoping that the merger would give them an automatic qualifier to a BCS bowl. The next move came on October 28, when the Big 12 formally accepted another Big East school, West Virginia. This paved the way for Missouri's official acceptance by the SEC on November 6, a move that had been in the works for several weeks. WVU's move led to a legal battle between the school and the Big East, with WVU filing suit to overturn the notice period, and the conference suing in another court to enforce it. In February 2012, the Big East and WVU reached a settlement that allowed WVU to join the Big 12 that July. Several months after the WVU settlement, both Syracuse and Pitt reached settlements with the Big East that allowed them to leave for the ACC in July 2013.

With the upcoming loss of three of its mainstays, the Big East announced on December 7 that five new schools would join its football conference in 2013. Houston, SMU, and UCF will join as all-sports members, while Boise State and San Diego State will join in football only. Both Boise State and San Diego State will rejoin former conferences for non-football sports. Boise State initially planned to join the WAC, while San Diego State planned to rejoin the Big West after a 35-year absence. These developments eventually led the Mountain West and C-USA to announce plans to fully merge, under a new charter, as early as 2013. However, due to complications related to NCAA rules, the conferences abandoned a full merger in favor of a football-only alliance. Later developments in conference realignment, mainly the implosion of the WAC, led Boise State to abandon its plans to place its non-football sports in the WAC, opting instead to rejoin the Big West in 2013 after a 12-year absence.

Teams transitioning to FBS

Four schools began a two-year transition from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to FBS in July 2011. These schools were technically FCS members in 2011, and will be provisional FBS members in 2012 before becoming full FBS members in 2013.

Records

Expanded stadium

Temporary stadiums

Ohio State

The Ohio State Buckeyes had five players and their head coach, Jim Tressel, suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season. The program was also under investigation by the NCAA, with the school going before the NCAA Committee on Infractions in August 2011, with findings and decisions following shortly thereafter. The players were alleged to have improperly traded dozens of items to the owner of a tattoo parlor, receiving tattoos, $14,000, and in one case a sport-utility vehicle. Tressel was under investigation for lying to the University and investigators regarding his knowledge of the incident. The scandal led to the resignation of Tressel on May 30. Then, on June 8, starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor, one of the five suspended players, announced that he would forgo his final year of college eligibility.

Initially, Ohio State offered to vacate its entire 2010 season, return money received from the 2011 Sugar Bowl, impose two years of probation, and use five fewer football scholarships over the next three seasons. However, after the school went before the NCAA, further rules violations emerged. Three players were suspended before the start of the season for receiving $200 from a booster. Then, midway through the season, it was discovered that the same booster had overpaid several players for summer jobs. The NCAA announced its final penalties on December 20. While accepting Ohio State's initial penalties, it imposed extra sanctions. One extra year of both probation and scholarship reductions was added, running through the 2014 season. The Buckeyes will also be banned from a bowl in 2012. Tressel, who joined the staff of the Indianapolis Colts during the 2011 NFL season and has since taken a non-athletic position at his alma mater of the University of Akron, was hit with a five-year show-cause penalty, which effectively bars him from college coaching through the 2016 season. Finally, the school was required to disassociate itself from Pryor for five years.

North Carolina

The North Carolina Tar Heels, in the midst of an NCAA investigation into improper benefits and academic misconduct within the football program, fired head coach Butch Davis on July 27.

The school initially vacated its 2008 and 2009 seasons, reduced its scholarship allotment by nine over the next three seasons, and self-imposed two years of probation. Although the NCAA praised the university for its investigation, it found several aggravating factors. The NCAA confirmed academic fraud, found that players had received at least $31,000 in impermissible benefits, determined that six players had played while ineligible, and also found evidence of rampant agent involvement in the program. The NCAA added an extra year of probation, and also banned the Tar Heels from the 2012 postseason. John Blake, an assistant who had been forced out with Davis, was found to have received personal loans from agent Gary Wichard that he did not report to UNC, specifically for access to players. He was also cited for not cooperating with investigators. Blake received a three-year show-cause penalty.

Miami

On August 16, Yahoo! Sports broke a story in which former Miami Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro, currently imprisoned for running a Ponzi scheme, stated that from 2002 through 2010 he had given massive amounts of improper benefits to Miami players and coaches, mostly in football but also in men's basketball. Shapiro indicated that the benefits included cash, various goods, prostitutes, and even an abortion.

Penn State

On November 5, former Penn State assistant Jerry Sandusky was indicted on multiple felony charges of sex abuse against minors. Two other high-ranking Penn State administrators—athletic director Tim Curley and vice president for business and finance Gary Schultz (whose job includes supervision of the university police department)—were charged with perjury in the case. The day after the indictments, the university Board of Trustees held an emergency meeting, at which Curley requested to be placed on administrative leave and Schultz stepped down. Paterno, who had received notice of inappropriate behavior by Sandusky in 2002 and had reported the allegations to university administrators (though not to police), was not charged or implicated in any wrongdoing. On November 9, he announced his retirement effective at the end of the season, stating he was "absolutely devastated by the developments in this case." However, hours later, the Penn State Board of Trustees fired Paterno, effective immediately.

Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player.

Other overall

Offense

Quarterback

Running Back

Wide Receiver

Tight End

Lineman

Defense

Defensive Line

Linebacker

Defensive Back

Special teams

Coaches

Assistant

Preseason and in-season

This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2011. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2011, see 2010 NCAA Division I FBS end-of-season coaching changes.