Did you know that University of Maine football is now a member of Division I in the NCAA?

Hang on, there’s more. This is kind of like changing your phone number or your email – this is going to take a while to sink in and the old nomenclature is going to pop up repeatedly.

As of the end of November, the NCAA has changed the names of what we have known in college football as Division I-A and I-AA (Maine’s classification).

Those two groups are now all Division I. However, there are new subclassifications.

The former Division I-A is now the Bowl Subdivision. Its champion is determined by the BCS system and its championship game played in January.

The former I-AA teams, including Maine, are now known as the Championship Subdivision. These teams crown a champion through the 16-team playoff system now under way.

Some wondered why the NCAA would implement the change at the end of a season and not wait for a new year. The NCAA believed the attention to the bowl and playoff games was an opportunity to acquaint a large audience with the changes in a short time.

That will not lessen the confusion.

The primary factors that determine a university’s classification in the above two football subdivisions are attendance and scholarships awarded.

The Bowl Subdivision teams are allowed 85 scholarships. They must have 76.5 scholarship players and can carry a full 85.

The Championship Subdivision teams are allowed 63 scholarships, often divided among 85 players.

There are 117 Bowl schools and 124 Championship teams.

There are still 150 Division II schools – their nomenclature has not changed – that are allowed 36 scholarships.

All of this will take a while to sink in, a few seasons in fact. Try this on for size.

In some recent press notes from Appalachian State, a Championship Subdivision team, the acronym FCS was used. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how they got FCS out of Appalachian State University.

I finally figured out it means Football Championship Subdivision.

This IS going to take a while. Not to leave out the Bowl Subdivision, it will be the FBS.

Can any of this be used for big-time points in Scrabble? Do the Scrabble championships have subdivisions?

I know I’ll have this under control when George Hale calls me and wants to talk about the FCS standings. If he gets this down before I do, I’m going to be so mad that I’ll start spamming his emails.

Well, maybe not. They are pretty funny.

Anyway, enjoy the FBS final weekend in the race for the bowl births and the FCS playoffs that enter the second round today.

If you had to look back in this article to figure out the last sentence, thank you.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.