Division I -AA Football Championship

Dates and sites: First-round games will be November 29, the quarterfinals take place December 6 and the semifinals are set for December 13, all on campus. The final will be December 19 at Finley Stadium/Davenport Field in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Field: Sixteen teams, including eight automatic qualifiers. The remaining eight teams will be selected at large.

Selection date: November 23.

2002 champion: Western Kentucky.

Top contenders: McNeese State, Delaware, Southern Illinois, Massachusetts and Wofford represented the top five teams in the most recent USA Today/ESPN top 25 poll. The poll was based on records through November 1.

Championship notes: McNeese State is looking to retain its top spot in the polls and avenge its 34-14 loss in last year's championship to Western Kentucky ... If Delaware stays in top form, it could make it to the championship game for the first time since 1982, when it lost, 17-14, to Eastern Kentucky ... Southern Illinois was last in the championship when it beat Western Carolina, 43-7, in 1983...The largest Division I-AA championship-game crowds were in 1995, 1992 and 1996, with 32,106, 31,304 and 30,052 in attendance, respectively. Marshall, which has since gone on to play in Division I-A, played in all three of those games.

Division I Women's Volleyball Championship

Dates and sites: First and second rounds will be December 4-7 on the campus of a participating institution. The four regionals will be December 11-14 at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida; the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu; The Pyramid in Long Beach, California; and the Nebraska Coliseum in Lincoln, Nebraska. The finals are December 18 and 20 at Reunion Arena in Dallas.

Field: Sixty-four teams, 31 of which will be selected via automatic qualification. The remaining teams will be selected at large.

Selection date: November 30.

2002 champion: Southern California.

Top contenders: Southern California, Hawaii, Florida, Pepperdine and Kansas State represented the top five teams in the November 10 USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

Championship notes: As of the November 10 poll, Southern California remained the only undefeated team in the Top 25 with a 24-0 record ... Southern California, Hawaii and Florida have been ranked as the top three teams in Division I since the season began ... Last year's championship win by Southern California marked the team's second title in 21 years. Southern California also won the inaugural championship in 1981. Last year's event was an all-Pacific-10 Conference match that also featured 2001 champion Stanford. West Coast teams have been dominant in this event, with Hawaii, UCLA and Long Beach State also having won multiple times. The only non-West Coast teams to win have been Nebraska in 2000 and 1995, Penn State in 1999 and Texas in 1988.